Chinese Tea Ceremony with Jennifer Maksymetz, Tea Mistress

(Outside at the meadow’s stone table, weather permitting. Drop by for tea and conversation.)

Jennifer (Tea Mistress) has been studying tea and practicing Gongfu tea ceremony since 2000. While living in Taiwan, she was introduced to tea culture through her tea aficionado Taiwanese ‘family’. She has auspiciously travelled through many of the world’s celebrated tea regions to study with tea masters and to meet farmers in order to procure exquisite teas. She co-founded Jade Spring Teas, the official teashop for the Journal of Chinese Medicine, and performs a contemporary version of tea ceremony – a memorable performance being in Chinese Architect Li Xiaodong’s installation at London’s Royal Academy of the Arts exhibition ‘Sensing Spaces’. She has been teaching since 2012, and has been inspired by the diversity of invitations including clandestine tearooms, multiple arts festivals and formal institutions. She is the current Vice-President of the International Tea Appreciation Society. Gongfu Tea Ceremony is an ancient tool for meditation; it is an accessible everyday practice to enhance clarity and increase happiness. It is also a tool for reclaiming ones attention, it is a catalyst for social connection and it offers a moment out of time. Tea Mistress will perform a contemporary rendition of Gongfu tea ceremony. The performance will be offered in homage to the travelling 18th century Tea Sage Baisao and also the modern fictional Tea Monk Dex from ‘A Psalm for the Wild Built’. The premise being that I will simply make myself available for those who wish to stop by and drink tea with me. The performance is experimental and collaborative, the outcome is unknown, but the goal is that those who choose to sit and drink tea will leave happier, more at peace, and with agency for a life well lived.