In the entry way to the Fowler's latest exhibit "Steeped in History: The Art of Tea" the show's curator, Beatrice Hohenegger, pauses to survey a tea-themed mural, a table laid-out with a variety of leaves, and the many ancient tea vessels on view in this room alone.  She makes an excited sweeping geature.  "Where do we start?" she asks.

Hohenegger, who authored a book titled "Liquid Jade: The Story of Tea from East to West" is obviously in her element.  Her specific interest in tea lies in its history, and the lay-out of the show reflects this specialty.  Organized by the "travels of tea from China, (it's) continuing voyage to Japan, and it's arrivals in the West" according to Hohenegger, the viewer walks through both a chronological and geographic journey of tea's cultural significance the world over.
 
"It's just a little statuette" she says, pointing to a piece signifying the mythical origin of tea, "but I'm excited about it".  In fact, she seems excited about most of the pieces in the show, as each one represents a certain cultural marker in the history of tea.  An eggshell blue bowl featured in Edible's Summer issue is even better in person: a spider web-delicate engraving typical of the era adorns the porcelain, a detail not visible in reproduction. What's more, I learn from Hohenegger that 1000 year old Chinese tea bowls were produced in two distinct shapes: one for summer and one for winter.  The summer bowl's shallow, open design disperses heat, while the winter bowl's narrower opening retains it.  The two designs are functional and timeless; each bowl startlingly modern in effect.
 
As tea progresses over time and continents, there is a fascinating moment where Eastern tradition bleeds over into tea's burgeoning consumption in the West.  Hohenegger chose some excellent pieces to demonstrate this: one tea set in particular is a hybrid of cultural symbols made in "the European style, but the ornamentation is very Japanese."  Similarly, of a Dutch painting, chosen to address tea's fist recorded import to the West in 1610, Honhenegger simply says "I love her."  In it a young girl haughtily holds a spoon full of sugar, while a tea bowl unlike those used in ancient China rests on a table by her side.  It is another cross-over piece, and hauntingly beautiful.  The show ends with the "darker side of the story", the "contradiction between consuming and producing": and implicit call to learn the story behind what you eat, and drink. 
 
Steeped in History: the Art of Tea is now on view at the Fowler.  Admission is free.