High Tea

In my last post Good Faith III, I had narrated how some bankers who act in good faith but are not blessed by Lady Luck, suffer and have to make do with the tea and sympathy of others. Talking of tea, my mind meandered to the world of tea. This piece will be about the all-pervading tea which has become an integral part of human living.

It is said that tea sprang from the eye-lids of Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism. Bodhidharma meditated for 9 years. During this marathon meditation, he once became tired and dozed off. After waking up, he was so upset that to prevent himself from falling asleep again, he cut off his eye-lids and threw them away. The compassionate deity Quan Yin caused a tea plant to spring from the spot where the eye-lids had fallen. Bodhidharma brewed the leaves and found that it helped him to keep awake.

In another popular Chinese legend, Shennog, the legendary Emperor of China was once drinking a bowl of boiled water when a few leaves from a nearby tree were blown away and fell into the bowl. The colour of the water changed. Out of curiosity, he took a sip of it and was pleasantly surprised by its flavour. Then he introduced this brew to his people and this aromatic brew became a popular beverage.

Cultivation and brewing of tea in India has long been associated with traditional system of medicine. However, commercial production of tea in India started only after the arrival of British East India Company. Later, China overtook India in producing tea.

When I was working in Kolkata, we once visited Darjeeling. Darjeeling Tea is one of the best in its aroma and flavour. The view of tea-gardens on the slopes of hills there were a heavenly sight. Another memory of our Darjeeling visit is that clouds used to float into our room in the Bank’s Holiday Home, located on a hill-top, where we were staying. I enjoyed dashing against the moisture-bearing clouds and getting slightly wet. It was a great feeling.

This reminds me of the song ‘Ek kali do pattiyan…’ (A bud and two leaves) sung by the great Assamese vocalist Bhupen Hazarika (Lyric by Gulzar). The reference was to the process of tea-plucking where the bud and the two tender leaves at the tip of branches of tea-plants are plucked to produce dust-tea or leaf tea. Workers, mostly women, deftly pluck tea-leaves and skillfully put them into the deep baskets tied to their back. It is a sight worth watching.The first 4 lines of this soulful song run like this:
Ek kali do pattiyan
Najuk najuk unguliyan
Tod rahi hai kaun re ek kali do pattiyan
Ratanpur baagiche mein.

Here's the full song:

Since ages, tea has been used as a stimulating drink by people. In our childhood, we were taught that stimulating beverages like tea and coffee were harmful to health and were advised against them. So I developed a view and never took up the habit. After marriage the wife, who had and has the habit of taking tea every morning, tried hard to convert me to her side. In my turn, I tried my best to wean her away from this habit. And both lost. Then we entered into a truce for peaceful co-existence on the principle of 'live and let live'. I am not a ‘tea-totaller’ but not a habitual tea-drinker as well. A glass of milk in the morning and another in evening make my cup of happiness full.

I do not know whether Lord Krishna, the Makhan Chor, loved to take only butter or milk and milk-products as well. I love milk and all milk-products, so much so that my mother used to call me ‘cat’.

A large number of people cannot do without the morning ‘cuppa that cheers’. The late Krishna Menon who was Defence Minister under Nehru, was known to have endless cups of tea throughout the day.

Tea has become the easiest and cheapest way of entertaining unannounced visitors. During my college-days, when I used to visit my friends, their mothers used to offer me tea but I used to politely decline, saying that I did not take tea. I was the gainer for saying that. In order not to leave their children’s dear friend un-entertained, the loving mothers used to offer me more substantial and more healthful drinks or cookies. When I was working in the Bank, I used to entertain the visiting customers with tea but I was not joining them. However, when I used to visit the customers, I used to accept the tea offered by them in order not to make them feel awkward.

In my Bank, everywhere the subsidized canteens used to supply tea to the staff-members twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. My boss at one place never used to take tea. He used to comment light-heartedly that people get tired soon after reaching office and so need to take tea to stimulate them to work!!!

There are different kinds of tea, viz. milk tea, black tea, lemon tea, ginger tea etc, for each according to her or his taste.

Tea has created a group of highly-skilled professionals, the tea-tasters. Due to climatic conditions, topography and manufacturing-processes, tea acquires different flavours and appearances. Tea-tasters are employed to taste and certify the quality and grade of the tea produced. With a large spoon, a tea-taster noisily slurps the tea. This way, both the tea and plenty of oxygen are passed over all the taste-receptors in the tongue to give an even taste of the profile of the tea. Then the liquid is spat out.(Imagine the taster drinking in all the tea that she/he tastes during a day!) According to the sensation in the taste-buds, the taster certifies the quality of the tea. Tea-tasting is an art supported by science. It is a gifted career in the industry.

Tea has a special place in American history. The ‘Boston Tea Party’ is a landmark in the history of American independence. The Americas were British colonies. Almost all of the settlers were of British origin but the colonies had little say in their own administration. The attempts of British King George III to tax tea increased the resentment against the British. The colonies refused to pay taxes claiming they had no obligation to pay taxes imposed by the British Parliament in which they had no representation. ‘No Taxation without Representation’ became a popular slogan. In 1773, the British Parliament gave East India Company, monopoly to import tea to America. When 3 ships laden with tea arrived at Boston port, about 200 men entered the ships and threw the cargoes into the sea. This came to be known as ‘Boston Tea Party’. The movement gathered momentum; 3 years later, on the 4th of July 1776, America declared independence and became U S A.

Talking of so much about tea, I am reminded of the saying, ‘There’s many a slip between the cup and the lip.’. It implies that even when the outcome of an event appears to be certain, things can still go wrong. The expression has its origin in Greek legend. An Argonaut – a person engaged in dangerous but rewarding quests – returned home to his winery. A soothsayer had earlier predicted that Argonaut would die before he tasted another drop of wine. After returning safe from a dangerous journey, Argonaut called the soothsayer and toasted him. In reply, the soothsayer repeated the saying. Finishing his toast, Argonaut raised a cup filled with wine to his lips but before taking a sip, he was called to hunt a wild boar. He put down the cup and moved to first confront the boar planning to come back to his cup after completing the job. He was killed by the boar and could never return to his cup!

Because of its use in adding sugar to tea, one size of spoons got the name 'tea-spoon', another type being called  'table spoon'. Tea-spoons have been accepted as a standard of measurement. In cooking, the tea-spoon' is widely used, e.g., 'one tea-spoon full turmeric powder' etc.

The story of tea would be incomplete without mentioning Japanese Tea Ceremony, a solemn and a very special event of enjoying the austere taste of tea, quietly and serenely. It is an elaborate and stylised preparation of a pot of tea that is served in formal near-silence in a beautiful bowl to 5 or 6 guests. It can go on for as long as 4 hours. It is like meditation as the Japanese prepare, serve and drink tea very reverently, aesthetically and meditatively. It is about being focused. The idea is: Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis around which the world revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing towards the future; live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.
A Question
There are ‘Coffee Houses’ which intellectuals visit and discuss various matters concerning human society over a never-ending stream of beverage. There is a famous short story ‘Coffee House’ by Rabindranath Tagore. Why are there no ‘Tea Houses’?

TO END WITH:
Tea in the morning, tea in the evening, tea at supper-time;
You get tea when it is raining, tea when it is snowing;
Tea when the weather is fine.
(A parody to McGuire Sisters’ 1958 song ‘Sugartime’)