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An Invitation that of the planet through the process of enjoying your
tea. From this local, even intimate scale, one can start to
At OBSERVATORY, our front door sign reads “Geo- consider how the tilt of the Earth shapes seasons, climates,
logical Cosmo Field Station, Workshop and Tea Hut”, but plant and animal life, etc., and how the tilt relates to larg-
we don’t actually sell much tea, we mostly serve green tea er, much more volatile planetary conditions.
and, you know, it isn’t everybody’s thing. Still, people It’s interesting to see when offered a tiny cup of tea,
seem to have fun tasting different teas, and encountering people seem to face the cup more directly and focus more
surprising flavors and sensations of tea can be transfor- on the tea itself, even if only for a few moments. People
mative. Other than occasionally selling small bags of loose do slow down and actually taste it. We think this has to
leaf tea and private tastings, we offer tea for free to anyone do with the small size of our tasting cups. Small portions
who comes inside during their open hours. People are of tea don’t prevent notable experiences. A traditionally
sometimes confused by this, the fact that we are not a tiny cup of gyokuro tea can be one of the most memorable
cafe. This gesture of hospitality ends up becoming an flavors one has in life. And it’s only about a tablespoon
important part of our creative practice because the whole of liquid. Also, teas such as gyokuro are meant to be sipped,
atmosphere inside OBSERVATORY transforms as a result. rolled around the tongue, savored from front to back of
When you offer tea for free, it’s no longer a com- the mouth. It sort of insists: “don’t miss this very ephem-
modity; we’re no longer in a service/customer relationship. eral experience as it’s happening.” The result is a moment
Tea is liberated from those limitations and associations, of a day that slows down, opens up, and pulls us out of
and so are we. Things look different and conversations the onslaught. There is respite there.
flow differently because the tea is shared in this way. It
has been enjoyable and surprising to feel visitors’ assump- An Experience
tions and expectations shift, and to watch our relationships
with each other and with the material of tea and time shift. At OBSERVATORY, we will choose the day’s tasting
The ambient energy seems to become more “awake.” Peo- brew according to the ambient atmosphere of the hour
ple’s ways of speaking, interacting, and tasting seem to be and the season. So step into the room, and you’ll find we
less on autopilot. With this minor shift of offering tea as end up sitting next to the open door and sharing tea with Somehow the process of making and sharing tea in a par-
a free aesthetic experience, much changes very quickly. visitors for hours. Although some people just come in for ticular season and in a particular cast of light and air fa-
Different gestures of human exchange and attention arise a sip of tea and leave 3 minutes later. cilitates the participants in “arriving” into the moment
when the tea is offered without the usual capitalistic as- Some guests are into the technical details of where and into each other’s presence. The nonhuman material-
sociations of “commodity” and “service”. the tea came from and how it was sourced, and others just ity of tea leaves transforms into a shared human experi-
The teaware also sets the stage for our experiences enjoy the tea itself and have interesting responses to what For us, preparing tea each day is a helpful way to ence of taste, sight, sound, texture, aroma. We’ve wit-
with tea and with each other. We often use our Tilt of the the tastes remind them of. Four or five times last summer, see where one’s mind is. Sometimes there’ll be water nessed tea’s ability to spring a contemplative connection
Earth Teacup (from 2018) for serving tea at OBSERVATO- people tasting the tea suddenly stopped talking and ex- dripping all over the floor, or the tea can easily get over- among humans, and between humans and tea, over and
RY. It’s a white porcelain tea cup with a rim that tilts at claimed something like, “This is incredible,” “What is this? brewed if we get distracted. It’s very humbling. Some days over, but differently each time. Basically, the formula is
a 23.5° angle—the angle of the Earth’s tilt toward the Sun. I’ve never tasted anything like it!” we just sit in awe of the flavor and color and are really to set up an open-ended context, at a small scale of two
It’s a subtle angle, but when you look at the cup, you can there for it. There’s something important in this process, to four people, where tea is offered as an aesthetic en-
see quickly that it makes a graceful bow toward the Sun. about being able to go with, and accept, how different the counter with the forces of sun, earth, wind, fire, water—
When holding the teacup in your hands, it’s easy to imag- outcomes can be from day to day. all within an unrushed sense of time.
ine holding the Earth and its tilt—an orientation that We keep showing up and creating a context in which Our biggest inspiration actually comes from Baisao,
makes so much possible on our planet. The cup invites an to become more intentional with ourselves, and to con- also known as the old tea peddler, who offered outdoor
embodied connection between your own human scale and sider how to share that with our audiences. The learning tea to passersby at roadsides in Kyoto in the early 1700s.
is endless, and this has been infinitely educational for us. He was a monk whose life became centered on tea. For
Sharing our own daily ritual of tea making and drinking him, a practice of tea wasn’t about exclusivity. It was about
with others inspires us to bring respectful attention to the hospitality for people and respect for the tea as an agent
tea we make, and to the act of sharing itself. of transformation and inspiration.
It’s magical when people seem to stop short and We are also inspired by sencha-do, a less formal tea
really taste the tea’s connection to the Earth, season, practice than chado. Sencha-do developed as a more in-
moment—and arrive into their own sensations of the clusive ceremony with fewer prescriptive rules. There’s
present moment through tea. It has been fulfilling and a more relaxed vibe surrounding the serving of sencha
creative to invite, and potentially set-up such moments. compared to matcha, which they also find meaningful.
It’s a bit like dreamtime in terms of what unfolds The idea is to lift the pretense so they can be less self-con-
during those experiences. Awareness becomes heightened. scious and simply be with the tea and each other.

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