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Tea, for Grammy Award-winning songwriter/singer evrYwhr, is more than just a drink to be enjoyed. “I love art form. I love creating experiences,” shares the entertainer whose name represents the source of his creative inspiration.
The spoken wordsmith’s passion for tea began when he was introduced to the ceremonial aspects of Gong-Fu style tea making by K-Pop star and fellow songwriter Hyuk Shin during a business meeting.
“He started to prepare the tea on this elaborate table with all types of knick-knacks,” recalls the Port Huron, Michigan, native about the variety of tools and the ritualistic steps taken to prepare the tea.
“I pulled my phone out to do a video while we were in the meeting because it was just too beautiful.” But what really made evrYwhr take notice was when his host served a 40-year-old pu-ehr tea that cost $2000. He tasted it and was hooked.
For the Love of Tea
“I love tea and it has become a hobby,” shares evrYwhr, who now regularly makes it a point to find new teas to add to his ever-growing stash during his world travels, including when filming for his KevOnStage platform travel/music show, Destination evrYwhr.
“I saw this [tea] was a way Asian culture lives through time. It was seeing that tie to their cultural history that made me want to dive into my cultural history by researching the kinds of tea that came out of Africa.”
He’s since found several intriguing teas from the Mother Continent. “Rooibos is big in south and eastern Africa. But there is one that I’m looking forward to getting my hands on; Kenyan purple tea. Kenya is actually the third largest producer of tea,” he shares.
“From what I heard with the purple tea, they use it as a cultivar to create green and black teas, because green and black teas are all created by how they’re prepared. It’s all in how it’s oxidized.”
Filling the Tea Closet
To date, the star counts about 40-plus teas in his “tea closet.” And while he’s never spent $2000 on a single tea purchase, he admits to investing over $2000 on his tea collection overall. “I love tea because I’m able to be present. It’s meditative for me,” shares the tea lover, who will often do a pour multiple times daily.
“It’s about the practice. I like to be present with as many senses as I can…freeze-framing the moments of [each step] of tea making,” he shares. “I have a system with how I prepare the tea; there’s an order to it. Tea helps to add structure to my world.”
When it comes to exploring the world of tea, evrYwhr is enthusiastic when others join him in his passion for the beverage. “You can reach out to me in my DM on Instagram @evrywhr, and I am definitely getting back in contact with you. If we’re talking tea, I’m there for it,” says the recording artist.
As for a starter pack of teas to try, evrYwhr suggests, “Start off with a Lung Ching, that’s a good green tea. If you can, get that smoky Golden Monkey [a black tea]. And for another flavor profile, I would have to go with a Milk Oolong, a very fragrant, beautiful tea. Then try a raw pu-ehr tea, anything that’s been aged over 20 years.”
The star also happily shared some of his tea sources. “Here in Los Angeles, one of my favorite places to grab a tea is Chado. They have about five locations and they also ship across the country. Then there’s a spot called Merkaba Tea in Idyllwild, California, with some amazing teas.”
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A Personal Tea Journey
Much like music, including his new album currently in the works, evrYwhr understands the enjoyment of tea is a personal experience. “Who am I to tell you how to enjoy your tea? But I would say, take the opportunity to really taste the tea. Be mindful,” he advises. “If you’re going to add honey, do it after you’ve tasted the tea because that’s how you learn the personality of the tea.”
He continues, “One of the things they say about tea is that a lot of the teas that had it the roughest—the tea that grew in high places, dangled on the side of a mountain—have the most personality, the best flavor profiles.”
So searching everywhere for it may just be worth the effort, especially when there’s tea treasure to be found.
