Driven to Drink (Tea)

I’ve spent the last week studying the simple act of making tea. In China serving tea can signify respect, be offered as an apology, and enjoys a special status on ones wedding day. The Japanese tradition has less to do with the actual tea itself, rather the ceremony and associated activities - concepts of harmony, respect, purity and tranquility under pinning the process of brewing and serving tea to guests.

Even in everyday circumstances here, the time, energy and money an individual will invest making a brew is quite revealing. Apparently its not that uncommon to enjoy your elevenses enough to write or even sing about the experience. The inspiration behind “10 Poems about Tea”, the website nicecupofteaandasitdown.com, and countless entries on youtube, it seems that the humble cuppa means something different and constitutes a unique experience to everyone. I’m amazed so straightforward an act as pouring boiling water onto some dry leaves can enjoy such a range of associations and variations in process.

Going back 200 years tea was a purely luxury good - whereas today the UK gets through 165 million cups a day. Its worth noting not only how the design of tea paraphernalia has changed to reflect this mass consumption - from dedicated tea houses containing special stoneware, to disposable paper bags and styrofoam beakers, but also how tea has changed the social landscape of the country. It has replaced alcohol has the acceptable drink of choice in many circumstances, and even contributed to the emancipation of women by offering the tea house as a reputable social venue outside of the home.

Offering a guest a cup of tea is still a significant social gesture, to not do so is a faux pas. “Putting the kettle on” is an act so engrained in our everyday social interactions, that I don’t really consider the tea bag or kettle as a designed object. Yet it is the one relationship I have with a physical object that almost everyone in the country regardless of age or background could identify with. I can’t think of many other products that have achieved the same universal acceptance, and I don’t know if I’ll ever see the iphone becoming quite so ubiquitous.