What are some of the things considered to be lucky omens in your country? In Japan, it’s considered good luck if you dream about Mt Fuji or a hawk or eggplant in the New Year, or the number 8 is also thought to be lucky. But what if there was a sign of good luck that you could recreate at will? Well now there is, based on the Japanese saying that it’s good luck to have a tea stalk floating vertically in your tea. With the Cha Bashira Engi Cha, or “Tea Stalk Good Luck Tea” in English, you are guaranteed to have a vertically floating tea stalk in your tea.
So how do they get tea stalks to float vertically in your tea? Normally, tea stalks, which are actually the leaf stems, get caught in the tea strainer and rarely even enter the tea, and if they do,they are structurally prone to float horizontally. But the manufacturers of the Good Luck Tea have managed to substitute real tea stalks with powdered tea artificially processed into the shape of tea stalks. They also made the lower part of the artificial tea stalks heavier than the upper part so that the stalks are designed to float vertically. Apparently, getting the balance of the weight right is the tricky part, and the manufacturer has a patent pending for the technology. You have to say it’s actually quite ingenious of them to play on a long standing Japanese tradition and create a product that can not only be consumed as a tea drink but can be considered a kind of good luck charm. It certainly makes for a nice gift – one that lets you send a bit of good fortune as part of the gift.
You can buy 3 packets of the Lucky Tea from the manufacturer Engicha Honpo for 840yen (approx. $10.50), and gift packages containing 12-20 packets are also available. If you ever have the chance to try this tea, we hope it brings you loads of good luck!
Sources: Engicha Honpo website (Japanese) via webR25 (Japanese)