Tea for Sifu by Lawrence Ramirez Sifu

My Sifu is no different than a great many Sifu I would imagine, whom love a hot cup of tea intermittently throughout the day.

Well throughout the six years I had trained with my Sifu, every session would include a cup of tea at some point, either upon arrival, during a break or maybe after the session with a tale of our Sihing or Sigung from years gone by.

You could imagine at Holiday time or upon a birthday celebration, there would no doubt be a gift for Sifu of a rare or exotic tea in a fancy tin given at some point right. Well yes that did happen, and more often than just at a holiday. So a great many years go by and a very impressive collection of teas from around the world had passed through the Kwoon’s door, with Sifu always graciously thankful and welcoming the giftor with a cup of delicious hot tea.

It had been many years that I had been through the Kwoon’s doors after moving out of state and during a particular family visit I was blessed with the time to see my Sifu, I looked forward to talking story with him and sharing a cup of tea, and yes I did bring a fancy tin of exotic tea as a gift for my Sifu.

As we sat down to begin our visit with two cups of fresh hot tea, my Sifu began to tell me how much he appreciated everyone whom would bring so many fancy teas from all over the world as a gift all these years.

Sifu told me how the gift teas were always greatly appreciated because as you can imagine a great many students over a few years could sip down quite a bit of tea, and that after all these years he still prefers to drink only plain old Lipton…