Students and faculty gathered for tea tasting in the Cochran Chapel Basement
Closed eyes, gentle speaking, and the soothing sound of a tea kettle brewing set the scene on February 23, as Andover hosted its first “Spiritual Sampling: Tea as Meditation.” A part of Andover’s celebration of the United Nations World Interfaith Harmony’s tenth anniversary, the event aimed to teach students how to meditate by sipping chamomile tisanes and inhaling the aroma of various teas while exploring the history and benefits of the practice.
Sponsored by the Chaplaincy and hosted by Mary Kantor, the Roman Catholic Chaplain, the meditation aimed to connect tea with mindfulness and spirituality. Kantor discussed how the event aligned with the United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week and shared its purpose of fostering connection between various communities.
“It’s a worldwide marking of religious and nonreligious communities which are looking towards serving the world in a better way and working together. The overriding model of the event is love of God, love of the good, and love of your neighbor, so it doesn’t require being a believer, but it requires loving a sense of helping other people, and the United Nations has these different events throughout the year and this is the one that started on campus. I brought it to campus ten years ago, and I wanted to do a few more events this year to cover the month. The goal is that these events show a bit of good, love of neighbour and care for self in a cold winter,” said Kantor.
Allyson Irish, a certified tea sommelier and founder of a custom tea company named Teally, led the meditation. She shared her journey in becoming a certified tea sommelier, highlighting the impact tea history and culture had in her decision to pursue this certification.
“I have always been interested in tea but it was in the spring of 2022, shortly after I made a trip to London that I really became enamored of tea history and culture and decided that I wanted to learn more about it. Later on that spring, I had previously never heard of a tea sommelier, that [it] was even something that you could do, but I found out that [it] was something you could get a certification for. That summer, I enrolled in an online class and got my certification,” said Irish.
As chamomile tea brewed throughout the session, participants took time to reflect on its calming effects, emphasizing tea’s role in relaxation and mindfulness. Sophia Lazar ’26 left the event with a deeper understanding of the history and meditative qualities of tea.
“My favorite part was hearing the history of different types of tea, in particular pu-erh tea and yellow tea. I wasn’t as familiar with it. That was a really novel aspect of the event. I mainly came away from the event with the idea of how tea can be generally used as a form of meditation. I feel like people sort of overlook the calming aspect sometimes and just focus more on the flavor and the beverage instead,” said Lazar.
Chloe Kasule-Wallace ’26 shared her insights into the manufacturing process behind tea from the event. As someone that enjoys tea herself, Kasule-Wallace expressed her new understanding of tea production and highlighted the various factors that impact the process.
“I did not know that things as small as the location where the tea leaves are grown, and how that really makes a difference in the tasting and the flavor, that’s just something new that I’m happy I was able to learn about. My roommate and I are really into drinking tea and I recently got gifted a tea set with a lot of different types of tea and I didn’t really know anything about them. A couple of days after, this event came out, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to learn more about them and just have a good time,” said Kasule-Wallace.
As the session continued, Irish discussed various health benefits associated with the six main types of tea. Shloak Shah ’26 highlighted the event’s focus on the benefits of various teas, especially those that were less familiar to attendees.
“The most interesting thing was learning about the specific benefits of certain teas, especially [those] I hadn’t learned about before. One of my biggest takeaways is that tea can be useful [in] meditation, and that’s one health benefit, but teas are also antioxidants and that’s interesting,” said Shah.
In an interview with The Phillipian, Irish mentioned the role of tea in mindfulness, and explained how the practice can create an appreciation for the present. By noting the various steps in tea rituals, she emphasized the importance of engaging with tea both individually and in community with others.
“Using tea and the ritual of making tea and sharing, either sharing it with others or using it by yourself as a way to relax and to be more mindful and present. Tea is a wonderful way to help you do that. All of the aspects of selecting a tea and boiling the water and selecting a teacup, all those things can help us to be more mindful and increase our appreciation of the present,” said Irish.
