Cloud Forest Tea

02/04/2026

Was honored to offer tea and speak about tea culture at a Tea and Chan (Zen) presentation organized and hosted by Day Day Up Teahouse at the Great Dharma Chan Monastery in Boulder, Colorado. I was one of 12 guest tea hosts, two at each of six tables, each table dedicated to one of six different tea types: Green, Yellow, White, Oolong, Dark, and Black. First photo, a view of the Monastery, from the Great Dharma Chan Monastery website. The other photos courtesy of Day Day Up Tea, Lafayette, Colorado.

01/24/2026

I love this very small teapot, only two inches high, made from red Chao Zhou clay. Definitely perfect size for my meditative tea practice on a cold winter morning (see the view from my window). Inspired me to write a short poem and some haiku.

A Tea Koan

My teapot is small,
But it contains all of Heaven and Earth.
My aroma cup is narrow,
Yet the scent spreads to every cell.
I am just one person,
Yet I hold sun, moon, and stars within.
Tea and Zen, not one taste
But all tastes, is there any difference?

Winter Morning Haiku

On hoarfrost branches
Chickadees play, not minding
Cold weather at all!

Against the aspen
Gray, black chickadees are the
Color of winter.

Cold winter morning,
Dark leaves of roasted oolong,
Simple contentment.

How odd, the crunch of
Thin ice while carrying wood
Makes me so hungry!

Not a trace of wind
Light snow dusted on aspen
Looks like a painting.

10/06/2025

Set up this morning for an autumn moon tea presentation and tasting for four guests, with an extra cup for me to also enjoy. The calligraphy is an original by the late Xing Anping of Beijing. It is one of the most famous autumn poems, by the poet Du Mu (803-852 CE).

To lead my guests into the feeling of autumn, I served first a floral Oolong to awaken the senses and remember the season of flowers. This was followed by the peaty taste and grounding energy of a dark Puerh. Finally a wild old tree green puerh from a remote area in Yunnan Province, to unify with the spirit of the autumn mountains.

Here is my translation of the Du Mu poem.

Distant cold mountain, trail slanting upward
Where the clouds are born, people’s homes.
At night, I stop my cart to admire the maple forest;
Frosted leaves redder than the flowers of spring.

09/27/2025

Can't think of a better way to enjoy a brisk autumn morning than by drinking a dark roasted Tie Guanyin Oolong Tea (this one won first place in Taiwan's National Tea Competition) in a Gaiwan graced by a replica of autumn leaves drawn by the great Qi Baishi. See also the very unusual cylindrical aroma cup. I purchased it in Iceland, and that's actual lava stones on its surface. Works perfectly to distribute the aroma, even though it may have been designed as a sake cup!

And to complete the autumnal experience, a delicious red bean moon cake!

09/14/2025

Strange and wonderful how precious memories, lessons, and nostalgia can be linked to specific places. You may wonder what I could possibly associate with this fancy high rise condo across the street from the United Nations. I took the photo a few weeks ago while visiting New York. Seeing the building almost brought me to tears. It is where from 1973-76 and then intermittently thereafter I trained in Japanese Tea Ceremony (Chanoyu) with one of the living legends of tea. Milly-san (1900-1989) had been introduced to me by Alan Watts who predicted that she would become my spiritual grandmother. And she did.

Here is one of many anecdotes from those years.

Because Milly's tearoom was so close to the United Nations, the Japanese embassy often referred ambassadors and other dignitaries to her to experience the peace and beauty of Chanoyu. One day Milly invited me to a tea ceremony to honor two South American ambassadors. Just as Milly was about to begin cleansing the utensils, the peace of the tearoom was broken by the harsh sound of hammers and drills. Milly excused herself and went to the window. She saw some workers making repairs on the exterior of an apartment just a few floors above her own. Milly had a sudden inspiration. With no explanation and a brief bow, she gracefully and mysteriously exited the tearoom, explaining to the guests that she would return shortly. I had never seen anyone leave a tearoom in the midst of a tea ceremony!

A few minutes later the clamor of machinery ceased; perhaps it was the workers’ lunch break. How refreshing to finally be able to hear the hiss of water gently boiling in the tea kettle, like the sound of wind in the pines. As we sat, meditatively awaiting the return of our host, there was a rustling sound outside the shoji screen. Milly slid the door open and glided into the tearoom followed by the workers in their overalls and stained shirts. She announced, "We have some unexpected guests for tea!"

The new guests were softly instructed to remove their shoes and sit cross-legged on the tatami mats, next to the ambassadors. The ceremony proceeded but with a special feeling of companionship. Milly's spontaneous act of hospitality encouraged everyone to drop their defenses, to be present in their simple humanness. Tea Ceremony is, after all, nothing special, yet very special! Beauty found in the ordinary, satisfaction found in simplicity. Social roles, high and low, are checked at the door. Although there was no low, "humble entrance" for guests to crawl through, as in a traditional Japanese tea hut, nevertheless, in Milly's tearoom, all were equal and equally worthy of respect.

06/12/2025

Morning Jo, Oh No. A study published last month is getting a lot of press. “Caffeine Intake and Healthy Aging in Women” published in Current Developments in Nutrition. Data was collected from 3,706 middle-aged women. At the 30-year follow-up, the conclusion was that “Caffeine and regular coffee intake in midlife were modestly and favorably associated with Healthy Aging…” This effect was seen with caffeinated coffee, not decaf, and seemed to be optimal with two cups per day that do not have sugar or milk.

From my reading of the study, I believe that this effect could be attributed to other factors, including the social dimension of sharing morning coffee with friends, family or in comfortable settings such as cafes. I think of the pleasure my mom got from walking each morning to the coffee shop and sitting by the window, people-watching. This was also a temporary antidote to a stressful, lonely life (Loneliness is a major risk factor for disease. According to the World Health Organization loneliness has the same risks as smoking 15 ci******es each day, ¾ of a pack.)

From a Chinese medicine perspective coffee is warm, bitter (taste related to heart), drying (could help with spleen damp), and slightly pungent (lungs) and when consumed for brief periods of time in small quantities may stimulate the liver. However, my opinion is that regular consumption will have a very different effect, causing liver qi stagnation, depletion of spleen and kidneys (the body’s core qi) and because it is so yang, its firey nature depletes yin— the body/mind system’s ability to nurture and restore oneself by slowing down and maintaining a meditative state of inner quiet.

I’ll admit I like a good oat milk cappuccino or macchiato sometimes, especially when I am in an environment where it is local and cultural, such Mexico, and how wonderful to enjoy a coffee ceremony in an Ethiopian restaurant. But I limit my coffee to one cup per week or two. For health and happiness, I still recommend tea.

05/10/2025

茶禪一味。 Cha Chan Yi Wei. Tea and Chan: One Taste. This is the most famous saying about the relationship between the art of Tea and Chan (Zen in Japanese) Buddhism. Here are just a few examples of those connections:

One of the main goals of both is to develop focus and a clear, empty state of mind, free of the delusion of separate or fixed self. In Pali, the language that the Buddha spoke, this is called anatta (no self), in Chinese wu wo 無我. In Taiwan there is a beautiful group ritual of tea called the No Self Tea Gathering 無我茶會, in which tea is offered in silence as a way of cultivating and expressing that selfless state.

Tea, like Chan, helps one experience and understand the principle anicca (Pali) or wu chang 無常, impermanence. Life means change, nothing lasts. The Buddha taught that “All compound things are subject to decay.” It is impossible to serve the same tea twice. However, this does not mean that we should reject the everyday in favor of a changeless deity. Rather precisely because everything passes, we can only understand and appreciate deeply by paying attention to each passing moment.

Even from a somatic/physical point of view, these two traditions speak the same language. Whether pouring water for tea or sitting in 坐禪 Chan meditation (Zazen), maintain an elegant posture, breathe with the dan tian (hara in Japanese). Your whole body is drinking tea, your whole body is meditating.

04/29/2025

鷹爪功與太極手 Eagle Claw Skill and Taiji Hands. These are two of the many principles and expressions that describe the Chinese Art of Tea 茶藝, also called Gong Fu Tea 功夫茶。 Pick the tea leaves with the crisp precision of an eagle and yet the sensitivity Taiji Quan. But there are many other reasons why the art of tea enhances Chinese martial arts practice. Tea balances the meridians and enhances organ qi. It trains awareness, clears the mind of worries and thoughts, and thus can help make one a fearless martial artist! Photo below: demonstrating the Chinese Art of Tea at the San Diego Chinese Historical Museum.

09/16/2024

Tomorrow is the Mid Autumn Full Moon Festival! Enjoy fine tea and moon-cakes; read poetry, and gather with friends and family to celebrate nature's beauty.

06/20/2024

On this first day of summer, I hope you enjoy one of my original tea poems.

Beyond the Cloudscape
©2024 Kenneth S. Cohen

Drinking tea in the dawn cloudscape
Puffs of pink, like smoke hanging in the air
Above the mountains, more mountains
Limitless layers of sheer cliffs
Begin to swim through blue sky waters
Like translucent dragons.
Impenetrable, yet without substance,
Clouds of qi rise also from my cup
The aroma hovers, transports me
To the realm of juniper and orange
The forest after rain, sandalwood from
Ancient temples that fade in mist
Only to reappear, unmoving sentinels
Like these mountains.

This morning the tea water is placid,
Reflecting the sky world like a mirror.
Yet looking from above, still water
Reveals clear depths; tea leaves
float upwards, a kelp forest rising
From the sea bed of my gaiwan.

Which is real, form or reflection
Surface or hidden depth?
If you think these are different
If you think there is an answer
You have not yet discovered
The Way of Tea.

Photo by Ken Cohen
See a complete catalog of fresh hand-picked teas, including "Before the Rains" Spring 2024 Bi Luo Chun Green Tea at
https://www.qigonghealing.com/cloud-forest-tea

01/17/2024

Live near Denver? The Far East Center is hosting a month of cultural presentations in preparation for the Chinese Lunar New Year. I hope you will join me for this introduction to the culture and healing benefits of Chinese tea, including a demonstration of Chinese Tea Ceremony, this Saturday January 20 at 6 PM. For registration and tickets (free) go to

Tea Time! Learn the early legends and history of Chinese Tea, including the relationship of tea to meditation.

12/15/2023

Poetry pervades the art of tea, and tea is often a theme in traditional Chinese poetry. As an example, here is a poem I translated by a ninth century Taoist priest Yao He 姚合

嫩綠微黃碧间春, 採時聞道斷莗辛.
不將錢買將詩乞, 借問山翁有幾人.

Light green, slightly yellow—Jade Valley Tea:
Fresh picked, it eliminates desire for meat and spice.
Money is useless; trade the tea for a poem!
How many mountain hermits still follow this custom?

Comment: Jade Valley Tea is the name of a famous tea. The reference to "meat and spice" shows the Buddhist influence on this poem, as Buddhist monks avoided them. I was delighted to read that the poet suggests composing or reciting a poem as payment for the tea. I once had this experience when the owner of a Chinese tea house offered to treat me and a friend to a fine tea and pastries if I would recite for her, from memory, my favorite Chinese poems.