The Way of Tea: Film screening explores matcha’s culture and craft | News

The world is crazy. We all feel it. Sometimes a break is in order.

Why not take a step back, however briefly, and join millions of others who throughout the centuries have enjoyed a cup of matcha.

In Japan, an entire ritual has risen around matcha, but it’s not just about drinking it. It’s how the tea is grown, it’s the meditation when preparing it, the tools used to make it and how the drink is shared. They call it sado: the way of tea.

Matcha’s origins and culture were celebrated at “Zen and the Art of Matcha,” a free screening of the movie on Wednesday, March 11 at the Fox Tucson Theatre, 17 W. Congress Street. Besides the movie, which was made by Scott Garen, there were taiko drummers from Los Angeles, traditional Japanese dancing and a post-screening question and answer time with Garen and local personality and professor Dr. Andrew Weil of the Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. Besides everything else he does, Weil owns matcha.com, a company that specializes in matcha and other health-enhancing products.

Garen, who made the film, was introduced to matcha by his daughter. He said young people are responsible for its popularity.

“Matcha’s being driven largely by young people,” Garen said. “It’s really become quite a trendy beverage.”

The film focuses on Japanese tea culture, spirituality and the journey of matcha from farm to cup. However, it wasn’t until making the film that Garen really started to understand that matcha is more than a flavor in lattes or milkshakes.

“We set out to make a film about matcha, but it evolved into a journey to explore matcha within the tea culture and spiritual matrix of Japan,” he said. “We were able to connect through Dr. Weil with Zen monks and tea masters, whom we interviewed in the film, and we also filmed a traditional Japanese tea ceremony.”

As Garen learned more about matcha, the film grew.

“We enlarged the film to encompass those aspects and also to encompass the craftsmen,” he added. “Not only filming the farmers who labor so intensely to create matcha, but we also found one of the leading makers of the whisk, the wonderful utensil made out of bamboo. (He) is a 20th generation maker of whisks. His family dates back five centuries of whisk making.”

Garen also focused on a tea bowl maker, who, he said, is “relatively new to the trade. He’s only fourth generation.”

That particular potter’s tea bowls have been used by the emperor of Japan.

The film shows farmers explain how matcha is grown and how it got that distinctive bright green color. Craftspeople demonstrate what they do. It is lush, inspiring and meditative.  

The event is free.

Garen hopes people will be able to take home something from “Zen and the Art of Matcha.”

“I hope the audience will gain an appreciation for the care, hard work and intention of the Japanese farmers and culture to create and export matcha tea to the world,” he said, “and that they will gain an appreciation and an understanding of the connection between matcha and Zen thought.”