Daniel Izeddin (text and video)

Updated Sunday, March 24, 2024-17:23

After water, tea and coffee are the most consumed hot drinks in the world

. According to UN data, in terms of kilos consumed on the planet, coffee would be second, but

in reality much more tea is drunk,

because with one kilo of its leaves you can prepare more cups than with one kilogram of coffee beans. coffee.

Tea, known for its calming and relaxing properties,

originates from China and has been consumed for thousands of years. To learn more about this infusion we visited San Wei,

a space located in Madrid perfect for great tea lovers or for those who want to get started in its universe.

Workshops to learn how to do the tea ceremony, tastings, accessories, travel sets, accessories or the

six varieties of their own tea brand,

Mounteas

,

are some of the attractions that we will find in this specialized tea shop located inside the Shaolin Cultural Center which also offers

exhibitions and tastings for companies,

such as the collaborations they have already done with

brands such as Loewe, Coca-Cola or Louis Vuitton

. Soon they will also collaborate with a ceramics workshop to hold a course where

students will be able to create their own teapots and bowls

and then learn the tea ceremony.

Mounteas, the tea brand created by San Wei.

"We try to

make each cup an experience toward better balance and harmony

," says Melissa Lin, co-director of San Wei and tea ceremony teacher, who demonstrates it to us. "With the ceremony, what we do is

present the tea in the best possible way to our guests

, creating the best possible atmosphere," explains Lin, who teaches different courses and workshops throughout the year. "Depending on each tea, the way of preparing them varies," she points out.

"You drink tea to forget the noises of the world

," says an old Chinese saying. Who tells us is Bruno Tombolato, Shaolin Kung Fu master and co-director of San Wei. "That phrase represents not only the tea ritual," he explains, "also everything related to Zen philosophy, because with Zen you also meditate to forget the noises of the world, and by noises we mean everything

that can torment your mind and that doesn't let you see clearly

," he specifies.

"

The origin of Zen is said to be in the Shaolin Temple

," explains Tombolato, "but there is also an origin that dates back much earlier, when

Shakyamuni Buddha,

in front of all the disciples

, picks a flower and shows it,

and only "A person smiles, and from there it is said that Zen is born, because that is what it is, it is the awakening through an action, from mind to mind, from heart to heart." That's why San Wei's logo is a hand with a tea leaf, "because

for us, when you drink tea you stay awake."

Courses and workshops are held in San Wei all year round. In the image, Melissa Lin performs the tea ceremony.

Tombolato says that when you try Chinese tea, loose tea, you can't go back. "It's a before and after.

A world of sensations opens up to you

," he says. "I have memories of teas I had 10 years ago and everything that happened at that time."

The centre's brand,

Mounteas

,

aims to offer a selection of teas sourced from six iconic mountains in China.

Each of them with their own geographical characteristics and distinctive microclimates. "That's why each cup is

a sensory journey to those mountains,

where nature and craftsmanship come together to create exceptional teas, full of character and flavor," he explains. Each of the six varieties is assigned a color and encompasses specific characteristics. "It's a way to make it more comfortable for us to get to know teas without having to choose between dozens of them," says Lin.

On the Mounteas website there is the

Mountest

,

a test in which you answer a series of questions and at the end of it,

the website recommends the most suitable tea for you.

As for the selected varieties, Tombolato and Lin travel to China every year to test the different plants that they later bring to Spain.

Each of the six colors comes from a mountain.

Another story tells that

Bodhidharma

, the monk who founded the form of Zen Buddhism,

had no eyelids

, because legend has it that while he was meditating he would fall asleep. Then one day, in anger, he took a blade that monks used to shave and

tore off his eyelids. Afterwards, he threw them out of the cave where he was meditating and in the place where they fell a tea plant grew.

"Obviously it is a legend," says Tombolato, "but it is very important because it represents constant practice. It also represents that tea helps us to be awake and is also an awakening. When we practice

the tea ceremony it is a moment of introspection, of reflection

". As another Chinese saying goes, "Zen and tea taste the same."