The Purple Vine Teahouse
A Modern Love Story told through Tea
Emma’s second book, currently in progress, tells of how the love between two people can become fatally fractured through the relentless pressures of modern life, and how in caring for others, it is only too easy to lose yourselves along the way. Both with highly pressured jobs – an air traffic controller and a fire fighter - Emma relays how her and her husband somehow found their way back from a wilderness of loneliness and isolation that seemed inescapable, rewriting their future with compassion and hope. Trained as a tea sommelier, Emma roots this journey within the story of tea, highlighting the significance in taking the time to pause, to come together, to show care and respect, and the importance of the
familiarity of ritual in what it means to truly come home to one another.
Excerpt
‘Held in that moment in time, we chose a second pot of tea, albeit one from slightly further down the offerings laid out on the fan that served as a menu. The temperature in the room felt cooler, I noticed my hands and feet begin to prickle, and laid my thick black coat over my knees as we received Huang Shan Mao Fen Green Tea. Its translated name of
‘Yellow Mountain Fur Peak’ conjuring images of mist laden mountains and centuries old tea- making traditions, adding to the feeling of dewy cool in the air. I wrapped my coat around me. The pale, silvery tea smelled vegetal with a heady edge of sweetness. Delicate floral tastes unfurled in the mouth, a giddy concoction of caffeine and polyphenols instilling a sense of both wellbeing and heightened sensations. We discovered a new intimacy in not speaking, in that rare but comfortable existence of tuning in to someone without the need to reach for words. Connecting through the tea, through the reactions in our eyes, on our lips, and the comfort with which we sat.'
Emma says:
"The Purple Vine Teahouse brings together some of my greatest loves – the adventure of travel, the wonder of tea, the exploration of my heritage, and the man that has come to define my ‘home’. It is about the simple yet significant things that make up the fabric of life, and the beauty of what lies in front of us if we can but afford ourselves the chance to look."