I like to drink tea. It’s not a daily ritual for me but I enjoy the taste of a hot cup of herbal water and drinking different herbal mixes helps me achieve Dr. Terry Wahls’ protocol of consuming 200 different plant species in a year. Corinne Trang is a holistic health and nutrition counselor and a purveyor of top quality whole leaf tea. I have followed Corinne for a long time because of her simple healthy lifestyle and knowledge of tea so was really looking forward to my “Tea for One” private tea session with her.
The “Tea for One” session was in the tea room of Corinne’s house in High Falls, NY in the Hudson Valley. We drank five different whole leaf teas prepared in the traditional Chinese gong fu method. The teas were chosen based on tea experience, in my case very novice, and we drank them in order of least to highest oxidation. As the tea becomes more oxidized the flavor is more bold. Corinne steeped the tea for seconds in a Gaiwan, a porcelain cup with a lid for steeping teas, then pour a cup for each of us. We drank intentionally slurping to cool the tea. This ritual of steeping and slurping was repeated for a single tea four times, each time the flavor was stronger because the tea leaves were opening up. After 4+ steeps, Corinne would move onto the next tea. I found the gong fu practice of steeping and slurping each of the teas so calming and being served the tea in this way so grand. I can see why this is a form of active meditation.
Corinne is beautiful soul and having her serve tea in a traditional Chinese method while sharing her knowledge was an amazing experience. I left this “Tea for One” session with a calmness that rarely happens in my life and drove one and a half hours home in silence and present with just my thoughts. With so many demands in our lives, making time for self-care is necessary for good health and restoration.
Chrissy xo