04 Mar
slow movement

women and tea rituals

A blog post to mark the International Women’s Day by referencing the Bai Cha tea banquet ceremony which brings the village women happily together, with no men around! Many Chinese tea customs specifically involve women. Tea plays an important role for a woman at every stage of her life, in Chinese culture. Chinese bride must move in with husband’s family. On the 3rd day her parents pay a visit, with tea gifts for groom’s parents. Wives traditionally serve special sweet & salty teas during the 15-day spring festival.

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21 Feb
slow movement

timeless time of tea at teanamu chaya teahouse

teanamu chaya tea house is opening on 26 February. Every table at the Chaya Teahouse will have its own gongfu cha tea set to allow you to have a meditative tea drinking experience – a little time to heal and to restore. As humble as I can be, I hope Chaya Teahouse will allow my tea friends to visibly enter the timeless time of tea where they can forget their problems and be enveloped in the slow, depthless moments of the Way of Tea.

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11 Feb
slow movement

Chinese New Year Tea

Celebrating year of Golden Rabbit @ home in boiling hot Singapore & mom makingg Taoist offerings to gods & demigods (inc Tie Luo Han tea!) Helping my mom prepare New Year dinner but the numerous rituals she does on her own. A god 4 everything & each must get a gift from us! Mom offering sticky caramel glutinous rice cake to Zhao Sheng kitchen god so he can’t “tell tales” about our family to the Heavenly Emperor! Mom is burning gold paper to Cai Sheng, Taoist god of fortune, to ensure that we have prosperous New Year of the Golden Rabbit. Mom making New Year offerings to the Earth God of a nutritious sweet soup, glutinous rice cake & steamed cake that splits like a happy laugh! Neat little parcels of single portion Tie Luo Han oolong tea.

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23 Jan
slow movement

Cha Guan Teahouse – a play by Lao She

Raise a respectful cup to Lao She’s play “Cha Guan” Teahouse serialised on Phoenix TV Europe! A moving, hilarious epic tale of Beijing life centred on a teahouse. The panorama of China in the decades before communism, in Lao She’s “Cha Guan” Teahouse. “Cha Guan” Teahouse: a Chinese drama about adapting in dangerous, ever-shifting times.

Revolution, pigtails, westernisation, wisecracks and Chinese tea ritual: a true epic drama

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14 Jan
slow movement

nourishing winter brews

4 Nourishing brews to tide over this persistent winter chills. The Oolong Sweet Potato Congee with light oolong tea that is colourful and packed full of vitamins A and C. Roasted Rice Cha that is nutritious and very warming to the body. The Onion, Carrot, Potato and White Pepper Soup is a delectable peppery soup which sweet onions and carrots that is perfect with rice. Black Glutinous Rice with Matcha Coconut Milk Black that isbelieved to build up blood and strengthen the heart.

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07 Jan
slow movement

la ba tea: an historical winter congee

The festival of La Ba where a sweet congee is prepared to usher in the Chinese new year. The Koreans also has a similar dish made with 8 ingredients eaten around 3 weeks to the new year. Includes recipes for a sweet and savoury La Ba congee. The La Ba congee can nourish the spleen, enhance qi energy, clear the lungs and eyes and has calming, restorative effects.

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31 Dec
slow movement

random acts of kindness

A little year end thanksgiving blog post to usher in the fantastic brand New Year! Year 2010 was filled with many, many chanced meetings made possible through random acts of kindness and meeting people from all walks of life at the tea open houses, despite rain or heavy snowfall, who enjoys tea or want to know more about teas.

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11 Dec
slow movement

Lychee Black: a very Christmasy Tea

Recipe for a non-alcoholic Lychee Black tea “mulled wine” that is perfect for Xmas. Recipe for Lychee Vibes – a cocktail with lychee black tea and vodka. Recipe for Consort Yang’s Deep Fried Lychees – a quick and easy delicious festive dessert. Learn how Consort Yang’s favourite fruit Lychee has inspired the great lychee black tea! Natural sugars in Lychee black tea caramelised during roasting giving it an opulent, mahogany hue & fragrant aroma. From a Chinese traditional medicine perspective, Lychee Black tea can relieve fatigue and is Yang in nature so is very suitable for drinking during autumn and winter as an antidote to the Yin season.

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