Valentine’s top tip

With Valentine’s Day coming up, let’s talk #seduceyourself. To me, the summum of seduction is driving a man insane, just by exposing a glimpse of your wrist while pouring him tea. Can you imagine?
Well, if you’ve seen ‘Memoirs of a geisha’, you know exactly what I’m talking about. A geisha is trained in the art of seduction, and performing a tea ceremony is a very important part of that training (which makes it the art of ‘tea’-sing, right?). I say ‘performing’, because the Japanese tea ceremony is basically a choreographic ritual of preparing and serving a Japanese green tea called Matcha. When done well, it’s a hypnotizing, mesmerizing engagement of all the senses. In other words: sexy.

I’m a tea drinker, and one of the things I love so much about drinking tea is the sensuality of the experience; the comfort of a warm mug, the fragrant steam, the delicate flavors… Even when I’m at the airport or in the middle of a busy office, it can be a moment of meditation.

In Japan, you have to undergo many years of rigorous training to become a so-called ‘tea master’, but the essence of the Ocha or tea ceremony is something anyone can apply to their lives: to perform an ordinary act of daily life with so much grace and beauty that it becomes an art. And, in the case of the geisha, a very seductive art…

This Valentine’s Day, seduce yourself – and perhaps a loved one – with some seriously sensual tea. Here’s how:

claim a space:
in one traditional Japanese tea ceremony, guests walk silently through a garden to the tea room, to symbolically leave the everyday world behind and enter the realm of the senses. You most probably don’t have your own tea room, but you can make any space special; a room, a table, the floor or even just the other side of your desk. Use a tray or place mat to mark your tea-territory (wow, that’s a tongue-twister!).

become a tea snob:
get into tea the same way that people are into wine or coffee. Did you know that even the humblest tea bag is the result of hours of sipping, tasting and blending? And there are so many different kinds! Green, yellow, white, oolong, black, puerh and flavoured teas; you name it. Once a year, I go to Mariage Frères, France’s oldest tea house (1854), to get my mind blown by their ‘Haute Couture’ tea collections and crazy new flavors. Find a tea that makes you go ‘aaaah’ and trust me, after this Valentine’s Day, tea time will never be the same…

get some top tea gear:
find a tea set that you will only use for your special tea moments (I have a museum-worthy set by Russian artist Vika Mitrichenka, but also love to ‘mismatch’ vintage finds). Sometimes buying just one amazing mug or bowl is enough. And yes, I said ‘bowl’, because that’s something I learned in Japan: a bowl can act as a sort of dome over your nose and mouth, really immersing you in the experience of the tea.