PLEASE JOIN US IN WELCOMING Brian kirbis ON june 2oth, 2024 AT 5PM PT•6PM MT•7PM CT•8PM ET
Garden to Gaiwan: The Art of Tea & Paozhi
Shennong is attributed with both the discovery of tea and authorship of the first Chinese materia medica. However, with tea as popular practice and medicinals as a professional discipline, there has been little consideration of their comparative value and complimentary natures. This discussion will follow Camellia sinensis, var. assamica, from the botanical and cultural origins of tea in southwest China’s subtropical forests through five stages: ecological habitat, artisanal craftsmanship, storage and aging, preparation, and appreciation. It will focus on craftsmanship and preparation and their affinities to paozhi processing of Chinese medicinal substances.
Brian Kirbis comes from a multigenerational agroforestry lineage. After receiving academic training in environmental & medical anthropology and working in restoration ecology for nearly two decades, he devoted himself to studying the agroforestry tea gardens of southwest China. There, he is active in ecological and cultural stewardship, from indigenous knowledge and livelihoods, to the influence of the marketplace, to the science and politics of resource management. In the West, he works closely with the Chinese medicine community in promoting tea culture as a form of yangsheng and a means to attaining individual, community and planetary well-being.
