Has anyone ever 'read' their tea leaves or had them read?

This might be a fun activity at a party. Here’s a link to some of the methods used by gypsies to read tea leaves: http://bit.ly/pOEphO

22 Replies
Javan said

Back in the early 1970’s I worked at a tea house in Boston reading tea leaves. It was fun, stretched my intuitive side a bit, and got me to meet lots of people I ordinarily wouldn’t meet.

Boston and tea: interesting history. Sounds like a fun job.

Maaan! I want to go to a tea house that offers Tasseography!

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Cofftea said

Never have and never will. I don’t believe in that garbage.

Cofftea you have such a winning way with people, I must try to be more like you.

Seattle, your response to this made me laugh so hard I snorted tea out my nose.

Cofftea, stay classy.

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I never have… but would love to if I had the opportunity! It sounds like fun.
While it may or may not be “real”, it would certainly be an entertaining learning experience and a chance to experience a fascinating and unique piece of tea culture.

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spearmint said

I have done tea leaf readings before, while fun and yummy, I find that they tend to not be as accurate as some of the other methods. Having had better results with the tarot and pendulums. To call something you personally do not believe in garbage, is showing a lack of respect to the beliefs of others. While many if not most “fortune tellers” are frauds there is some reality to reading the leaves etc. And while I personally do not agree with the beliefs of some I would never quickly deride it as garbage without deep thought as to why I think something is such, and without having an argument to back up my thoughts. It is OK to not believe in something, but being off putting is not.

Angrboda said

Excellent comment.

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teaquiero said

I want to learn so badly! It sounds like so much fun. I’ve done Tarot and palm readings, but I have yet to have my own tea readings. Something I should look into :)

Also, I absolutely agree with spearmint. Disrespecting something you don’t believe in is just…disrespect and very unclassy. No one needs that kind of negativity.

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I found this list of tea leaf shapes and their meanings that might interest some (though the colors make it a little difficult to read): http://bit.ly/pcZFJB

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Tasseography IS fun! The only thing that is ‘garbage’ about it is that you usually dispose your leaves after you’ve finished.

@theleafmethod: What types of teas did you use in your readings? Greens? Blacks? Oolongs? And how did you pour the tea to leave enough leaves in the cup without it interfering with the taste of the cup? Or did they drink the cup?

spearmint said

I have only ever done them with black tea in a 6-8 ounce tea cup. While it steeps you drink as much of the tea as possible and when it gets down to the last bits of liquid I flip the cup over on the saucer after swirling it to get the leaves to stick to the cup, draining the remaining tea. CTCs work well as the shape and size of the leaf lends itself well to clumping into shapes.

@Spearmint: Fabulous! I’m going to do some experimentation I think. Some of my friends might like for me to try it with them.

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Jillian said

My aunt does tea leaf readings at a tea house in Vancouver. While I’m personally a skeptic, all my conversations with her on the subject suggest that she genuinely believes in what she’s doing.

According to her and other family members my grandmother also read tea leaves at special occaisions like weddings when she was alive. The same grandmother also got me drinking tea in first place when I was young. :D

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Angrboda said

Someone on Steepster, and I can’t for the life of me remember who it was (if you are around, speak up!), once posted a picture of teacup painted on the inside for reading purposes. A whole little diagram in which, I gather, it matters where the various shapes the leaves can take show up.

It looked all sorts of awesome and it made me want to get one and learn it myself. For the same reason that I once bought a tarot deck and a book about reading the cards. Never did get to be proficient in that, but I still like looking at the cards. They are really quite pretty, and I like sometimes just picking a card, looking it up in my book and philosphising over it to myself for a while. I imagine if I were to attempt leaf reading, I would end up with this same philosphical approach to it, rather than attempted fortune telling. :)

(Honestly, it’s excellent for when something is bothering me. It helps me see the problem from more than just the one side and eventually work out a possible approach to it. There’s nothing supernatural about that. Cards or leaves, it’s a tool for self development, just like religion is for some. Doesn’t make me go around calling their heathen gods garbage, though.)

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teataku said

I have never read them or had them read, but I too would love to try it, just once. Not that I would change my outlook on life based on the outcome, but it would be a new experience. You know what they say about first times. ;)

I think I lump tea leaf reading in with Tarot reading in my brain, simply because they have similar purposes and seemingly similar methodology. For instance, in a Tarot reading, the subject is the one who shuffles the deck; in a tea leaf reading, the subject is the one who drinks the tea. A Tarot reading is targeted toward not “telling a fortune” but aligning the aspects of the subject’s life in a certain way, so as to reveal patterns or highlight things that were previously considered unimportant, to give clarity or help the person make connections. Although I’ve never had one, I suppose a tea leaf reading has similar aims, albeit in a more concise manner.

Honestly, the only reason I might hesitate to have my leaves read is not because I “don’t believe” in it, but because I tend to take a while to drink my tea, and the fact that the leaves sit in the cup while you drink means they’re continuously steeping… so by the time I’d be finished with the tea, it wouldn’t really taste very good. xD Perhaps that isn’t actually how it works, and if it is, perhaps this is a very silly thing to be worried about it, but I am nothing if not pragmatic about drinking tea.

LOL only a diehard tea drinker would come up with such a logical reason for not having their leaves read! I thought of that myself awhile ago.
I wonder if there is a stipulation on the size of the cup? maybe a tiny one could be consumed faster :)

XD That is the exact reason I dismissed the idea of reading my tea leaves…I couldn’t stand to have my leaves in the cup that long, because I take forever to drink my tea!

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