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March 2020

Taking Time for Tea with David Ramos

BLOG / Taking Time for Tea with David Ramos

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Rituals: Tea Time

With Tribe Member David Ramos

As we begin to get more comfortable with having our home now be a multi-functional space, we are checking in with our Tribe members to see how their new routine is going. 

First on the list is David Ramos. He has been a part of the Tribe since 2016 but friends of the company for years prior. A fishing aficionado, lover of the literary arts &  tea enthusiast, we asked David to share with us his daily ritual of making tea. 

 

I feel grateful for having a place to sit quietly and escape the daily doldrums of life and the stress it creates: my tea table. Whether in the morning, afternoon or evening if I can find the time to just sit and prepare some tea, it can really change my mood and my perspective on the day. I often say that I don't drink tea to wake up, but wake up to drink tea :) We have all heard of the health benefits of tea. 


Namely that it's high in antioxidants, reduces the risk of heart attacks and protects against cardiovascular disease, helps in weight loss, helps in bone density, less caffeine than coffee, etc.

When my friend and Ubuntu Life team member, Amal Wilemon, asked me to write on why I loved tea and how it helped me, I immediately thought of the most important aspect for me, the ritual of preparing and brewing the tea itself. This is called Gong Fu Cha and that's just a fancy way of describing the intent and meditative preparation of good loose leaf tea through multiple infusions in a sit-down session.

 This "Tea-Session" can last from 15 minutes to hours depending on how much time you want to dedicate. This is a time when my mind can focus strictly on the tea and the creation of a "Tea Space" which should be conducive to achieving a positive energy and a meditative state of mind.  

Most "Tea People'' I know agree that Tea is not to be drunk unaware. It's not just a drink, but a meditation achieved through ritual. You listen to the kettle boiling water. Smelling the fragrance of the dry and brewed leaves, you feel reverently the tea wares of the discipline, you taste the essence of the leaves, its terroir and its history by way of multiple infusions that take you on a journey of peace. You become quiet and alert (Tea Drunk).

On the whole it requires a sense of intent. "Our thirst for tea is never far from our craving for beauty." The Way of Tea helps us to be in the moment, surrounded by a beautiful space and away from the noise of everyday life. Gong Fu Cha is also more than that. I look forward to my tea sessions with eager anticipation and my appreciation comes from within, from the spirit, therefore it is unexplainable. 

This discipline afforded me a much needed decreases from stress during a very difficult time in my life. I cannot see myself not continuing this path. For anyone who would like to partake or enjoy a session please don't hesitate to contact me.

In the meantime I can recommend a few tea sources who not only care about the tea, but also for the farmers, the land and its preservation.

For those who would like to support a local tea source from everything from greens to oolongs, whites to Puerh you may contact So Han at West China Tea Co. 

If you want to get into the wonderful world of Puerh you can check out white2tea.com which is great modern way of sourcing tea and especially Puerh tea from Yunnan China.

If you want to learn about The Way of Tea and all it encompasses then you should go to globalteahut.org and become a member.

There are so many more great companies and I would be happy to advise you on, please feel free to reach out to me via direct message on instagram @dramosghio .

Sincerely, David Ramos

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