{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Chaxi: Harmony, Art & Expression in Tea","description":"We've been wanting to explore chaxi on Talking Tea ever since we visited the Tea Institute at Penn State University back in 2016. Tea was prepared and served to us by students in the Chinese tea track at the Institute with a degree of artistry and calm precision we had never quite witnessed anywhere else, and when we asked some of the students where they learned to prepare tea in this way, they suggested we speak with one of their teachers and mentors, St\u00e9phane Erler, to learn more about chaxi, an artistic expression of tea originating in Taiwan. It took us a couple of years, but we finally caught up with St\u00e9phane recently on one of his visits to the US, and we're proud to welcome him to Talking Tea. St\u00e9phane is a tea educator, seller and blogger based in Taiwan - he hosts the very well-respected Tea Masters Blog - and, among other things, St\u00e9phane practices, teaches and writes about chaxi. We talk with St\u00e9phane about his own beginnings in tea, his study and work with tea master Teaparker, and about the history of chaxi in Taiwan, and then we delve into the practice and principles of chaxi. Chaxi means "tea play", and St\u00e9phane chats with us about how chaxi is a kind of performance but also a way of creating a tea mandala, a picture of a harmonious world through tea. We discuss the priorities of function and art within chaxi, and we explore the question of how the host can best express the character of the leaves as well as the host's own sentiments and feelings through the chaxi.  In this context we talk about the choice of teaware, the importance of colors and visual harmony, the use of flowers or plants, the addition of music or other background art, and most importantly the skills and mindset needed to prepare the best possible tea in a beautiful setting, finding resonance and harmonious connections between the tea, the teaware, the setting and the participants. Further resources for learning about chaxi are on St\u00e9phane's blog, teamasters.blogspot.com. St\u00e9phane's selection of excellent teas (we've tried several of them, and they were all fantastic), teawares and other items for use in chaxi are available at his online boutique, tea-masters.com.  You can  also find St\u00e9phane on Twitter at @TeaMastersBlog and on Instagram at @stephane_erler.   Talking Tea is produced and hosted by Ken Cohen. You can follow Ken on Twitter @kensvoiceken.    more about Talking Tea  Sign up for our email list to get updates on new episodes and events. Talking Tea's 2016 coverage of the Penn State Tea Institute is in our episodes Tea Goes to College and Tea, Heart to Heart.    The views and opinions expressed by guests on Talking Tea are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Talking Tea or its staff.   This podcast features music from \u201cJapanese Flowers\u201d (https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/mpgiii\/japanese-flowers) by mpgiiiBEATS (https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/mpgiii) available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0\/). Adapted from original. Photo of a chaxi by St\u00e9phane Erler, courtesy of St\u00e9phane Erler. Header image \u201cRaw Puerh mid 1980 Menghai\u201d by Cosmin Dordea, used under a Creative Commons CC By-SA 2.0 license. Adapted from original.   ","author_name":"Talking Tea","author_url":"https:\/\/talkingteapodcasts.com\/","html":"