The Song Legacy Lives On: A Six-Week Journey into Tea Aesthetics

As spring gives way to early summer, nature is at its most vibrant — and so is tea. This six-week tea course invites you to taste the season’s finest offerings while immersing yourself in the philosophy, aesthetics, and contemplative spirit of tea.

Wednesdays: Song Aesthetics and the Spirit of Chaji

In the Song Dynasty, tea was not just a drink — it was a ritual of elegance and self-cultivation. The art of diancha(whisked powdered tea) represented the scholarly pursuit of beauty and inner clarity. It later traveled to Japan, evolving into the refined tradition of the tea ceremony, with its core values of harmony (和), respect (敬), purity (清), and tranquility (寂).

Across six sessions, we will trace this lineage:

From the misty elegance of Jian ware to the technique of whisking tea paste into floating foam; from the poetic phrase “a meeting only once” to the spiritual attentiveness of…