Five Weekly Items to Support a Life of Tea

1. Tea Practice: Taste as a Gateway to Mindfulness

For many of us, the experience of tasting tea is unconscious and reactive. We sip, and without thinking, label it: I like this or I don’t like this. But what happens when we slow down and begin to explore the nuance of what we’re tasting?

This week, we invite you to bring more mindfulness to your tea by moving beyond binary thinking. Instead of asking, Do I like this or not?, ask:

• Why do I like or dislike this tea?
  

• How strong is my preference or aversion?
  

• What are the textural qualities? Is the body thin, round, dry, smooth?
  

• What sensations arise as I drink? Physical? Emotional? Energetic?
  

• How does the tea evolve over multiple steepings?
  

• How does it make me feel—in my body, in my heart, in my mind?
  

We also recommend starting a tea journal if you haven’t already. It’s a simple yet transformative practice. Describe your experiences in writing. Use sensory language. Don’t be afraid to fumble—it’s through articulation that awareness deepens.

To support your tasting practice, try exploring a Flavor Wheel. It’s a great tool to expand your vocabulary and refine your palate. You might be surprised how much deeper your enjoyment becomes when you have more words to describe what you’re experiencing.

Finally, revisit the descriptions we write for our teas. Do they resonate with your experience? Are there notes or sensations we didn’t mention that stand out to you? Developing this reflective awareness builds a relationship with tea that goes beyond consumption—it becomes an exploration of presence.

And one last thing: don’t give up on a tea just because it didn’t appeal at first. Some of the most profound connections with tea develop over time. What resists us can also refine us.

2. Elemental Reflection: Fire into Earth – A Season of Fullness

We’re currently transitioning from the Fire Element of summer into the Earth Element of late summer. In nature, this is the time when fruits ripen and the energy of growth slows into maturity. It’s a season of fullness, ripening, and harvest—but also a time of quiet grounding after the exuberance of Fire.

Earth Element is associated with nourishment, integration, and stability. This week, we invite you to reflect on how these themes are showing up in your own life.

Journal Prompts for this Season:

• Where in my life do I feel full right now? What have I created, cultivated, or carried to term?
  

• What’s ready to be harvested—or gently released?
  

• What gets in the way of feeling true satisfaction?
  

• What does it feel like—physically, emotionally—to experience satisfaction or contentment?
  

• What are my needs right now, and am I tending to them honestly?
  

These questions don’t need immediate answers. Let them simmer. Let them meet the season’s rhythm. If nature is full, can you allow yourself to be full too? Not endlessly striving, not contracting—just ripe. Just enough.

 

3. What We’re Drinking: Billow – Wild Harvest Masterpiece Red Tea

When we say Billow is a masterpiece, we don’t use that word lightly.

This red tea is a rare gem—crafted by a Dian Hong master with over 50 years of experience, using Yunnan small-leaf tea. Only one batch is made each spring, and it’s now available in our shop—for a short time.

Billow is incredibly clean, thick, and layered, with a profile that evolves like a well-written story. The initial aroma is rich with caramel, and early steepings carry malty, smoky notes reminiscent of Lapsang Souchong. As it opens, subtle fruitiness and slight astringency appear around the edges, giving way to a soft, sweet finish.

What sets Billow apart is its sumptuous body—thick, velvety, and balanced. It’s one of those teas that lingers long after the cup is empty, not just in flavor but in feeling. It’s uplifting without being buzzy, making it a favorite during this transitional season where grounding energy is especially supportive.

From Colin:

“I drank Billow for two weeks straight when I first got it—it was that satisfying. It’s been my go-to red tea ever since.”

This is a tea you won’t want to miss. When it’s gone, it’s gone.

Shop Billow Now

 

4. Creative Inspiration: Perfect Days (2023)

We’re constantly inspired by art that mirrors the heart of Tea practice. This week, we’re recommending the quiet, poetic film Perfect Days by Wim Wenders.

The film follows Hirayama, a janitor in Tokyo, as he moves through simple, ritualistic days—cleaning toilets, listening to old cassette tapes, tending plants, taking photos of trees. There's almost no exposition, very little dialogue. Just the spaciousness of repetition, rhythm, and presence.

Perfect Days doesn’t dramatize meaning—it lets it emerge. Slowly. Softly.

Watching it feels like steeping a tea for the fifth time and finally catching its essence.

If you’re looking for something contemplative, subtle, and deeply aligned with the Way of Tea, this is it.

 

5. Friend of Living Tea: Brian Dickinson of Sacred Herbal Extracts

Each week, we feature a Friend of Living Tea—community members, collaborators, creators, and people who inspire us and are woven into the fabric of the tea world. This week, we’re highlighting Brian Dickinson of Sacred Herbal Extracts, with whom we collaborated to create a Metal Element spagyric tincture for our Autumn Seasonal Tea Club.

Brian’s work is rooted in a rare blend of ancient tradition, modern science, and deep reverence for nature. Trained as a mechanical engineer, Brian transitioned into plant alchemy after years of studying herbalism, sound therapy, and alternative healing modalities. He incorporates teachings from Native American practices and the ancient Egyptian art of spagyrics—a method of creating whole-plant tinctures that honor the body, spirit, and essence of the plant.

In 2018, Brian founded Sacred Herbal Extracts to share these potent, ceremonial tinctures with the wider world. His creations are used in retreats, healing centers, and personal practices across the U.S.—and now, in Living Tea’s Autumn Seasonal Tea Club.

We recently hosted an Instagram Live with Brian to discuss his path, his process, and his approach to seasonal medicine. If you missed it, we highly recommend watching the replay.

Brian’s work reminds us that all plant medicine, like Tea, is most powerful when it comes from a place of care, respect, and relationship.