Linda Walker, the new owner of
Tea Cozy, has tasted over 180 varieties of tea. She was a high
school sophomore in 2010 when she interned at the small tea shop
at the Arthouse on R. Walker took over after the previous owner,
Nami Thompson, retired in July. Walker, when she’s not putting
the dishes to wash or managing the floor, can be found educating
customers about various loose-leaf teas and serving a gongfu
cha-style tea tasting experience.

Gongfu cha, which means making
tea with effort in Chinese, is a method of preparing and
appreciating high-quality tea in small amounts, through repeated
pours. In November 2022, UNESCO added China’s traditional tea
processing techniques and associated social practices, including
gongfu cha, to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural
Heritage of Humanity.

Gongfu cha is a skillful,
artistic approach anybody can do at home with a gaiwan (a Chinese
teacup with a lid and saucer) or a small tea set. It involves
steeping large amounts of tea leaves in a small teapot, up to 20
times, and pouring the tea into cups. With each pour, the flavors
unfold further, revealing the leaves’ qualities.

This style of brewing tea is
growing in popularity in the Sacramento area. The experience is
considered meditative because it involves multiple preparatory
steps that encourage mindfulness, patience and presence. Many are
turning to the art form as another way to find balance and
harmony.

Cozying
up

“Different cultures are
interested in it, not just Chinese,” Walker says. “It’s the
younger (people), like high school or 20-something-year-olds, who
are invested in their spiritual growth.” She says she gets
customers from the “Russian rap scene” and in punk rock and metal
gear who are curious about oolong and other elements of Chinese
tea culture.

Walker explains how gongfu tea
connects people from various cultures and ages and has become
increasingly popular over the past five years. This led Walker to
start selling teaware and to create a gongfu cha starter kit for
beginners who want to get started but find it daunting.

Walker says this gongfu cha is
about adding five minutes of calm to one’s life, and tea pouring
helps break the cycle of around-the-clock social media scrolling
and other activities that might add stress. But she cautions
customers against getting bogged down by tea choices. In the end,
she says, “It’s just tea leaves and water.”

Beauty in the
ceremonial

For M.J. Greenmountain,
director of Jade Valley Retreat and CEO and founder of Jade
Mountain Tea, gongfu tea is a way of life. Each day, he
incorporates it into his yoga practice.

“I love how it makes me feel
physically,” Greenmountain says, “the calmness of the ritual, the
medicine of the pu’erh.” Pu’erh tea is a fermented tea from
Yunnan, China, said to have medicinal benefits. Greenmountain
says gongfu has helped him with his attention and focus, as well
as with physical problems.

Greenmountain got into this
ritual after meeting a teacher 27 years ago who taught him beyond
tea culture, opening up an “entire universe” for him. For Greenmountain, it’s the whole
experience, such as the tea art, aesthetics, meditation practice,
writing poetry, singing (Greenmountain is a musician), that adds
depth to his life. It’s also the “sense of beauty in the
ceremonial,” the way the table is set up, the tea set, the tea
room, the tea space, the atmosphere, that awakens his innate
senses.

Greenmountain also noticed a
growing interest in gongfu tea in the greater Sacramento Valley
and foothills because it is accessible to everybody. He says it’s
about cultural inclusion and people becoming more open.
Greenmountain says this method of brewing tea also helps one to
pause, step away from all the noise, and do something simple and
elegant for oneself.

Greenmountain, who has been
teaching Zen and about tea for the last 15 years, offers an
authentic gongfu cha tea tasting experience. He says anyone can
do this regardless of cultural background and can get started at
any skill level. The best way is to find a local reputable tea
house and start there. Once a person decides to practice this,
it’s essential to do so consistently to notice the benefits and
results. For Greenmountain, referring to how gongfu has made him
feel: “I like how I move in the world, how I relate to the world.
It’s been a life-changing thing.“

Sense of
wonder

Deborah Jane, owner and
creator of Botanica Village Apothecary, primarily practices
Western herbalism. However, she recently also started offering
gongfu tea for $25 at her store in Fair Oaks Village.

Her
foray into this Chinese style of brewing tea began as an
undergrad at UC Santa Cruz. “I was practicing gongfu tea, and I
didn’t call it that. I had these little teapots, and I would
drink Chinese green tea.”
She says she would frequent the now-closed Santa Cruz tea and art
store
Rivendell, where the
“teaman” (owner Wayne Brennan) would serve her tea when she
stopped by.

Some time later, Jane began
studying Japanese-style tea at the meditation center
Temple Kukuri in Fair Oaks and became fascinated by
pu’erh. Her teacher, Sawako Ama, didn’t use pu’erh and
referred her to Greenmountain,
who Jane had already met once before at an event at the temple.
She ended up studying with him for over a year and a half and
says she will continue her education with him to expand her tea
knowledge.

Jane enjoys this art form so
much that she brings a gongfu cha tea set on trips. “My favorite
is to take my little portable set and go to the river here, or
nature, when we’re up in the mountains or on
vacation.” Jane says
gongfu cha “feels like meditation.” Jane says this method of
preparing tea is more than just about slowing down. “You can have
tea anywhere,” she says, but it’s the beauty and nature
surrounding the practice that evoke a sense of wonder for
her.

“It brings me to a place of
that centeredness,” Jane
says, “but also gratitude for who I am and all the nature around
us that gives me direction in my life, especially at practicing
Western herbalism. So these cross, these come together.”

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