So good, it’ll make you spit fire!!

Spitting Fire!

According to some legends, if you find good Ti Kuan Yin then you will gain the power to spit fire!

One day, a young man was sent by his mother to find some Ti Kuan Yin.  He had left his home just as the sun rose so when he arrived at the first tea shop he had to knock for several minutes before anyone answered.  The recently awoken tea shop owner gave our hero a cup of good Ti Kuan Yin.  However, our hero found himself unable to spit fire.  Instead, he was just hungry.

He returned home to find that his mother had come by and made him breakfast.  After eating and a little rest, our hero continued on his quest for Ti Kuan Yin.  He went to another tea shop.  However, after consuming several cups of Ti Kuan Yin, he was still unable to spit fire.  He found himself hungry again.

Disheartened, our hero returned home to tell his mother of his plight.  Her response was to make him lunch and to take him back to the first tea shop owner.  Once there, he had a cup of Ti Kuan Yin.  After one sip, our hero started to burp.

“Ah,” our hero said with a sigh of relief.  “I found my good Ti Kuan Yin.  Now I can spit fire.”

I found this story to be quite entertaining.  Not what I expected when I heard the words ‘spit’ and ‘fire,’ but still awesome nonetheless.  Still…I can’t help but want to consume a whole pot of Ti Kuan Yin.  Ya know? Discover my inner superhero.  Maybe by consuming enough Ti Kuan Yin, I’ll more than just spit fire….maybe I’ll be the real Human Torch!

The Human Torch

Figure 1 – *insert evil laugh*

What do you all think, dear readers?  What do you think of the interpretation of spitting fire?

Posted in Chinese Tea, Mythology, Oolong Tea, Stories, Tea, Wu Long Tea | No Comments »

I had never heard of the tea called Iron Goddess of Mercy (or Guanyin/Kuanyin) until I was doing research on Chinese Tea Mythology.  Just like Monkey Picked, there is a magical story tied to this tea.

In Fujian’s Shaxian province of China, there was once an old run down stone temple that was in ruins.  Inside the temple was a beautiful iron statue of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy.

Once there was a simple farmer who went to the temple to pray.  He had gone many times to try and gain the Goddess’ favor for the area was riddled in poverty and drought.  The farmer wanted his home and community to be prosperous.  The farmer would come to temple every day to clean the temple and rid the area of twigs, wayward leaves and dust.  He would light incense that he thought that maybe the Goddess would enjoy.  He did this in hopes that the Goddess would take pity on his village and help regain their prosperity.

One day, when the farmer came into the pray, he found that the statue had come alive.  The farmer fell to his knees to pray.

Iron Goddess of Mercy

“The key for your future is just outside this temple. Nourish it with tenderness; it will support you and yours for generations to come,” the Goddess whispered, her voice full of kindness.

Then as quickly as she came alive, the statue grew still again.

It took the farmer several minutes to recover from the shock.  Did the Goddess really speak to him?  He decided to take a chance on what the Goddess said to him.  He walked outside and found a dried and withered little bush.

“You are a gift from Guanyin, I shall treasure you,” said the farmer as he cleaned the area around the bush.

The farmer continued his daily pilgrimage.  He cleaned the temple, lit incense and watered the bush.  He continued this ritual until the leaves were healthy and thick.  He discovered that the leaves mixed with hot water made a delicious tea.   He let the bush grow more before he cut branches to give others in the community and soon the whole village had their own piece of the magical bush and thus grew prosperous.

One day, while experimenting with the tea, the farmer dried the leaves until they turned a charcoal black.  The farmer found this reminiscent of his iron Goddess.  The experiment paid off because it created an even finer tea than he had ever tasted.  He called this concoction Ti Kuan Yin, the tea of Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy.

I found this to be a beautiful story of faith and man’s capacity to help his community.  What do you all think of this story?

Posted in Chinese Tea, Mythology, Oolong Tea, Stories, Tea, Wu Long Tea | 1 Comment »