What Do I Really Find in Tea?

Hello, my tea friends. Welcome back to Weiss Tea Time. Today is a little bit unusual. As you can see, I'm out in nature and there's no tea set up. It looks quite different from my previous tea videos. This video today came from a random idea as I just wanted to sit down and have a casual chat with you for a few minutes because there's a question that I have been thinking for quite a long time and I thought it might be worth talking about maybe exchanging some thoughts if you have ever thought about the same thing. So as a tea lover, also a tea content creator, I keep asking myself why am I doing this and what do I really find in tea? Why is it so important to me and also to so many others? For a long time, I thought that the answer was quite clear because I love the tea itself. I love the flavor, the aroma, and the history, also the craftsmanship. And of course, all of this matters to me a lot. I really enjoy exploring them. But in the back of my head, I also knew it wasn't all of it and maybe not even the most important part. But before I tell you my conclusion, I'd love to share a few recent moments with you that helped me to get clear about my own answer. The first one is about my husband. Recently, I asked him the same question because before we met, he was definitely a coffee drinker and he used to drink several cups every day at work. And now he drinks more tea than coffee. So every morning before he leaves for the office, he will take a thermos with white tea, which he can refill at work. So when I asked him what tea brings to you and why you drink it, he answered like that. He said, I drink it because it reminds me of you and the time we spend sitting together and relaxing. I really appreciate that answer and it felt very warm to hear. And of course, it's the same for me. But I just never thought about it in that way before. So for my husband, tea is not really about tea, but it carries love. And the second story is about myself. So recently, since the beginning of spring, the pollen season started in Germany, so my allergies were catching up. So my nose is running all the time and I cannot sleep well. So my head feels very heavy. Even so, I still had to get up and do what I need to do. But in many of these situations, I found a solution for myself, making tea. Even I wasn't thirsty at all, but I don't know why, when I watched the water slowly come to a boil and the tea began to open up and something about the steam and also the whole thing reminded me of my childhood. So when I was little, I remember seeing my mom cooking in the kitchen, always making me feel safe and happy. It wasn't really about food, but it was simply knowing she was there. Somehow, watching that pot of tea gave me a very similar feeling. In that moment, for me, tea carried comfort. So even my allergies were still there. I still had a long to-do list, so nothing had really changed. That also made me think about something else. Also, maybe that's why my relationship with tea changed over time. Because I grew up in China and tea was a simple part of our daily life. So before or after meals, or when guests came over, it was so normal that I hardly noticed it. Just like a fish in water. And then later, I left China and I studied abroad for a few years. And now I live in Germany with my husband. And strangely, the farther away I got from China, the more I started to notice tea. Not as just a drink, but as something that connected to home, to people and culture, also the way of seeing life. So the tea didn't really change, but I did. And that wasn't my last clue. Recently, someone left a very nice comment under my last long video. He or she asked me if I could talk about the cha qi or yan yun in my future topics. And first of all, if you are that person who left that comment, and now you're watching this video, I want to say thank you. Because these days, anyone can ask AI for a definition. So all of these terms are very easy to find. But when someone asks from my perspective, I don't think they are looking for only information. I think they are looking for something human. So a story, an experience, also a different way of seeing the same thing. And that's what I exactly been looking for too. Not only just information, but a connection, and the feeling of being understood. And so after thinking all of this, one thing became very clear to me. So my husband wasn't really looking for tea, and I wasn't really looking for tea. And maybe this viewer wasn't really looking for tea either. So we're all looking for something behind it. What do we find in tea? It's not actually in tea. I don't think tea itself is the answer. And to be honest, I don't think it needs to be. Sometimes we make tea bigger than it is. We talk about cha qi, yan yun, shan chang, hui gan, and all of these things are interesting. But we often forget something very simple. So tea is just tea. Very often, what changes our experience, not only tea, it's us. It's our mood, our attention, and also where we are in life. So the same tea can taste totally different on different days. Not because the tea changed, but we changed. There's an old Chinese saying, kàn shān shì shān, kàn shān bù shì shān, kàn shān yù shì shān. This means, at first you see a mountain as a mountain, and then later you see a mountain as something else. And then finally you see a mountain as a mountain again. So the mountain never changed, but the person looking at it did. So if you ask me today, what do I really find in tea? My answer is very simple. So it's not the tea itself, but it helped me to slow down enough to see what is truly valuable in life, especially in this fast-paced world. And this is just my small reflection, and I have been thinking for quite a long time, and I simply wanted to share this with you today. I hope I was able to express myself in a foreign language. And now it's your turn. So what does tea mean to you, and when was the last time you truly slowed down? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. And thank you for watching until the end. I know many places are very hot right now, so wherever you are, please slow down and take care of yourself. Today, instead of saying about tea drinking, I'd like to say we are the heroes in and out of Asia.