Show us some weird, wonderful, and fancy teapots...

Paco Dennis · Aug 3, 2024

When I first entered the Buddhist monastery, I was taught how to make a "proper cup of tea", and how to serve it. The monks always had hot tea throughout the day, starting the first thing in the morning. The whole process is like a sacred ceremony. While the monks gathered at the table, I was in the kitchen making the tea.

We bought differentt kinds of Chinese and Korean black and green teas from the Korean store in Columbia. I would measure about a teaspoon for each person into a tea holder.

Then more into a pan 1 cup of water for each person into a pan to boil it.
When it boiled, I put the tea ball into a tea pot and pour the hot water into it. We had different sizes of tea pots that looked similar to these. Then let it steep for the proper time.

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THAT was the challenging part. For weeks the monks complained that I was not paying attention, and the tea was too weak or too strong. I felt like I would never get it right and was quite anxious about the process. Then one morning when I felt very good I began to make the tea, and I listened to the tea brewing. With that change in attitude the tea I made was so pleasing the monks all complimented me on what a good cup of tea it was.

It might sound a little crazy, but it works. One of my first lessons was to not bring my anxiousness to the process. To make the tea with love and to be mindful of the brewing.
I made tea for over 15 years after that, with very few complaints.