Tuesday December 11, 2012 | 3 comments I met a Korean monk, who
is also a tea master, and asked him whether he could explain the
concept of “tea person (Cha’ren).” I had been wondering about
the concept for a long while. The Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans
use the term “tea person (茶人),” but in different ways. Tea
people in contemporary China include tea experts, tea farmers,
tea businessmen, and tea lovers. In Korea, the term refers to
those “who look for their real heart through tea life,” while in
Japan, it seems to refer to a tea guru, such as Murata Shuko or
Sen no Rikyu. Obviously, a “tea person” in contemporary China is
actually a person who relates to tea in some way and does not
really reflect my understanding of the term. I relate better to
the definitions of “tea person” in Korea and Japan, but still
the term is a bit vague. The Korean monk (and tea master) I met
offered the following explanation, which is the most complete I
have heard to date: “The concept of a tea person is the same as
the concep