Short Stories: Love

The Way of Tea

I always enjoyed coffee over tea. I liked how it energized me. The scent of it that makes you feel at home. It's warm and bitter yet cozy. What can I say? Coffee's a great drink and I wouldn't give it up for anything else! Sadly, my sister doesn't think the same. She likes tea, Earl Grey, Green tea, whatever, you name it she probably tried it or wants to try it. I don't get it, tea is basically water with a bunch of leaves, sure the colours look cool but what else is there to the drink?

It's my sister though, she's all history books and fantasy stories with stars in her eyes as she rants over the plot of a movie or a book she rather enjoyed. Shes' been the sort of free spirit and her work reflected that. She's a composer and I'm a scientist. She's can make music with even the barest essentials, tin cans, empty glass bottles and what not and me? I explain to her my latest research on jellyfish. In a way, we were balanced, I'm logic and she's creativity.

But even logic won't help you when you get news you thought impossible.

My sister died because of a car crash. The driver was drunk and high, barely even walked straight, and she was on her way to the grocery.

I'm not sure what drove me to try out tea, maybe it was the way she would scowl and say I'm not even trying when ever I just down my tiny cup of tea like a shot. Maybe it's the fact she had gave me her tea set in her will, something about finding someone who likes tea as much as she did. For a while, I had left it in a display case. I barely looked at it without recalling her scowl or her excited rambling words as she poured herself a cup while I nursed my mug of coffee.

One day I recalled how she was excited to get the some tea cake called a 'Sheng Pu er' or something like that and I had to deal with settling everything. I could have cancelled it or gave the cake to some other person but I didn't. I looked to realize it was all in tiny little coin like shapes, figured why not? And grabbed the tea set.

I remember how my sister prepared her tea, while I never did like the drink, I was fascinated at all the stuff she had to do just to drink some lousy leaf juice. It looked like a lot of effort to me and I always poked fun about it. She told me it was calming and it was as much an art as music was. So here I was with a gaiwan, a weird little tea statue that looks like a dragon, her tea slab thing and a hot pot of water. I opened the little cake thing and I placed it in. Then I poured in the water and watched it open.

"Okay, so after I pour in the water, it immediately steeps so you pour out the first steeping like so!"

It was like hearing her voice directing me all over again on how she made tea. I had asked about the pretty elaborate looking process and she was all too happy to explain.

I can see why she enjoyed the process, it's almost like being in a lab, making things all over again. I poured the first steeping over the tea pet and for the first time, I listened. I could smell it, deep, subtle and earthy in a way. It wasn't as loud or as 'in your face' as coffee is. It was so subtle that I had to be looking for it. Then, I poured it again, taking the gaiwan and drinking it, slowly. Only a sip at first and it was so robust and dark, I felt like it was sort of like coffee. Alright, not so bad then...

I found out that it was best to sort of slurp while sipping, my mouth open and I tasted that heavy robust flavour bursting on my tongue. As i continued to drink I couldn't help but feel as if my sister would have loved this. She was so excited to receive this and she had looked forward to brewing it in front of me, hoping that I might begin to come around tea.

As I finished my drink and tried another pouring technique my sister showed me ("I like brewing my rolled oolong like this!")  I couldn't help it. I cried.

After all, my sister had always been telling me I wasn't listening to her and that I wasn't actually putting in effort to try it. I had brushed her off, after all how much depth is there to a bunch of leaf juice? With coffee there are so many ways to brew it, but with tea you pour hot water in it and you're good!

To think that all it took for me to actually appreciate the drink was her death, it brought a wave of regrets that I couldn't repress. Maybe if I had listened we would have enjoyed this tea together. Maybe if I had listened some of our interactions wouldn't be so negatively based. Maybe-

I drowned my sorrows by finishing a third steeping, made heavier and stronger.

After that, I began tasting and trying out all the teas she loved. I searched it up, I wrote down a list that she loved and I never had. I began holding a tea storage and a coffee storage, as if I was drinking for the two of us. And in a way, I was. She loved Jasmine, matcha, lemongrass, oolongs, black teas, white teas. She tasted and tried as much as she could. I had begun to do the same. I started with the Pu Er I had, then oolongs, then black tea, I moved on to white tea and green teas.

I made it a point to sit down, taste them, smell them, savour them. All the while every taste reminded me of her.

I had drunk a Jasmine tea for her birthday. It was her favorite after all, always had it in stock.

"Green teas are one of my favorite types but Jasmine has to be my all time favourite! I guess you can blame Iroh for it." A bright smile and a giggle, "Either way, it always brings a smile to my face whenever I so much as catch a whiff."

"How can you smell it when you barely smell anything?"

"I remember and I know!"

"...That makes no sense but okay."

One of my co-workers commented on how I was starting to bring tea occasionally to work. I smiled and said nothing. The ones that knew, well, they patted me on the back said she would have been happy and left it at that.

And on the day she had died, I brewed my self a coffee in the morning and sat down at night to savour a cup of Sheng Pu Er. After all, I am drinking for two now.

Lifting my gaiwan up in a toast, I welcomed the heavy taste of tea into my mouth.

This is for you, sis.

\Author's Corner!/
Okay so here's a tea related one! I got the idea while I was drinking lemongrass tea and watching sad commercials because why not? Hehe, I haven't tasted a Pu Er yet but I hope that I will in the future! As for what a gaiwan is, it's like a tea pot but not? I figured a picture would be better than describing it so heres' one!

As for the entire brewing process, look up Gongfu Cha! The name of chapter is also a reference to Cha Do which is what the Japanese use to reference to their tea ceremonies, the translation is 'The Way of Tea' hehe. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this and thank you for reading!