In Sunshine Canyon, just northwest of Boulder, Reverend Bu Nan Brown and Stephan van der Mersch built Sunshine Springs Teahouse in 2018, providing a private place for those interested in a blend of Zen philosophy and the art of tea.
“We’re much closer to a church than we are to a store,” said van der Mersch, 40, who grew up in Boulder.
In September, van der Mersch and Brown, 42, added to their community offerings, opening the Boulder Tea Hut in the Lower Chautauqua neighborhood. Their new location functions as a gallery with a larger room for meditative tea ceremonies and classes. Both establishments focus on providing an immersive experience, akin to a spiritual ceremony.
The ceremonies operate on a pay-what-you-can basis, with most participants contributing $25 or $30, although some people pay nothing at all, van der Mersch said. The inspiration for these ceremonies comes from the centuries-old tradition of tea cultivation by Zen Buddhist monks.
“You’d always find monks on the mountains with tea trees, and where there were tea trees, you’d find monks,” said van der Mersch, who has traveled to China and is proficient in Mandarin.
“Tea can be this beautiful, deep, quiet experience,” said Brown, a Zen Buddhist priest for eight years and Boulder resident for 12. Some of the tea served in ceremonies comes from trees that are over 1,000 years old, Brown noted.
“Tea really gives us an opportunity to drop into the moment and remember that we are this earth, we are caretakers and we’re all deeply connected.”
The new Boulder Tea Hut hosts a bowl tea ceremony, held Tuesday through Friday mornings, which Van der Mersch described as “a contemplative process where tea is steeped many times and poured into individual bowls for guests to drink.” He recommends bowl ceremonies for beginners as they help establish a connection with tea. Additionally, separate men’s and women’s ceremonies take place on Wednesdays. On weekends, the teahouse offers Gongfu tea, a traditional and highly technical Chinese tea ceremony.
Meanwhile, Sunshine Springs Teahouse offers three-hour contemplative tea ceremonies on weekends and holds a meditation session with tea every Monday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Originally introduced by a mutual friend, van der Mersch and Brown reconnected at a tea ceremony in 2016 at Gold Lake Ranch outside Ward. Van der Mersch had just returned from visiting Taiwan, where he attended a tea ceremony at Tea Sage Hut, a tea and Zen center run by the Global Tea Hut (now a supporter of Boulder Tea Hut). The experience left him with “the deepest experience of prayer” he had ever encountered.
Brown, the Zen priest, had had his own positive experience after helping a friend build a tearoom. Motivated by their shared passion for tea and appreciation for its centuries-old ceremonies, the pair decided to build their teahouse in Boulder.
Construction on Sunshine Springs Teahouse began in 2016. The structure design and construction was led by local builder Mocha Vaughan, with Brown managing the other aspects of the construction process.
Taiwan-based Zen monk Wu De, founder of Tea Sage Hut, had shared public tea and spiritual lessons hosted by Brown and van der Mersch in Boulder. Wu De proposed constructing a larger teahouse closer to downtown to serve as a branch of Global Tea Hut, which also supports locations in California.
Earlier this year, construction on Boulder Tea Hut began. The larger ceremonial space allows more people to learn about tea ceremonies, and Boulder Tea Hut’s co-founders hope that visitors will carry on the tradition.
To serve at Boulder Tea Hut, van der Mersch explained that people need to practice for six months to a year-and-a-half, depending on whether they aspire to serve bowl tea or Gongfu tea. Currently, six people are working on this, he said.
“There’s such an opportunity to teach people how to dive into this and show them what we’ve experienced over the years,” Brown said. “It opens hearts. It opens chakras. People cry a lot.”
He added, “I’m excited to see what happens as we turn up the tea culture in Boulder to 11 and break the knob off for a while.”
Correction: This story was corrected to clarify that Global Tea Hut does not “operate” any locations. According to van der Mersch, “There are Global Tea Hut students who have opened their own locations, which Global Tea Hut supports.”
Clarification: This story was clarified to more accurately describe the Sunshine Springs Teahouse, which is a private space intended for private use.