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Sustainability, describes a lifestyle in which resources are used to their fullest and not depleted or permanently destroyed. Sustainability is a wonderful philosophy as it can be practiced in almost every daily activity and anyone, regardless of age or living situation, can begin to practice it at any point. Whether you drink tea for health, for flavor, to wake up or to fall asleep, you can begin a sustainable practice simply by choosing and using your tea wisely!

Love the earth with loose tea:

Tea is already considered by many to be a sustainable crop since tea leaves used are only cut off of the top of tea plants. Unlike other crops, tea does not have to be harvested from the earth and consistently replanted. Loose tea further supports sustainability long after tea leaves have been cut.

It may seem like an obvious concept, but loose-leaf tea drastically reduces the amount of packaging, resources and environmental impact seen in packaged tea bags at a typical grocery store. Tea bags, even those marked 'biodegradable', can take a very long time to break down once thrown away. In addition, staples are often used to seal the individual bags and larger cardboard boxes package the ten or so bags purchased. Wasted packaging material combined with shipping thousands of cardboard boxes of bag-sealed tea, it turns out tea buyers may be biting off much more than they can chew...or drink.

Loose tea not only requires less packaging material and shipping energy, but often loose teas are more often organically grown, meaning no pesticides or chemicals are used on the tea plants contributing to cleaner air and a healthier environment, not to mention healthier consumers!

Composting with tea leaves:

Creating sustainable habits with tea can extend to after the buying and drinking of loose tea. High in nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus and other minerals, steeped tea leaves are a valuable addition to your compost or alone as mulch. Tea leaves are superb at holding moisture and can be used on soil or exposed areas of your garden to prevent the area from drying out!

It is truly universal that for any place in the United States, to be cool and fancy is to be having a decent coffee shop. And café here is more about coffee; it’s also about mouth-watering dessert and hot tea.

I am now sitting in a café in the little Midwest town, a place, however, still called as Iowa City and thinking about how to start my story about tea rituals in different cultures worldwide. Within the whole morning I have spent here, I saw at least 10 people ordering tea, which were served with tea pots and tiny cups accompanied by saucers. I am wondering whether this can be viewed as a kind of tea ritual. Even though, the word "ritual"  is more or less related with religion, history or ceremony, in my mind, rituals, on the basic level, is what people do in their daily life. So How interesting will my story be if I start talking about tea rituals, originally from my hometown—China, by saying something about the tea rituals in the United States.

Oh, wait! It seems more suitable to say the modern or contemporary tea rituals in the United States, since I just came here last August. Differing from Asian tea rituals, which emphasize more on the process of brewing tea,  American tea rituals pay much attention to whether the place of drinking tea is funky and comfortable, whether the food complementing teas is delicious and fancy. People sit in a comfortable place with the combination of a teapot and a cup on the table. Beside the tea, cakes or cookies lie in a shining plate with the same cozy position as those people who ordered them. What are only required in such a comfortable "ritual" are chatting with friends, reading favorite books or enjoying the warm sunshine and let minds wondering anywhere they want.

I think it is more or less influenced by the well-known “afternoon tea” from the British. In British, except “afternoon tea”, Victorian-era “high tea” is also viewed as a tea ritual. Both of these two rituals should be seen to have the right equipment, manners, and social circle, which were just as important as the drink itself.

In British, tea is usually black tea served with milk and sometimes with sugar. In tea rituals, tea would be served with cups and saucers instead of mugs. A typical semi-formal British tea ritual might run as follows (the host performing all actions unless noted):

1. The kettle is briefly boiled and water poured into a tea pot.

2. Water is swirled around the pot to warm it and then poured out.

3. Loose tea leaves—nowadays often tea bags or the dust from a ripped-open tea bag—are then added to the pot.

4. Water is added to the pot and allowed to brew for several minutes while a tea cosy is placed on the pot to keep the tea warm. If the tea is allowed to brew for too long, id est more than 10 minutes, it will become "stewed", resulting in a very bitter, astringent taste.

5. Milk may be added to the tea cup, the host asking the guest if milk is wanted, although milk may alternatively be added after the tea is poured.

6. A tea strainer, like a miniature sieve, is placed over the top of the cup and the tea poured in.

7. The straight black tea is then given to guests and they are allowed to add milk and sugar to their taste.

8. The pot will normally hold enough tea so as not to be empty after filling the cups of all the guests. If this is the case, the tea cosy is replaced after everyone has been served.

The popularity of tea in the British can be dated back to the 18^th century, when the British colonized many Asian countries. China, as the original place of tea became one of the most important countries for the British to import teas.

Differing from the British, Chinese tea culture refers to the methods of preparation of tea, the equipment used to make tea and the occasions in which tea is consumed. Even now, in both casual and formal Chinese occasions, tea is consumed regularly. In addition to being a drink, Chinese tea is used in traditional Chinese medicine and in Chinese cuisine.

There are several special circumstances in which tea is prepared and consumed.

1. As a sign of respect.
2. For a family gathering
3. To apologize
4. To express thanks to your elders on one’s wedding day

The ways of brewing or preparing Chinese tea are the most important part in Chinese tea rituals. For example, green teas are more delicate than oolong teas or black teas and should be brewed with cooler water as a result. The most informal method of brewing tea is the simple adding of leaves to a pot, and hot water. This method is commonly found in households and restaurants, as at Dim sum or Yum cha in Cantonese restaurants. Two other primary methods of brewing tea are the Chaou method and the Gongfucha method.

Brewing tea using a Gaiwan

1. Boil water, or heat to specified temperature for tea
2. Heat the teaware with boiling water
3. Add leaves to line bottom of the cup
4. Rinse tea leaves and drain
5. Slip water along the side while pouring into the Chaou
6. Fill to 2/3 full
7. Wait for 30 seconds, Serve.

A Gongfu Tea(Cha) method

1. Boil water.
2. Rinse the teapot with hot water.
3. Fill the teapot with tea leaves up to one third of the height of the pot.
4. Rinse the tea leaves by filling the pot with hot water up to half full and draining the water immediately leaving only tea leaves behind. (This step, and all subsequent steps involving pouring water, should be performed in a large bowl to catch any overflow.)
5. Pour more hot water into the teapot and pour water over the teapot in the large bowl. Bubbles should not be permitted to be formed in the teapot. The infusion should not be steeped for too long: 30 seconds is an appropriate maximum.

Taoism crucially influenced the development of Chinese tea rituals. The elements of the Chines tea rituals are the harmony of nature and enjoying tea in an informal and formal setting.

As a Chinese, before I came to the United States, I never drank coffee. Different teas were always well-packed in my home, including green tea, oolong tea, red tea, Pu’er tea and flower tea. Mostly, friends or families to my home will be expected to sit down and drink tea while talking( only tea, no food). The Chinese consider tea drinking as the most decent way to treat visitors.

Japan is also an important country, highly valuing tea culture. Tea was brought to Japan in the 9^th century, by the Buddist Monk Eichū, who had returned to Japan from China. After that, Japanese developed their own tea ritual, involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of matcha, powered green tea.

Murata Jukō is known in chanoyu history as the early developer of the Japanese tea ritual as spiritual practice, and therefore is generally counted as the founder of the Japanese "way of tea". By the 16th century, tea drinking had spread to all levels of society in Japan. Sen no Rikyu, perhaps the most well-known figure in Japanese tea ritual, The principles he set for the tea ritual are harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility.

The most important part of the Japanese tea ritual is preparing matcha.There are two main ways of preparing matcha for tea ritual: thick (koicha) and thin (usucha).

As the terms imply, koicha is a thick blend of matcha and hot water that requires about three times as much tea to the equivalent amount of water than usucha. To prepare usucha, matcha and hot water are whipped using the tea whisk (chasen), while koicha is kneaded with the whisk to smoothly blend the large amount of powdered tea with the water.

Thin tea is served to each guest in an individual bowl, while one bowl of thick tea is shared among several guests.

The tea equipment in the Japanese tea ritual is also important. Usually, the following are a few of the essential components,

1. Chakin,a small rectangular white linen or hemp cloth mainly used to wipe the tea bowl.
2. Tea bowl.
3. Tea caddy,the small lidded container in which the powdered tea is placed for use in the tea-making procedure.
4. Tea scoop, being used to scoop tea from the tea caddy into the tea bowl.
5. Tea whisk, being used to mix the powered tea with the hot water.

As tea becoming the wide-spread drinking, tea rituals can be found worldwide, although still are centered on Asia and Europe. Tea rituals vary among different countries. However, at the basic level, tea rituals are a way of making a hot drink, enjoying the process of preparing it and turning those tiny leaves into best taste.

Now it is 3:00 p.m. my tea and coffee cake has been served in front of me. Let’s start my American tea ritual in this home-style café with warm sunshine cascading down on my table through the window.

In the center of our front yard hovers a multi-trunked matured olive tree. The olives began to drop in the early part of fall which gave me the impression that the tree only produced green olives.  Being a Kalamata and a Colossal Black Olives advocate, it was much to my delightful surprise when I researched the matter and found out that black olives are borne from green ones.

Nevertheless, I began to pick the green olives mainly out of impatience and excitement to being the curing process (figuring I would make my mistakes on the greens and perfect them with the blacks).

Picking was a ton of fun, as Will and I placed a blanket on the grass beneath the tree and engaged in a series of shaking branches, smacking with ends of broomsticks, climbing up on the limbs and hand-picking a TON of olives to fill a very large bucket.

We decided to water-cure this round.  First, we scoured the olives for any insect-ridden holes and tossed those out.  Next, we sliced each and every olive with a knife lengthwise to allow for the bitterness to escape and immediately placed each olive into a bucket filled with water to prevent from browning.  The olives need to be completely submerged in the water to prevent oxidation.  We then placed the bucket in the refrigerator. 

I changed the water daily for almost a month. This apparently helps clean the olives and lessen the bitterness level.  I really should have waited for the full month, but when I tried the taste of the water content it was to my liking so I packed them just 4 days shy of the month date.

So 26 days after picking, I packed the olives in jars with various ingredients and topped it off with salt water.  Some ingredients I used were citrus rinds, sage, oregano, rosemary sprigs, bay leaves, coriander, black pepper, garlic, sumac, hot pepper, chili powder, fruit seasoning, mustard seeds, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar.  Here we mixed and matched each jar with different combinations.  This process was so much fun that it dawned on us that we could even use a tea for added flavoring.  The tea that immediately came to our minds was Lapsang Souchong which would marinate the olives with a smokey flavor.

Each of us packed our own jar.  Mine contained Lapsang Souchong, lemon, bay leaves, coriander, and black pepper.  Will tried Lapsang Souchong with haleppo pepper, sumac, lime, white balsamic vinegar and garlic.  We are now in the process of refrigerating the curing jars for a couple of days and anxiously awaiting the results.

Stay tuned for the taste test!

Don't throw away your used green tea leaves!  You can make your own green tea incense creating a wonderul aroma and eliminating bad odors.

Follow these steps to make your own green tea incense:

1) Roll your used green tea leaves into a small tight ball.  The tighter the ball, the slower the burn.

2) Place the used tea balls on a small tray and dry them in the sun on a window sill or outside. 

3) After your used, green tea balls are dry you can store them in a cool, dry place.

4) When you're ready to use your home made tea incense.  You can purchase a Japanese tea-leaf-burner, also known as a 'cha kouro', or any other candle based incense burner. 

The style of incense burner you need is one that elevates the dry tea leaves above the candle flame in a steel cup and the leaves are heated from below, but not directly lit.  I've even heard of people heating the leaves on a iron skillet on the stove.

The tea incense ball will smoke lightly.  Green tea incense has a very nice, smell and also absorbs pet odors!

Interested in making your own tea incense?  Experiment with used tea leaves from other tea types as well and let us know the result by commenting below. 

Thanks!

Ani