I was 16, brand new to Boulder, Colorado, moving my senior year of high school.
I'd just moved across the country with only my parents, left behind my community, my girlfriend, everything familiar. Boulder was beautiful. I didn't have anyone to share it with yet.
One afternoon, walking through the outdoor Pearl Street mall, I pushed through a set of big glass doors and got hit by a wall of aroma. Hundreds of teas lining every shelf and table. A dimly lit back room with low tables for floor sitting, a fountain, Chinese calligraphy on canvas, soft traditional music. You took your shoes off back there.
It was called Ku Cha House of Tea.
It became my tea cave.
Nick and Rico ran the tea counter. Long-haired, soft-spoken, unhurried guys who actually loved what they were doing. When the shop was slow, one of them would come sit on the floor next to me while I read.
Nick introduced me to the Gong Fu Cha — the Chinese tea ceremony. I think of it as the pour-over of the tea world. Precise, intentional, beautiful in its own way. Small porcelain instruments, a bamboo tray to catch the spills, and the detail that sold me completely: tiny, tiny cups.
The ceremony is slow by design. You're not making one cup and drinking it in twenty minutes before it goes cold. You steep the same leaves over and over, sometimes five times, sometimes twenty, each infusion a little different from the last. The tea opens up gradually.
You need time for it, and it's entertaining but not distracting. Great for long, interesting conversations... and no where else to be. Just talks.
Once I started learning, I couldn't stop. I scoured everything I could find about where tea comes from, how each type is processed, what makes one leaf taste smoky and another taste like stone fruit.
I started collecting. At home, I'd sit on the kitchen floor with my little teapot and cups and research tea...
Here's a blurry photo of my brand new double-walled ceramic tea cups from Ku Cha. Sipping The Tea Spot's Boulder Blues, the first green tea that blew my mind.
Tea became a relaxed way to spend time with someone and show them something brand new.
My two go-to places to spend time with new friends in Boulder were the low tables at the back of Ku Cha, or on my kitchen floor with whatever I had in my cabinet. Tea gave me a reason to invite someone in, something to show them, a reason to stay a while.
Coffee is great for a 20-minute catch-up. Tea ceremony is built for an actual conversation. You're not rushing anywhere. The tea keeps getting poured.
There's nowhere else to be.
Tea and the hospitality I learned through it have become a central part of who I am today. I’m thankful for Nick, Rico, and the Ku Cha owners Rong and Qin for helping a lonely high schooler find his way!
A year later, I was behind the counter and introducing my passion to many others!
If you're curious where to start with tea as a practice, not just a beverage, I'd point you toward a few things: find a quality loose-leaf tea shop near you if you can, or start exploring online.
Look for a simple Gong Fu Cha starter set... this is one I recommend. Get some good tea. Invite someone over, and have some fun!