Notes from the Tea Bowl

As the weather warms, many of us naturally move outdoors. We sit in the sun with a coffee, read a book on a bench, or bring a laptop outside to work in the fresh air. So I thought: why not bring my tea practice outdoors too? Luckily, I have a fellow tea friend who lives nearby, and thanks to the beautiful weather lately, we decided to have a tea picnic. We chose to practice Chabako (茶箱), which literally means “tea box.” It is a compact box designed to carry the essentia

Over a weekend in mid-January, I attended Hatsugama (初釜) — the first tea ceremony of the year — hosted by my tea teacher. People often ask me why I spend years learning how to make a single bowl of tea. I smile, because for me, I’m only in my third year of practice — still a baby in the world of tea, where many measure their journey in decades. Of course, anyone can whisk matcha powder with hot water and call it a tea. But tea is something more — much more. For me, tea is no