Maria Tan
I’ve always thought of tea as a companion of sorts. Not a person, not a friend, but something that sits quietly beside you while the day moves forward. A cup of tea doesn’t interrupt your thoughts. It doesn’t demand attention. It simply exists, warm and steady, while you figure out what comes next. Some teas…
There is a particular quiet that settles when you pour hot water over tea leaves in a pot you chose with care. The weight of the clay in your hand. The porcelain capacity that holds just the right amount of warmth. A small ritual, repeated, until it becomes yours. Singapore knows tea in many languages.…
There is a quiet expectation we place on tea that I’m not sure we talk about enough. We expect it to calm us. To slow us down. To make everything feel a little more intentional, a little more put together, a little more peaceful than whatever came before it. But I’ve started to wonder if…
The room is quiet enough to hear water. Somewhere beyond the paper screens of this traditional tea ceremony venue, a garden drips after morning rain. Inside a tea house on a tatami mat worn soft by years of kneeling, a tea master lifts a bamboo whisk and begins tea making. There is no rush in…
I sometimes wonder if we are drinking tea or remembering something that never really happened. A quiet morning that feels softer in memory than it ever was in real life. A perfect cup by the window that somehow always looks better in hindsight. A tea moment that feels cinematic, even though it probably lasted only…
There is a sound that belongs to mornings across India: the hiss of milk rising in a battered pot, the clink of a spoon against metal, the low murmur of a tea seller calling out to passing crowds. Before the first sip, there is the scent. Cardamom pods, fresh ginger, and cinnamon stick curling into…
I recently tried the Earl Grey from Gryphon Tea Company Singapore, and I have to admit, it surprised me. Not because it was flawless-it wasn’t, but because it felt like a tea that knew exactly what it wanted to be. The aroma is the first thing that hits you. Bergamot is present but subtle, not…
There is a moment, just after the hot water meets the hojicha tea leaves, when the kitchen fills with the aroma of something toasted. Not grassy. Not sharp. Warm, like roasted nuts or the edge of a freshly baked loaf. That moment is where hojicha begins. Hojicha (sometimes spelled houjicha) is a roasted green tea…
I have a tea I return to more than any other. It is not rare. It is not expensive. In fact, most people would probably pass it by without a second thought. And yet, somehow, it has become a quiet companion over the years. I first drank it on a rainy afternoon. I had been…
Singapore moves quickly. The trains run on time, the workdays stretch long, and the humidity outside rarely lets anyone slow down by choice. Yet within this busy rhythm, a quiet counter-current persists. People look for small pockets of stillness, and increasingly, they find one in a warm cup of chamomile tea. There is something fitting…