5 Reasons Tea is the Perfect Valentine’s Day Gift for Your Partner

February is a month of festivities, what with the Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day coming up. The connotations of Chinese New Year and tea are obvious- traditions, reunion and celebration but what about Valentine’s Day?

A Western celebration with romance being the focus, what does it have to do with tea?

Here are 5 reasons you should consider giving your partner a Valentine’s Day gift:

1)   Let’s Grow Old Together

One common association of tea is its effect on longevity, stemming from the tea fanatic Emperor Qian Long who died at the auspicious age of 88 to Japanese population studies. Though it must be said that the jury is still out on this, in East Asian cultures especially, the association of tea and health is deeply engrained.

What you’re simply saying to your partner is that you want to grow old together with him or her. Anti-oxidants, polyphenols and other compounds, that only matter to someone who wants to stay by your side, not just for the night.

2)   The Process Matters

What many tea drinkers realize after a while is that drinking tea is only half the fun. The process matters. Finding the optimal balance of quantity of tea leaves, water temperature and infusion time, trying to extract maximum flavors from each brew with a mixture of skill and right utensil. The pursuit of perfection is never ending when it comes to making tea.

It’s more than just the end result – though the end result is immensely gratifying- sort of like maintaining a relationship.

Though this runs counter-intuitive to the microwave culture we live in, sometimes it’s good to slow things down and enjoy the process.

3)   Experience the emotional highs together

What I love best about tea is the emotions it evokes. Tea is never just about the taste, delightful as it be. It is the aftertaste, the mouth feel and above all how it all culminates together in a euphoric peak. Tea moves you and touches your heart, at least good tea does.

Experience that together with your partner. Delight each other and delight in each other with a cup of tea.

4)   Each cup is a new journey

You may not be able to journey to the ends of the earth together but each cup of tea is a journey on its own. One interesting facet of tea is that its place of origin has an impact on the taste of the tea. The volcanic soil of Wuyishan gives the Wuyi Sacred Lily its mineral, robust taste. The ephemeral purity of Huangshan, gives Huangshan Maofeng that otherworldly feel.

For the connoisseur, the various tea mountains of Xishuangbanna all have a distinct characteristic of their own.

Together with your partner, when you’re sipping a cup of tea, you’re actually experiencing the beauty of the place where it was grown. And the best tea is grown in mountainous areas- usually misty, enchanting mountains that evoke a sense of eternity.

5)   Serving your partner

In Gary Chapman’s 5 Languages of Love- acts of service is one of those listed (together with words of affirmation, receiving gifts, quality time and touch).  The spirit of tea exemplifies service.

Serving tea can be simple and it can be elaborate, but the principles behind Cha Dao (茶道) or the Chinese Way of Tea is the same- humility.

A lot of emphasis is on treating the other person as more important than one self. Here are some examples:

i)   Tea is always poured with the guest first and the host last

ii)   If you are pouring water into the pot or the serving cups, it is poured in an anti-clockwise manner (for right-handed people, the opposite is true for those who are left-handed) to signify a welcoming gesture, as you are beckoning your guest to ‘come’ as opposed to waving them off

iii)   The spout of the kettle or the tea pot should never face the guest, when in doubt, it would face the host

When you’re serving tea to your partner, you are demonstrating humility, a humility that is birthed out of love.

If you want to get started in brewing loose leaf tea, why not try our starter kit- designed and packaged with the complete novice in mind complete with video instructions so you can serve your partner like a pro.

With our next day local delivery service (free with purchases of $65 and above) you are still in time for Valentine’s Day. Though we will be closed for the Chinese New Year from the 8^th of February to 13^th, local orders (Singapore) received on those dates (cut off time 8pm on the 13^th Feb) will be delivered on Valentine’s Day itself.

Give your partner the gift of love today- the gift of tea.