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       Close your eyes.  Lift up your cup of tea, and inhale the aroma.  How do you feel?  Does the scent of your tea trigger a memory for you?  Is it a fond one?  Scientists have found that scents, can in fact trigger memory.  Scent is actually the strongest sense that triggers memory.   So it's no wonder that every time I have a cup of the Jasmine Pearls from CTH, I am overwhelmed with peacefulness.   

      Twelve long years ago, I was pregnant with my first child.  I was due anytime, and helping out in my parents cafe back home.  As pregnant as I was, I spent a lot of time sitting in an old white rocking chair, in front of the bay windows in the cafe.  I loved to sit there, watching the people go by, the snow drifting in the air.  Sitting in the chair, my hand on my abundant belly,  feeling hope, pride and nervous excitement. I can remember what I was wearing and what the cars looked like outside.  As I sat there contemplating the wonders of my first child, the sun came out.  It was snowing like a blizzard, and the sun gloriously illuminated every single snowflake.  I remember thinking, this is something I haven't seen before!  An immense sense of ease, and elation overwhelmed me, bringing tears to my eyes.  In that moment, that magical frame of time, I was able to capture almost every detail.  

      Why is this all possible?  It's not because I have photographic memory, or above average memory.  It's because it was the very first time I had, or smelled Jasmine tea.  The aroma helped my brain bookmark the scent and the memory.   It is a relatively complicated process,  that involves the olfactory bulb ( our emotional brain ) and conditioned responses.   None the less, the ability to pair emotions or memories with scents, can be a wonderful thing.  The next time you have an important event, or special day coming up, why not try a new tea from California Tea House?  A new tea, with a wonderful aroma may help you capture a wonderful memory, that will last a lifetime.

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.