## What is bowl tea? Bowl tea is an ancient, simple way of brewing tea. To me, it's one of the best ways to learn about the essence of tea. Some of the most transformative and meditative tea sessions I've experienced were bowl tea sessions. ## Making bowl tea (simple): ### Step 1: bring some water to boil. > [!danger] > The topic of "water" in tea is it's own rabbit hole. Experiment with your water: > - leave it out overnight (chlorine evaporates) > - try another source (a friends house, spring water) ### Step 2: Warm the bowl by pouring hot water into it, and out again. ### Step 3: Add leaves. Sniff. ### Step 4: Add water. Watch it steep. Hold the bowl. ### Step 5: Enjoy. ### Step 6: Repeat steps 4 & 5 as many times as you wish. ### Step 7: Rinse the bowl wit hot water. ## Making bowl tea (the full ceremony): While the simple steps above capture the core of making bowl tea, I've been lucky to learn from tea masters who've practiced bowl tea a great deal. I've found that following the steps they've outlined—a specific series of ritual movements that accompany the bowl tea ceremony—has greatly enhanced my appreciation of bowl tea. There's a free walkthrough of the bowl tea ceremony [here](http://archive.globalteahut.org/article/847). It can seem like the authors are prescribing overly strict movements and patterns, but in my experience following this methodology can really launch a deep tea session. If you're interested in learning more I can highly recommend Global Tea Hut's online course, _The Way of Tea._ [The Way of Tea](https://www.teahutcourses.com/courses/thewayoftea) They also produced a free bowl tea youtube series: ### Leaves in a Bowl Youtube Series Video 1 - How to Hold the Bowl [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkiM-UPLsVo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkiM-UPLsVo) Video 2 - Water [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh1sgLNY9Vk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh1sgLNY9Vk) Video 3 - Gonfu Tea vs. Bowl Tea [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b2TN54EoaE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b2TN54EoaE) Video 4 - Fire [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6unek7sCNA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6unek7sCNA) Video 5 - The Leaves in a Bowl Ceremony [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtyTSevBHmE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtyTSevBHmE) Video 6 - 5 Basics [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0xPU3_Wzus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0xPU3_Wzus)