Caffeine is a naturally occurring substance found in the seeds, nuts, and leaves of various plants, including tea. While serving living or sustainable tea doesn’t mean it’s caffeine-free, it does mean these teas are rich in natural compounds that reflect how they were grown, harvested, and treated. The leaf expresses the tree’s relationship with its environment. In short, Tea carries the essence of Nature. Tea grown this way helps us relax, making it easier to listen to the voices of Earth and Spirit.

I am not here to negate the experience you have with caffeine in your everyday life, but I would offer that this type of ceremony is one in which the plant is revered, treated with respect from seed to leaf, and then consumed as Medicine. This is very different from the everyday way in which tea is consumed as a beverage. While I do not serve caffeine-free Teas, you are always welcome to simply drink less tea during the ceremony. This is a lovely way to titrate between receiving the essence of the experience while also honouring your body.

Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world, after water, and is often enjoyed without much ceremony. This is the tea most people are familiar with, as it is most widely available. However, tea has been consumed for nearly 6,000 years—for much of that time it was used as a shamanic plant medicine or as part of a spiritual practice.

I always serve only the plant Tea (Camellia sinensis and other Camellia varieties) when I host a Tea Ceremony. Since I’m serving Tea as Medicine I want that Medicine to be as healthy as possible. The leaf reflects the tree’s relationship with its environment, so if the tree is unhealthy—full of chemicals or grown in a way that harms the environment—how can we expect its leaves to help heal us. That means that I source my tea very consciously, aiming for something called Living Tea, which has very specific qualities. These qualities are not found in the kinds of tea that you can buy at any grocery store or tea shop.

There are six qualities that constitute a Living Tea:

1. The tea trees are seed propagated - planted from seeds, not clones or cuttings.

2. Tea needs room to grow up and out - the plants are not pollarded or crowding one another, they have space to grow freely.

3. There is biodiversity in the environment - bugs, birds, other plants can be found in and around the tee trees.

4. No irrigation is used - the trees get all their water from the environment in which they grows.

5. No agro chemicals (fertilizers or pesticides) are used - at all.

6. There is a healthy relationship with the farmers - the intention is to make the best quality tea they can, or even better, to make the best medicine they can.

This is what I always aim to serve, but of course not all teas can be living teas, some has to come from plantations. So at the very least, I drink and serve tea that is sustainable. Tea as a ceremonial plant medicine should not harm nature, should not harm the farmers, and should not harm our bodies. At the very least, the tea that I serve will be free of agrochemicals. If you are wanting to source your own high-quality tea, Global Tea Hut has been my favourite source for a long time. I also love the Selection at O5 Tea in Vancouver, if you’re looking for a closer-to-home shipping option and are in North America. Not all Tea is produced the same, so please do your own research and ask questions.

I share Tea and Tea Ceremony free of charge. I ask that if you find value in the experience (and are able to) that you consider a donation that reflects that value. Donations allow me to share Tea with anyone and everyone who feels called, and to not create barriers to the transformational healing that the practice can offer. You can now donate at time of booking, as well as in-person following the ceremony.

All Deep Listening™ and Integration Work sessions are offered beyond the practice of Tea Ceremony and are priced based on the length of the appointment. Currently that price is $200 CAD, to be paid at time of booking. Due to the time-consuming preparations for the nature of these sessions, no refunds will be given without 72 hours notice of cancellation.

Ceremony, in any form, transforms attention into intention, opening a doorway to deeper connection—with self, with source, and with community. When woven with a plant medicine like Tea—an ancient ally to humanity—ceremony becomes a vessel for profound healing, revealing the Sacred within the Ordinary.

I have learned to serve Tea through practice, studying with teachers and by listening to Tea herself. Tea brings a new lesson with every experience, every bowl; she is my constant teacher. I have human teachers whose other human teachers say they are learning new things about Tea every day, and they have been practicing for decades upon decades. I can say without question that this kind of relationship and conversation with Tea can only come through deep and patient practice, humility, and surrender over time.

Tea is quintessential to all four of the religions of China - the indigenous, tribal peoples (who lived alongside tea trees wild in the forests long before Tea came to the Han Chinese peoples), Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism. These traditions go back through the ages. but it is important to note that there are no unbroken lineages in China. There have been many cultural upheavals in China’s past - many of which were horrific and violent - and many cultural treasures, including methodology, traditions and lineages, have been lost forever. That being said, each of the human teachers today, in every lineage, has specific ways and methods of brewing and serving Tea, and they are all beautiful.

Each of these methods is based on ancient (and maybe some not so ancient) traditions pulled forward through time, weaving together new and old in a way that honours both. I believe that these living lineages or living traditions are a beautiful constellation of what remains, and what we yearn to remember. This is how I aim to serve Tea; honouring the past, honouring nature, and honouring Tea.

While my hope is that my offerings might encourage you to dive into your own relationship with Tea, the intention is not to teach you how to serve yourself or others. I have had human teachers, but I also believe that the depth and meaning of this kind of practice has to come from forming a relationship with Tea herself. This is how we find The Way, and it takes time. It is also not something I believe any human can truly teach you how to do. Tea will always be the best and greatest teacher of Tea.

Often, in sharing “how” to serve Tea, people get excited and share their practice and experiences too soon. I was one of those people, and have had many years of practice now in an attempt to make up for that. These offerings took shape as a means to help you to remember to remember; to allow for a deeper connection to Tea, to Nature, to the Mystery and ultimately to yourself to unfurl ALL IN GOOD TIME. That is an intimate, often deeply moving experience, and I believe in holding those close. 

If you are wanting to start your own Tea practice, please visit my human teacher Wu De's website Global Tea Hut (linked below). There are many back-issues of the Global Tea Hut magazine available for free, as well as several online courses and books available that can give you a wonderful foundation to start from.