Tea For Two

For one of my final days in Singapore, my aunt and I decided to attend a tea ceremony.

My aunt knows all about my love of tea, which some might call an obsession (I have an entire tea cabinet) and so we set out to learn what it takes to have a proper tea party.

We went to “Teahouse by Yixing Xuan,” for a private tea lesson, in which I learned more about tea than I ever thought possible, like how all tea contains caffeine, including caffeine-free tea, because of how it grows in nature, and that white tea is often in skincare products due to its skin benefits. The takeaway was clear: drink white tea if you want to delay the aging process and only drink tea if you want to stay up at night.

The instructor walked us through a traditional tea ceremony while we ate dumplings. We watched as he strained hot water through loose leaf tea in an almost mesmerizing display and then we got to partake on the tea that we made. I was able to practice being the one to pour and make the tea until I felt ready to repeat the steps with my daily tea.

After that we stopped for ice cream at a place called, “Birds of Paradise.” They specialize in unique ice cream flavors, which is how I ended up having chrysanthemum-flavored ice cream, a sweet, but not too sweet treat that I cannot recommend enough.

I spent some time that afternoon at the Asian Civilization Museum, learning about Asia’s history from the silk road to the opium wars, and all of the major world events that I learned about in AP world history class.

We ended our day by going to the Van Gogh immersive experience, a traveling art show that projects Van Gogh’s artwork while a narrator tells you about his life. You’re bathed in the artwork until you feel like you’re a part of it, soaking up the paint. It’s calming in a way that you wouldn’t expect, lulling you to sleep if you’re not careful. We learned about Van Gogh’s life, while mixed in with his stars and sunflowers.