I’ve talked about the origins of matcha and its deep connections with zen buddhism on this site before, but I thought I might share a personal story. When I was 19 years old I stumbled, quite literally, into the Mt. Baldy Zen Center, a working zen monastery in the San Gabriel mountains, east of Los
The Japanese tea ceremony is a thing of unquestionable intrigue, beauty, and sheer historical awesomeness. It is triply so when performed and enjoyed within the context in which it arose: in some lovely wabisabi spot in Japan, ideally at a zen temple, which is where the whole thing really started. I
I grew up with Red Rose tea bags, a blend of black and orange pekoe teas. My mother liked to make a cup in the evenings, after dinner, and I felt sophisticated whenever I joined her for a cup. She bought the 100-bag box at our local grocery store, and couldn’t have (wouldn’t have) paid [...]
There are lots of metaphors about the incessant chatter going on in most our heads, that datastream of conversations, impressions, admonitions, and other mental events that seem to occupy most of our waking moments, but I like one best. The most awake zen guy I’ve ever met, the great zen teacher and
The Japanese tea ceremony as it is practiced in Japan can be a thing of beauty. The tradition is roughly 830 years old. Like so many other traditional Japanese arts, the formal study of tea can take decades to “master” and get right, and must be done according to the many and varied rules of [...]
Plenty of people consider matcha to be a new trend. In reality it’s been a trend in Japan for roughly 830 years, started by those crazy trend-setting zen buddhist priests. But in a sense, “plenty of people” are right: It is matcha’s introduction into the American and European palate that constitutes
We’re doing it again: another workshop at one of my favorite places on earth, the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, in the Ventana Wilderness, southeast of Carmel, taught by myself and the delightful Ikushin Dana Velden. It’s from May 31 to June 3, and will be all about cooking with tea. Or at least mo
Get our best stories, insights, and trending topics delivered straight to your inbox. Join thousands of readers who never miss what matters.
