Once I started drinking real green tea, I realised I had discovered a great treasure that benefits my journey towards a balanced mind.

Real Tea?

In the past, I had been drinking green teas from supermarket chains. Brands like Lipton and Pickwick. A couple of years ago I learned that these tea's consist of the leftovers of the production of whole leaf tea's with added sugar and flavour enhancements. So I stepped up my tea game and started drinking green tea from Dutch tea supplier Simon & Levelt

At that time I didn't know too much about the production of the leaves, but the organic Sencha from Simon and Levelt was so much nicer in taste than the teas I had before. I kept drinking their teas for about a year and a half. During that time I also experimented more with herbals and roots such as Verveine, Mint, Basel, Ginger, and later on Uvuma-Omhlope and Silene Capensis

Kyoto Tea Farm

About a year ago I assisted a befriended artist who was taking part in an artist in residence program in a suburb in Kyoto. The residency program took place in a beautiful traditional Japanese house, on top of a hill which overlooked Kyoto. Part of the residency consisted of visits to tea farms where I helped with filming and photographing the farm and countryside. The footage and photos were later used in the exhibition that concluded the residency program.

Installation view of the Kyoto residence

Brunch time!

During the tea farm visits, I could see the plantations up close, the astonishing mountains and hills these teas were growing on and meet the people that made the teas. These trips awakened a very particular feeling that is still with me when I prepare tea. The smell, the colour. All of this plays a significant role when making tea. You could say it made me more aware of my senses.

Countryside of Wazuka, Kyoto Prefecture

Me, slightly awkward in front of the lens

Focus and concentration

I have always had a peculiar interest for ways of enhancing my focus and concentration, being diagnosed with ADHD. Since the last four years, Vipassana meditation has helped a great deal with balancing the impulses that tend to explode from my mind. But still I have moments were making long hours at work or reading through books, articles and newspapers is a painstaking task due to concentration and focus issues.

Last few months I looked more into green tea. In my research, for the documentary, I'm currently working on I found that green tea could enhance your focus and concentration. So I came up with a morning ritual that goes as follows;

08:00 - 08:15 Wake up, use toilet, drink 500 ml water
08:15 - 09:00 Vipassana Meditation
09:00 - 09:15 Shower
09:15 - 09:20 Prepare the first cup of green tea (about 150 / 200ml)
09:20 - 09:45 Prepare the second cup of green tea (about 150 / 200ml) and make breakfast.
09:45 - 11:30 Start work (currently working at home, doing online research for the documentary)

Sencha Kabuse, 2015 40 sec. steep

Throughout the day, I drink about three more cups to maintain my focus. After about 4 to 5 hours of work, I take a walk outside, do some shopping or just sit on a bench in the park. I need these small breaks so I can realign my focus and concentration and continue with my work.

I consider myself still very new to the world of tea, and I'm curious if there are more tea aficionado's out here on Steemit.