Tea: a Pathway to Building Community

Jasmine, our community development officer, shares her story with us on how she found her way to living in Cornwall, and how Tea has supported her sense of belonging & community...

I was raised by my Chinese & Japanese mother in Hong Kong, I grew up surrounded by Cha (Tea), whether it was at home in a teapot, when we’d go “Yum Cha”, eating Dim Sum, or serving it to the ancestors during certain Chinese festivities. I didn’t know it as a child, but the rituals around serving and drinking Tea had become part of the foundations in how I made friends and formed communities.

It was very natural for me to bring a Teapot and cups out to wild nature spaces I would work in, to offer a cup of Tea to Nature as a gesture of thanks, while sharing Tea with others I was there with. There is something universal about sharing a warm cup of Tea, wherever we find ourselves in the world, there is an understanding of hospitality and care when someone puts the kettle on. 

Having lived my whole life in a culture immersed in Tea drinking, it almost became background noise, something so normal I didn’t pay close attention to it. Until I met my Tea teacher. Almost 10 years ago, I started practicing Cha Dao, also known as ‘The Way of Tea’, a zen meditative practice of Tea ceremony. It was in this practice that I met, and became involved in a growing Tea community in Hong Kong.

Our community was connected not only by a love of Tea, but a devotion to sharing Tea Ceremony as a pathway to presence, beauty & loving kindness. Tea became a place where we remembered and practiced our shared connection & humanity. 

Through this community I learned and understood the importance of all those gestures of Tea culture I was raised around, like those small cues of noticing if someone’s cup was empty, and refilling it before they asked, knowing that different seasons called for different Tea that was better for the health. These aren’t just ‘Chinese’ traditions, but something that is carried across cultures around the world, just expressed slightly differently.

3 years ago, I followed an irrational call to leave my home, work, life and community in Hong Kong to explore the UK. It turned out to be an ‘accidental pilgrimage’, where for 9 months I wandered through Britain with just a backpack as my home, carefully selecting to pack and carry my most essential items, clothes, toiletries, camping gear etc. alongside these essential belongings was all my Teaware! A ceramic kettle, several Tea bowls, a Teapot, all weighed a tonne as you can imagine, but it felt necessary, because every time I set the kettle and bowls out to share Tea, sometimes even with strangers, it felt like home, no matter where I was. 

This is the gift of these spaces where we share Tea together, the care through sharing Tea weaves connection beyond language, culture, age & backgrounds we all carry, when we sit for Tea together we remember our shared humanity, and like an old Chinese proverb shares, “Through Tea, we make friends.”

IWN will be launching “The Travelling Teapot” in September, a monthly gathering where we share Tea practices from different cultures around the world. We invite you to join us to learn about the beautiful and meaningful cultural practices that can bring us together.

The first Travelling Teapot doors will open Saturday Sept 26th at 10am - 12.00pm. 

We’ll be sharing a Zen Tea ceremony with Chinese Tea, on an auspicious date in the Chinese calendar, Full Moon and Mid-Autumn festival.

For more Information on participating in these cultural exchanges, contact Jasmine at connect@inspiringwomennetwork.co.uk