Enjoy life sip by sip not gulp by gulp.
- The Minister of Leaves
Thank God for Tea! What would the world do without tea? How did it exist?
I am glad I was not born before tea.
- Rev. Sydney Smith
I always fear that creation will expire before tea-time.
- Rev. Sydney Smith
Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.
- Henry Fielding
Remember the tea kettle - it is always up to its neck in hot water, yet it
still sings!
- Unknown
There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the
ceremony known as afternoon tea.
- Henry James
While theres tea theres hope.
- Sir Arthur Pinero
Tea- the cups that cheer but not inebriate.
- William Cowper
There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world.
- Tien Yiheng
Ecstasy is a glass full of tea and a piece of sugar in the mouth.
- Alexander Puskin
I am in no way interested in immortality,
but only in the taste of tea.
-Lu tung
Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage.
- Catherine Douzel
Come oh come ye tea-thirsty restless ones - the kettle boils, bubbles and
sings,
musically.
- Rabindranath Tagore
One sip of this will bathe the drooping spirits in delight, beyond the bliss
of dreams.
-Milton
As long as it is hot, wet and goes down the right way, its fine with me.
-Sarah Fergerson, The Dutchess of York, On Tea
Tea is wealth itself, because there is nothing that cannot be lost,
no problem that will not disappear, no burden that will not float away,
between the first sip and the last.
-The Minister of Leaves
In nothing more is the English genius for domesticity more notably declared
than in the institution of this festival - almost one may call it - of
afternoon tea...The mere chink of cups and saucers tunes the mind to happy
repose.
-George Gissing
[I am a] hardened and shameless tea drinker, who has for twenty years
diluted his meals only with the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose
kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses the evening, with tea
solaces the midnight, and with tea welcomes the evening.
-Samuel Johnson
What part of confidante has that poor teapot played ever since the kindly
plant was introduced among us. Why myriads of women have cried over it, to
be sure! What sickbeds it has smoked by! What fevered lips have received
refreshment from it! Nature meant very kindly by women when she made the
tea plant; and with a little thought, what a series of pictures and groups
the fancy may conjure up and assemble round the the teapot and cup.
-William Makepeace Thakery
...for tea, though ridiculed by those who are naturally coarse in their
nervous sensibilites, or are become so from wine-drinking, and are not
susceptible of influence from so refined a stimulant, will always be the
favored beverage of the intellectual...
-Thomas De Quincy
Tea had come as a deliverer to a land that called for deliverance; a land of
beef and ale, of heavy eating and abundant drunkenness; of gray skies and
harsh winds; of strong nerved , stout-purposed, slow-thinking men an women.
Above all, a land of sheltered homes and warm firesides - firesides that
were waiting - waiting, for the bubbling kettle and the fragrant breath of
tea.
-Agnes Reppiler
...For tea, though ridiculed by those who are naturally
coarse in their nervous sensibilities, or are to become so from
wine-drinking, and are not susceptible of influence from so
refined a stimulant, will always be the favored beverage of the
intellectual...
- Thomas De Quincey
Surely every one is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry
fireside; candles at four oclock, warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker,
shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whist the
wind and rain are raging audibly without.
- Thomas De Quincey
Tea had come as a deliver to a land that called for deliverance; a land of
beef and ale, of heavy eating and abundant drunkenness; of gray skies and
harsh winds; of strong-nerved, stout-purposed, slow-thinking men and women.
Above all, a land of sheltered homes and warm firesides - firesides that
were waiting - waiting, for the bubbling kettle and the fragrant breath of
tea.
- Agnes Reppiler
Afternoon Tea should be provided, fresh supplies, with
thin bread-and-butter, fancy pastries, cakes, etc., being
brought in as other guests arrive.
- Mrs. Beeton
The Book of Household Management
Tea Poetry
If you are cold, tea will warm you;
if you are too heated; it will cool you;
if you are depresses, it will cheer you;
if you are exhausted, it will calm you.
- William Gladstone
Steam rises from a cup of tea
and we are wrapped in history,
inhaling ancient times and lands,
comfort of ages in our hands.
-Faith Greenbowl
The cozy fire is bright and gay,
The merry kettle boils away
and hums a cheerful song.
I sing the saucer and the cup;
Pray, Mary, fill the teapot up,
And do not make it strong
- Barry Pain
The first bowl sleekly moistened throat and lips,
The second banished all my loneliness
The third expelled the dullness from my mind,
Sharpening inspiration gained
from all the books I've read.
The fourth brought forth light perspiration,
Dispersing a lifetimes troubles through my pores.
The fifth bowl cleansed evry atom of my being.
The sixth has made me kin to the Immortals.
This seventh...
I can take no more.
-Lu Tung,Chinese Poet
Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa around,
And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups
That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful evening in
- William Cowper
We had a kettle, we let it leak;
Our not replacing it made it worse,
We havent had any tea for a week...
The bottom is out of the Universe!
- Rudyard Kipling
A toast to the grace of the pot,
ready at all time
To give up its emptiness
for the tea.
-The Minister of Leaves
At last the secret is out,
as it always must come in the end,
The delicious story is ripe to tell an intimate friend;
Over tea-cups and in the square the tongue has its desire;
Still waters run deep, my dear,
theres never smoke without fire
- W.H Auden
With each sip I taste
the fire that gives its heat.
The water that gives its wetness.
The leaf that gives its spell.
The pot that gives its emptiness.
With each lingering sip
I cannot help but see
all that makes tea
as well make me.
-The Minister of Leaves
On herbs.
There is nothing to resist.
With nothing to resist them.
Harmony and balance to not hide.
Entering harmony and balance,
I wash my teacup.
-The Minister of Leaves
The soil.
The elevation.
The climate.
The sunshine.
The rain.
The tea.
Body.
Mind.
Equanimity.
Harmony.
Water.
Tea.
- The Minister of Leaves
I invite you magnanimously
to please be my guest for tea
at a room with high standards of taste
where the hostess remembers my face
and greets me by name at the door
and recalls what Ive ordered before
and inquires kindly after my day,
and appreciates all that I say.
Shell have orange pekoe for the pot
and darjeeling, as likely as not,
or if you are not in the pink
our hostess knows which herbs to drink,
like ginger to help with the grippe
mixed with cinnamon and the rose hip;
or fresh lemon balm if you wish,
perhaps blended with sweet licorice.
So whether you feel well or ill,
this refreshment will quite fit the bill
and, of course, you will quite enjoy me.
Yours truly. RSVP
-Aubrey Henslow
Tea Mind
Humilitea, Possibilitea, Qualitea, Solidaritea, Abilitea, Equalitea,
Individualitea, Serenitea, Insanitea, Confidentialitea, Vitalitea,
Creativitea, Sportea, Claritea, Realitea
Activitea, Longevitea, Impossibilitea, Familiaritea, Humanitea, Puritea,
Levitea, Longevitea, Immunitea, Digestabilitea, Electricitea, Sensualitea,
Femininitea,
Festivitea
- Adapted from: Letters to a Young Zentrepenur - The Republic of
Tea
![[ IMAGE: Ya-Ya Teahouse ]](http://www.yayateahouse.co.nz/blog/wp-images/Ya-Ya-Teahouse.jpg "[ IMAGE: Ya-Ya Teahouse ]")
