Celebrate the Spring Equinox With Balance Teas
First came Daylight Saving Time, on Sunday. Suddenly, instead of turning dark at 6 the skies stay bright until 7. By the summer solstice on June 20, we enjoy sunlight until 8—more than 15 hours of daylight.
And a week from today comes the spring equinox, the day during which both sun and darkness share equal measures—roughly 12 hours each.
While most people gloss over the spring equinox, it registered as an enormous occasion for cultures in history. The Mayans designed pyramids in such a way that serpent-shaped shadows would slither down walls on the spring equinox. The Celts honored Ostara, goddess of dawn and fertility (the word Easter is thought to derive from the celebration).
In Persia today, the equinox coincides with Nowruz, the Persian New Year. The tradition dates back at least 3,000 years. And in Japan, people observe Shunbun no Hi, a national holiday focused on nature appreciation and ancestor veneration.
Equinoxes deserve more appreciation
We in the United States don’t engage with nationwide equinox celebrations. But here at Ku Cha House of Tea, we do think the winter and spring equinoxes are awfully special. Among other things, they remind us that we represent but a minuscule sliver of a vast universe. And they also persuade us to invite balance back into our lives.
For us, that often coincides with sipping teas that help put the scattered pieces of our lives into harmony with one another.
The famous tea ceremonies of China and Japan revolve around balance. Brewing perfect pots of Camellia sinensis demands balance between the amount of tea, the temperature of the water and the duration of the brew. The different components of tea ceremonies evolved over centuries to symbolize balance and harmony. Engaging with them brings about feelings of serenity, and the reason for that hinges on the balance that permeates the different steps of the ceremony.
Let’s dive into some of tea’s yin-yang aspects. With the change in seasons and the equinox just a week away, it’s a perfect time to start inviting balance back into our lives.
Too many of us (hands raised) devote far too much of our time staring at screens. We lose ourselves to work, to running errands, to the rest of the diversions and tasks we perform every day. And we lose perspective—we forget we are part of something far greater, and way more fascinating and compelling than anything going viral on a screen.
Celestial events like equinoxes can bring us back to Earth—to the rotating, hurtling sphere of stone and water, fire and life, that sustains us.
Teas for Balance: Balance Tea
For this custom gem, we turned to Ayurveda, the 3,000-year-old Indian system of medicine that revolves largely around principles of balance. The ingredients align with Ayurvedic principles aimed at achieving harmony within mind and body. The spices—cinnamon, cardamom, licorice root, coriander, fennel and ginger root—work together in subtle yet powerful ways. The addition of rose petals to the blend enhances the tea’s delicate balancing act.
Teas for Balance: Shui Xian Rock Oolong
Some teas, like our Balance Tea, find their harmonic qualities through the inventory of ingredients. But our Shui Xian Rock Oolong is a single tea, from Fujian Province’s famous Wu Yi Mountains.
We find complex Shui Xian simultaneously roasted and refreshing—not always an easy balance to achieve. We also love that it strikes a balance between stone and river qualities—precisely the environment in which it is grown. Meaning “water spirit” in Chinese, Shui Xian tastes balanced, rich and clean, with a lingering sweetness and whispers of river moss. It’s gorgeous.
Teas for Balance: Firefly Chai
Talk about a style of tea that seeks balance—chai! The chai masters in India, chaiwallahs, devote their lives to blending spices, herbs, tea, milk sweetener and more to deliver tea excellence. It’s an art! Just because it’s called chai doesn’t mean the craftsperson behind the blend understood how to properly blend flavors.
We sample a lot of teas, and believe us—not all chais are created equal! But this house-blended chai nails it. With ginger root, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, vanilla and nutmeg added to the tea base, it achieves profound depth as well as enviable ingredient harmony. Each sip will tickle your taste buds like fireflies enlivening a night sky, while leaving a lingering sweetness to the palate.
Teas for Balance: Matcha Genmaicha
All Asian countries value balance. Buddhism informs many of the cultures, and that religion is so steeped in harmony it could be called Balancism. And balance stands as the core principle of Confucianism, where the “golden mean” emphasizes maintaining equilibrium in thoughts, actions and relationships.
But among all Asian countries, Japan may be the most rooted in balance. So many aspects of life get informed by principles of equilibrium and symmetry.
This applies to the country’s many teas, naturally. We think Matcha Genmaicha speaks clearly to this Japanese passion for balance. The blend combines the powdered green tea matcha; Japan’s most consumed style of tea sencha; and both puffed brown rice and toasted brown rice. Amidst these ingredients, our Matcha Genmaicha finds composure in the play of matcha’s creaminess, sencha’s grassiness and the earthiness that comes from the puffed and toasted brown rice.
