Earth asks us to integrate—to notice what has arisen, to digest our experiences, and to bring them into balance and clarity. One of its lessons is attention: paying close care to what we are doing, how we feel, and the qualities we bring into each moment. Tea offers a simple path for this practice: blending leaves, sitting quietly, or savoring a deeply roasted cup can teach us how distinct elements can harmonize into something more refined.
Take a moment this week to sit with what is here. Notice, quietly and without rush, how presence itself shapes the moment—and how small acts of attention can ripple outward, shaping your day and the world around you.
Tea Practice: The Subtle Art of Blending
Blending teas is one of the most nuanced practices in tea preparation. It requires attentiveness not only to flavor but also to the energetics of each leaf. The Earth Element encourages us to mix, harmonize, and assimilate, transforming multiple influences into a cohesive whole. In tea, this principle comes alive through blending, where the interaction of different leaves can create something greater than the sum of its parts.
If your days are still full of movement and activity, try experimenting with a blend of red tea and shou puerh. Shou puerh often serves as a grounding foundation, with its earthy, patient energy, while a carefully chosen red tea can lift the blend, adding brightness, a touch of bittersweet complexity, and subtle warmth. The process is less about following strict proportions and more about attuning to the leaves: tasting, adjusting, observing, and responding.
Blending tea demands presence. It slows us down, asking us to notice aromas, flavors, and textures in a way that a single tea might not. The act of balancing contrasting qualities mirrors life itself: how disparate experiences, emotions, and lessons can coalesce into a more refined, integrated whole. In this way, blending becomes a meditation in motion, an intimate dialogue with the leaves and with yourself.
Five Elements Reflection: Entering Stillness
As the Earth season deepens, we are drawn toward meditation, reflection, and inner work. This period prepares us for the yin months ahead—a time for quietude, assimilation, and rest. Earth teaches that integration is not passive; it is an active attention to the present, a willingness to be with what is, and a commitment to transforming it into something nourishing.
For those seeking guidance in stillness, Chan Buddhist teacher Guo Gu offers a clear and accessible approach in his teaching, How to Meditate. His instructions emphasize connection to each moment through awareness and relaxation, showing how we can meet our experiences with openness rather than judgment. Meditation, like tea practice, trains us to observe, refine, and harmonize—cultivating the inner balance that allows Earth’s qualities to settle deeply within us.
What We're Drinking: Water Fairy
Traditional Roast Yencha Oolong
Water Fairy, a Spring 2023 traditional roast from the Wuyi Mountains, is a tea that fully embodies the Earth season. Heavily roasted over wood charcoal, it presents a depth and complexity that feels perfectly attuned to autumn. Its character is simultaneously woodsy, floral, and subtly fruity, with a whisper of smoke that lingers on the palate. Each cup is a lesson in balance: the richness of the roast tempered by the tea’s inherent sweetness, a gentle complexity that mirrors the harmonizing work of the Earth element.
Drinking Water Fairy invites a full engagement of the senses. As you sip, notice how the flavors unfold gradually, encouraging patience and presence. For traditional Oolong lovers, it is a treasure; for anyone exploring tea as a practice, it offers an opportunity to connect deeply to both the season and to the meditative qualities inherent in a mindful tea ritual.
Creative Inspiration
The Monk by the Sea by Caspar David Friedrich (1810)
This painting captures a solitary figure in contemplation before the vast expanse of sea and sky. Its simplicity and openness evoke stillness and reflection, illustrating the delicate harmony between self and environment. Like a carefully blended cup of tea, the work invites us to notice what is present, to sit with it fully, and to observe how individual elements interact to create a broader, unified experience.
Friends of Living Tea: Meet Clare Fawn
Clare Fawn is a Divine Channel and Artist, based in Los Angeles, creating ceramic teaware that brings ceremony into the everyday. Connected to the spirit realms since childhood, she uses her gifts to guide and inspire others on their own paths.
After discovering tea in 2018, Clare cultivated a daily practice at home, deepening her understanding of mindfulness and ceremony. What began as a hobby in 2020 quickly evolved into a calling—guided by dreams, visions, and spirit, she crafts clay pieces that embody both function and reverence. Her work reminds us that every vessel we use in tea practice can become an extension of the ceremony itself, inviting presence, reflection, and care in every cup.