Tea

"Why do you like tea?"

"Do you mean the taste of tea?"

"Maybe. Is the taste why you like tea?"

"It has something to do with it."

"Is it why you've given your life to tea?"

"Given my life to tea, well that sounds pretty serious."

"Is it not serious?"

"I guess I've acquired a taste for tea. But it's not why I became interested. I think what I was really drawn to at the beginning was the idea of tea."

"The idea of tea."

"Yeah, I saw this documentary at college, it was from the 20th century. And it was about this man searching for the best tea in China."

"China is where tea started."

"Yes. I think it was his searching that compelled me. You know, the pursuit of this illusive thing, this process that was connected to the soil, to the plants, to the weather, and a way of life."

"So, that's what you like about tea? The search, not so much the taste."

"No, the taste, too. Actually, there is this part of the film, where the man is explaining to his German friend why is it so hard for him to describe the taste of tea . He says, 'There's no language for it. There are no words to adequately express the mysterious nature of the tea.'

And his German friend who's just standing right beside him with a cup of tea says, "Yes, but I imagine things like you are walking through a forest, and there are leaves on the ground, and it just had rained, and the rain has stopped, and it's damp, and you walk, and somehow that is all in this tea.'

I mean, I loved that so much."

"So, do you believe it? That a cup of tea can contain a world? That you could taste a place, a time?"

"Do you know that traditionally, tea shops that were family businesses, passed down from one generation to another generation."

"I wish Chinese tea wasn't just about facts for me. The way the leaves bloom and float and fall, it is so beautiful. I wish I felt something deeper about tea."

"Are you happy?"

"I don't know if that's the question for me."

- After Yang

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