Hallway to Nowhere

Tag: tea

  • Thankfulness Tea Cup (Poem)

    Steam rises from the cup.

    Consider these things.

    I am so grateful to have tea.

    I bow down to the earth that nourished it.

    I bow down to the farmers that grew it.

    I bow down to the masters that crafted it.

    I bow down to the workers that transported it.

    Om Mani Padme Hung.

    “May all beings have happiness and the cause of happness.

    May they be free of suffering and the cause of suffering.

    May they never be disassociated from the supreme happiness which is without suffering.

    May they remain in the boundless equanimity, free from both attachment to close ones and rejection of others. “

  • Emptiness Tea Cup (Poem)

    Steam rises from the tea.

    Consider these things.

    The cup which contains the tea

    Has already been shattered.

    The tea itself has been consumed.

    Gate gate paragate

    Parasamgate bodhi svaha.

    “Gone, gone, gone beyond,

    Gone altogether beyond,

    Oh, what an awakening! All hail!”

  • Melancholia Blend (Poem)

    I work as an alchemist

    To blend my tea.

    I start with aged shou puerh

    to remind you of the past,

    whether yours, the earth’s, or simply that of tea.

    The specifics are not my concern.

    I add toasted rice-brown and wild-

    to add contemplative notes.

    Think about what you will.

    Then some cacao nibs and bits of candied ginger

    (not too much)

    for a bit of sweetness,

    because life can be harsh.

    But this is a tea true to my life,

    so I also add at the end,

    vetiver oil and aloeswood oil and cayenne pepper flakes.

    Because dry and bitter and heat

    must also play a part in this tea song.

    Listen to Leonard Cohen when you sip it

    and perhaps read Albert Camus.

  • Tea Lust

    Tea Lust

    My fellow/sister/whatevers, I confess: I have lust in my heart. I want two binchas of tea that will cost more than I afford at the moment…but…but…one is ON SALE and they sound sssssssooooo mouthwatering….and I can get 10-percent off …and I haven’t bought ANY pu’er in SUCH a long long long long time….oh, fuck, somebody shoot me before I talk myself into buying these! While we’re talking tea and ruinous expense, I also have my eye on some Camellia Crassicolumna Black, a rare and little-known yabao from Qianjiazhai, China for those times when you want tea but no caffeine. And I’m thinking about a new Yixing pot for blacks, b/c I’ve gone back to blacks, thanks to the wonderful He family in Laoshan. Of course, I can’t get a Yixing pot for what I could, say 20 years ago. Now it’s going to cost me dearly. But one must sacrifice for fine tea. I’ll get one this winter. I know the artist I want to buy from. He makes truly amazing pots.