Tea has been something I’ve always loved and enjoyed preparing.  In fact, in our tea room, it is my deepest privilege and joy to prepare the pot of tea, prepare the tray and prepare myself to serve it.  Each and every time it is a small ritual that is a means by which we can honour each other’s presence, right down to the  choice of teapots and teacups each time we serve.

Tea is a beautiful substance. The plant has an affinity to the sun and rain.  The leaves have an affinity to the heat and water.  And within each tea leaf, there is a story that has woven through time.  Whether it be the actual story of the journey of the tea leaf, from sprouting to drying, or the origins of tea and tea drinking through the cultural history of humanity.  Yet, within each cup of tea, there is a story in the present moment.

Tea lends itself to a quiet moment of contemplation.  It lends itself to going inward into the landscapes of one’s own imagination.  Tea is quiet by nature, yet rich and full and deep.  The image of reading a book with a nice cup of tea brings a sense of fresh air, willowy curtains blowing in the breeze, a rocker on a summer’s porch, essential oils in a hot bath, or covers pulled up on a rainy day.

Tea is also social by nature.  The ritual of preparing tea for others is essential.  The environment in which tea is shared matters.  For it lies in the simple details, that tea in many ways comes to life. It is as if the element of water allows one to move through it, flow with it, partake of it, with others.  The water of life embued with tea is truly an elixir.  And, it is a place in which conversation and creativity can arise.

I think tea lends itself to go deeper inwardly and outwardly in life.  Tea has a way of transporting one back in place and time to something familiar….to a remembrance, an experience, back and forward and in present moment to something that is important and essential.

For me, that is what the Venus Sophia Tea Room is all about….an environment where one can find the inner and outer place where imagination begins….a place where who we are feels connected to not just one’s own life, to all of life, to the story of life and to each other.

When I think about life, I think about the substance and essence of light and warmth.  When I imagine how I can touch into that each and every day, inwardly and outwardly, I imagine having a lovely warm cup of tea ripened, dried or fermented by the sun.  I imagine the quiet ritual of placing the water of life into a vessel to warm and boil, pouring it over nature’s gift of green, letting it steep, while the cups are prepared, and then sitting down alone, with another or others, and breathing in the freshness of that moment as I slowly and quietly drink in and breathe out the continuing story of life known as the uni-verse…….