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“Bliss is a tong, cup, pot and water, falling.” Illustration by the author.

There is a subtle charm in the taste of tea which makes it irresistible and capable of idealization.

—Kakuzo Okakura

Whenever friends and family sit around a table, a cup of fragrant tea will lend its rich aroma and warm presence to any occasion.

—Ling Wang

A true warrior, like tea, shows his strength in hot water.

—Chinese Proverb

What we call cha-no-yu is nothing more than the occasion for the partaking of a bowl of tea. It is only the ordinary act of eating and drinking that can be seen in daily life. Nevertheless, in the requirement that we sweep away the impurities of this world, we can see the operation of an otherworldly concept that makes us conscious of having put aside the concerns of mundane life.

—Sen Soshitsu XV

Wherever you are drinking your tea, whether at work, in a café, or at home, it is wonderful to allow enough time to appreciate it.

—Thich Nhat Hanh

Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o’clock, warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without.

—Thomas De Quincy

In the domain of Buddha ancestors, drinking tea and eating rice is everyday activity. This having tea and rice has been transmitted over many years and is present right now. Thus the Buddha ancestors’ vital activity of having tea and rice comes to us.

—Dogen-Zenji

The Eighteen Scholars enjoying a cup of tea. Illustration by Anonymous, Traditionally attributed to the Sung Dynasty. From the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

When we rise in the morning, we ready our daily firewood, rice, cooking oil, soy, salt, vinegar, and tea.

— Chinese adage

Mountain flowers are bringing out their beauty while tea sprouts their fragrance.

—Chen Chong Ping

Tea is a divine herb. There are ample profits to be had in its cultivation. It purifies the spirit of the one drinking it; and it is esteemed by the nobles and public alike. Truly tea is a necessity in the daily life of man, and an asset to the commonwealth.

—Xu Guang Qi, Book of Agricultural Administration

Tea is quiet and our thirst for tea is never far from our craving for beauty.

—James Norwood Pratt

For if I could please myself I would always live as

I lived there. I would choose always to breakfast at exactly eight and to be at my desk by nine, there to read or write till one. If a cup of good tea or coffee could be brought to me about eleven, so much the better.

—C. S. Lewis

A place to escape to when one cannot ease one’s cares in the mountains.

The hut beneath the pine within the city

—Toyohara Sumiaki, quoted by Murai Yasuhiko

Sanctuary in green.

Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order; it is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life.

—Kakuzo Okakura

The pine-filled winter wind

Blows through my bamboo stove,

And my over-handled Zisha teapot

Whistles in response.

—Su Dongpo

Tea-making is a ritual that, like the drink itself, warms the heart somehow.

—James Norwood Pratt

Now it is wheat harvest time and at any inn you visit, newly picked tea is served.

—Kyoroku

Tea does not lend itself to extravagance.

—Lu Yu

If the bitter leaves of tea are taken over an extended period of time, one’s power of thought will improve and quicken.

—The Dissertation on Foods

Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage.

—Catherine Douzel

The rush-thatched roof looks cool; even from the bridge one can make out the aroma of tea.

—Hazan

Kettle for Tang Dynasty style tea, by Master Deng Ding Sou.

An elder tea master was invited to a session held in the capital. The noble who sponsored the event meant to test him. As the master was walking down the path to the tearoom, a gun was fired. In awe, all the guests noticed that the master’s pace had not wavered in the slightest when the shot startled those that had known about it all along. His practice in the Way of Tea had established his awareness beyond the world of dust.

—A. D. Fisher

Though I cannot flee

From the world of corruption,

I can prepare tea

With water from a mountain stream

And put my heart to rest.

—Ueda Akinara

Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world.

—T’ien Yiheng

Cha-no-yu, the Japanese tea ceremony.

Emperor Qian Long of the Qing Dynasty was a great tea man. In the later years of his reign, he would often retire to some secluded spot for a day of tea drinking. They say that on one such occasion, his top councilor asked, “How can the nation go without the wisdom of its emperor for a day?” Grinning, the emperor replied “And how can that emperor go without his tea for a day?”

—A. D. Fisher

There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.

—Henry James

There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea.

—Bernard-Paul Heroux

As a domestic art form, tea, like other such pastimes, is vulnerable to vulgarization, neglect, and commercialization. In the modern world, where mechanization and mass production have taken over so much, honest craftsmanship is fighting a losing war.

—John Whitney Hall

Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors.

—Alice Walker

Oftentimes, people will just feel a general sense of ease or comfort when drinking good teas.

—Zhou Yu

In an age when everyone is constantly busy and short of time, what could be more enjoyable than taking time to indulge in what was once part of everyday life, but has now become a luxury— afternoon tea.

—Lesley Mackley

“‘Gone!” says the tea monk.

My hour for tea is half-past five, and my buttered toast waits for nobody.

—Wilkie Collins

Tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country.

—George Orwell

The tearoom is made for the tea master not the tea master for the tearoom.

—Kakuzo Okakura

The simplicity of the equipment and decoration of the tea ceremony allows minds to think about the natural beauty of things they may not have noticed otherwise. Remember, it is not a grand display of artwork that impresses people here, but the simplicity and beauty of the smallest items. Bringing attention to these things is the most important aspect of the tea ceremony.

—Shozo Sato

If you have one teapot

And can brew your tea in it

That will do quite well.

How much does he lack himself

Who must have a lot of things?

—Sen Rikyu

Keeping from getting upset, keeping on making tea, it is the end of the year.

—Ganzan, translated by Shaun McCabe and Iwasaki Satoko

Indeed Cha-no-yu may be considered an epitome of Japanese civilization, for it is a well-blended mixture of elements drawn from the two most ancient cultures of the East eclectically acquired by extremely able and critical minds capable of discerning exactly how they could best use it for the convenience and education of their people.

—A. L. Sadler

[A famous] poem on tea speaks of the froth as burning with brilliance, and says that it must be as lustrous as freshly fallen snow and as luscious as the spring lotus.

—Lu Yu

The fallen needles blanket the path to the tearoom.

—Shiki, translated by Shaun McCabe and Iwasaki Satoko

Don’t watch with your eyes or turn your head to listen, just fill your heart with Cha-no-yu.

—Sen Rikyu

With regards to the water placed outside in the stone basin, it has always been necessary most of all to clean and purify the heart.

—Rikyu, as attributed in the Namporoku