The tagline of a famous coffee brand: a lot happens over coffee, is penned by my friend, a former ad man. With a proclivity for tea, I said in jest: More happens over tea. Whats the more? he asked.

For that, I delve into a facet that no other beverage possesses mysticism. Tea is associated with the great awakening of Chinese Buddhism, which believes tea drinking helps sippers calm the mind, achieve self-enlightenment, revive from sleep and confusion, part with annoyance, and regain consciousness. Zen Buddhism seeks tea to get in touch with the inner workings of the self in the most direct way; Chanoyu, the Japanese tea ceremony, being the most practised form. This I see as the more in tea.

And yet, this attribute is esoteric and limits itself to a few practitioners and to the connoisseurs of the brew. This more is therefore less. It lost to the zillions who savour their cuppa as just an eye-opener. My cup of tea; Gods in heaven; alls well with the world.

But where more is truly more is in the sheer number of cups drunk daily. Tea consumption equals all other manufactured drinks in the world including coffee, chocolate, soft drinks, and alcohol put together. Here it is an obvious more.

At all this my friend looked thoughtful and we had some tea reading Kenneth Cohens The Buddha In A Cup of Tea

I am not I, and tea is not tea!...

What is tea? Just this, just this, just this

Some more, I asked.

Much more, he said.

More here:

More happens over tea

As Justin Smith was nearing graduation from UW-Madison, he met with a career counselor to see what job options were out there for a pony-tailed guy from Waukesha with a degree in East Asian religious studies.

During the meeting, the counselor asked if Smith had ever heard of Zendesk, the San Francisco-based company that makes help desk software for handling customer service issues. The firm was hiring people for its new office in Madison.

Since Smith had an interest in Zen Buddhism, he was intrigued with the company name and ended up applying.

On Wednesday afternoon, Smith was enjoying a bottle of craft beer while working in the new Zendesk offices in the Glass Bank building at 1 S. Pinckney St. on the Square.

Just look at the view, he said, gazing down East Washington Avenue from the sixth floor offices.

Smith, 23, is one of about 60 employees working for Zendesk in Madison. Its the largest office for the company outside of San Francisco and the primary support center for customers around the world.

Zendesk has now joined Google, Microsoft and Dell in mining for tech savvy graduates coming out of UW-Madison. But rather than relocating staffers to the company headquarters, firms are finding it easier and in many cases less expensive to simply to open a satellite office here.

Zendesk CEO and founder Mikkel Svane says he isnt sure how much the company is paying to rent the swanky space in the Glass Bank.

But Im pretty sure its less than in San Francisco, he says during a tour Wednesday of the new office space.

Getting more firms like Zendesk to take a look at Madison raises the standard for every other employer in town in terms of office perks and community benefits, says downtown Ald. Scott Resnick.

See the original post here:

Zendesk staffer: 'It's nice to have options other than Epic'