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T Tea
Story/ Evaa

THE LIFE PHILOSOPHY

OF TEA BREWING

When you think about Japanese tea, the first thing that pops up in famous. At the end of the 16th century, Sen no Rikyu
your head is matcha. However, the difference between matcha and brewed created matcha. At the end of the 18th century, Baisao,
tea is that matcha uses very fine green tea powder. Matcha is also di- after being a monk for 50 years, got tired of the corrup-
vided into strong and light types, but in brewed tea main ingredient tion among monks so he decided to travel around Kyoto
are leaves. The history of drinking brewed tea is much longer than and sell tea.
drinking matcha. Since the beginning of tea brewing culture, there When Baisao was 61, he opened a small tea shop.
weren’t any rules and people didn’t inherit the culture from their Baisao saw tea as a path to spiritual enlightenment and
ancestors, so the development of the brewing culture was slow. Accord- that is why he never sold his tea for a fixed price.
ing to Japanese history, tea brewing started to gain its popularity at the When there were no customers, Baisao lived a
end of the Edo period.
simple life, as he used money only to buy food. At the age
No matter it is matcha or brewing tea, it has been under the influ- of seventy four, he published A Collection of Tea Docu-
ences of the Chinese tea culture and Confucianism until now. The way of ments from the Plum Mountain. At the age of eighty one,
brewing tea in Japan is very common. They have different styles and equip- he burned many of his own tea utensils. After Baisao’s
ment. The person who brews tea is considered as “old tea seller”, so how death, despite the symbolic destruction of his tea utensils,
does the “old tea seller” build the foundation of uniting the style of brewing a codified brewing tea ceremony emerged.
tea with its spirit?
Can such simple way of living really match the nature
After Master Eisai came back from China, tea brewing became of tea? We selected two kinds of green tea for this ex-

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