We have already told you about the most necessary accessories for the Chinese tea ceremony, and today we want to tell you about the action itself. Chinese tea drinking differs from Russian, Japanese and English, although many sources claim that it was in China that the first traditions of drinking tea originated and spread from there. For several centuries in China, freshly brewed tea has been accompanied by friendly conversations, business negotiations, official events, and religious rituals.
Despite the fact that in modern China, tea drinking is less popular than before and more of a tribute to tradition, its rituals are still revered.
1. "Apology" - to pour and offer tea to a person from whom you ask for forgiveness for something, is a sign of complete, sincere repentance and humility. That is, tea is accompanied by a verbal apology (a good tradition! - you can adopt and, asking for forgiveness from your loved one or beloved, offer a cup of aromatic tea).
2. "Family meeting" - tea drinking is an important ritual that accompanies the meeting of family members: parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, aunts, uncles and nephews, etc. In modern China, these meetings are often held in restaurants on weekends.
3. "Sign of respect" - a cup of tea offered to a person, older in age or rank, is an expression of respect.
4. "Maintaining the Chaoshan tradition" - friends and relatives gather for the Gongfu Cha ceremony in a special tea room, and the elders share their knowledge of customs with the younger ones. 
5. "Wedding Tea Ceremony" - the rallying of the families of the bride and groom, at this ceremony, acquaintance with numerous new relatives usually takes place. The bride and groom serve their parents tea, kneeling down and thanking them, and in return they receive a traditional red envelope - a symbol of good luck.
There are also other reasons for drinking tea, and besides them, the Chinese also adhere to some rituals, for example, in South China it is customary to knock on the table 3 times with bent index and middle fingers in gratitude for the poured tea.
1) For the Chinese tea ceremony Gongfu Cha, prepare tea accessories and oolong tea. Main accessories: teapot for water, chaban (tea board), teapot made of Yixing clay for brewing, chahai (tea pouring vessel), wenxiangbei (a tall bowl of a tea pair), chabei (a wide bowl of a pair in the form of a bowl).
2) Next, heat the water to about 95°C ("Wind noise in the pines"), but do not boil!
3) Warm up all the tea utensils: to do this, first pour water into the teapot, pour from it into the chahai, from there pour the teapot into cups and the remaining water from the chahai and cups. Do it on the shepherd. Wipe the teapot clockwise with a special tea brush.
4) Pour oolong into chahe and "get acquainted" with it: examine the tea, breathe it.
5) Pour the tea into the teapot, wrap it in a towel or a special cover and tap it on the bottom for a minute to expel the tea dust.
5) Pour water into the kettle, holding a vessel of boiling water high above it. Then immediately pour the water from the teapot into the chahai, and from it onto the chaban.
6) Pour water into the teapot again and wait a few seconds (the time depends on the oolong variety).
7) Pour the tea into the chahai, and from it pour over the wenxiangbei (about 3/4 of the volume). Cover the wenxiangbei chabei and turn the vessels over so that the chabei is on the bottom and serve the tea on a special elongated coaster.
8) The tea drinker should pick up a tall cup from the bowl and breathe in the tea aroma from it, then admire the color of the tea in the chabei and drink it.
9) Now you can refill the tea in the teapot and repeat the whole procedure. Oolong can be brewed 4 to 10 times, depending on the type of tea.
The tea ceremony should be held in an atmosphere of peace, tranquility and spiritual harmony. First of all, conversations should be about the tea itself, about the current moment, or you can just immerse yourself in your thoughts.
Now you can invite your friends to your "Chinese tea ceremony", even if it will be a little different from the real one. Have a nice tea party!
The tea ceremony gong fu cha "tea mastery" is not just a tea party, but a philosophical and cultural event. This is how tea was brewed in the circles of the Chinese intelligentsia (poets, writers, officials) in the 8th century, when, thanks to the first tea writer Lu Yu, the fashion for Chinese tea spread throughout the country.
Tea of the highest class, exquisite dishes, a special atmosphere, music, incense, the beauty of the ritual - all this gives rise to a special, almost meditative state in a person, and the task of the tea master, as the central figure in tea drinking, is to create this atmosphere. In general, this is a great way to spend an evening in good company. So if you have mastered the basics of brewing tea, try yourself as a real tea master!
Unlike the everyday tea drinking pin cha, here, in addition to the teapot and bowls, additional accessories are used in the Gong Fu Cha ceremony.
Chahe literally translates as "tea box". This is a container into which dry tea leaves are poured before brewing. So each participant of the tea ceremony can get acquainted with tea - evaluate its appearance and aroma. Chahe is passed in a circle. When all the guests have met with tea, it is poured into a teapot.
Cha juCha ju are tea instruments that consist of:
Cha chi is a spatula that helps to pour tea from chahe into a teapot.
Jia tzu - tongs with which the tea master takes bowls.
Cha zan - a needle for cleaning the spout of a teapot.
Cha xianluo is a funnel that is inserted into the throat of the teapot and makes it easier to pour tea into it.
Cha mao bi - teapot care brush.
Cha tsang is a special container in which the sleeping tea is transferred.
Cha bu - tea towel;
Sieve.
A pair of tea is a pinmingbei bowl (from which tea is drunk) and a special high cup wenxianbei (from which the aroma is inhaled). The third item in the tea pair is a small bei de stand, on which a bowl and a glass are placed.
ChahaiChahai is translated as "sea of tea". This is a vessel, shaped like a small jug, into which tea is poured from the teapot before it is poured into the guests' bowls. That is, he acts as an "intermediary" between the teapot and your bowl. And there are several reasons for this:
If you pour tea from a teapot directly into bowls, then the tea can be over-brewed while waiting until it is all poured - there are small holes in the spouts of teapots, and there can be many guests who need to pour tea.
If you pour tea from a teapot directly into bowls, then the taste and strength of the infusion in different cups will be different - the lightest for those who were poured first, and the strongest for those who were poured last. That is why Chahai has a second name (used in Taiwan) - Gundaobei, which translates as "chalice of justice".
By pouring tea into chahai, we lower its temperature.
ChabanThe biggest object of the tea ceremony is the double-bottomed tea board, where water or tea flows during the tea ceremony. By placing the dishes on the chabani, you don’t have to worry about tea spilling onto the table.
By the way, all this is in our tea shop:
1. Heat up the water. We remove the kettle from the heat when the first large air bubbles begin to rise to the surface, but the water is not yet seething with steam. Pour the water into a thermos to keep it warm.
2. Prepare everything you need from the dishes placed on a tea board. Light incense, turn on "tea" music.
3. Prepare tea. Traditionally, the Gongfu Cha ceremony is performed with oolongs - as with the brightest and richest in taste and aroma teas. Pour the tea into the chahe from the tea caddy using a scoop. Get to know the tea and pass the chahe around to the guests. Acquaintance with tea goes like this: you take chahe with tea in both hands, folded like a boat, bring it close to your face, warm the tea with your breath and then inhale the aroma.
4. Preheat the dishes boiling water inside and out. Pour boiling water onto a tea board. The bowls of the guests are turned over with special jia tzu tea tongs.
5. Transfer the tea from the chahe to the teapot using a spatula and a funnel, which is placed in the neck. Wrap the teapot in a towel and shake it several times - the tea dust will settle on the walls, and the tea will warm up and begin to give off aroma.
6. Rinse the tea and prepare it. Pour the tea with water and immediately, without insisting, pour it into the chahai through a sieve. From the chahai, pour the first infusion into the guests' bowls to warm them up additionally. Again, using tongs, take the bowls and drain the infusion from them onto a tea board or tea figurines. This infusion is not drunk.
7. Brew tea. Fill the tea leaves again with water up to the rim of the teapot/gaiwan. Wait a few seconds and pour through a sieve into the chahai.
8. Pour out the tea. First, tea is poured three-quarters into a tall glass. Then it is covered with an inverted bowl, like a lid, and the couple is turned over so that the tall glass is on top. In this form, the tea pair is transferred to the guest on a stand, and the guest independently separates the cups. For the first time, the tea master turns the pair over, then the ceremony participants turn them over on their own.
How to flip a tea pair:
Take the tea pair with one hand so that the thumb rests on the lid, and the index and middle fingers hold a tall cup on both sides of it. In one motion, turn the pair over and place it on the table. At the same time, tea should not spill out of a tall glass, it should go into the bowl only after you raise the glass.
First, the aroma is inhaled in a glass, then tea is drunk from a bowl.
Come to our store - a huge selection. And 10% DISCOUNT to all readers of the blog. Promo code: ifromblogA step-by-step description of how to conduct a Chinese tea ceremony or "highest Chinese skill" at home. For true connoisseurs of tea.
Kung fu cha (or gong fu cha) - the Chinese tea ceremony or "supreme tea skill" - is the hallmark of the Chinese. At any time of the year, in cold or hot weather, the inhabitants of the Celestial Empire drink tea, preferring it to any other drink. The postulates of ancient Chinese medicine to maintain good health for each season prescribe drinking different types of tea:
How to prepare for the tea ceremony?
You can start the tea drinking ceremony only in a certain state of mind. The harmonious and friendly attitude of the owner of the house, preparing tea, will certainly be transferred to his guests. The appropriate mood will support a calm, quiet musical sound. For the ceremony, dishes are of great importance: they should be small, elegant, original in shape. It is better to choose a special tea set from a great variety of offers, because the Chinese are skilled craftsmen in the manufacture of tea utensils.
The purpose of a beautiful ceremony
What is the purpose of a special ritual of tea drinking? The Purpose of the Gong Fu Cha Tea Ceremony:
The duration of the tea ceremony is up to two hours. During this time, tea party participants drink up to 7 small cups of a wonderful drink. Rushing things and being distracted is the height of disrespect for the host of the ceremony.
The optimal number of participants in a tea party is four people along with the owner. Invited guests are arranged according to their social status.
Necessary utensils and items for a home ceremony
Serving tea correctly
The purchased tea set should be placed on a special tea board (cha bani). Next, we put a teapot (gaiwan), then arrange tea pairs of a special shape for each participant in the ceremony. Other tools used in the tea making process are placed to the right of the tea board.
Chinese tea ceremony in detail
The most important thing in the tea ceremony is to recreate the necessary atmosphere, mood. If you succeed, then you can rightfully be called a master of the "highest Chinese skill" - gong fu cha.
Recently, Eastern culture has received considerable popularization among Europeans, so it is not strange that most of us increasingly have a desire to bring at least a small particle of traditions that are unusual for us into our home. The most popular symbol of China and Japan is the tea ceremony. The master class of the Iron Phoenix tea culture club, which is easy to find at https://clubcha.ru, helped me figure it out. Its name, as well as the Eastern tea ceremony, has its own symbolism. The fact is that the phoenix, according to popular beliefs of the Celestial Empire, is called upon to protect the tea bush, which, in turn, is a symbol of long life. Here is such a simple chain that explains the origins of the tradition.
The tradition of tea ceremonies has taken root in our lands because it is very difficult to meet a person who does not drink tea at all. At least, such individuals did not happen on my life path. A cup of hot tea is exactly what can cement friendship in the cold season, and iced tea will help you tune in to the working wave in the heat.
What do you need to organize a home tea ceremony?
If you seriously decide to saturate your life with the traditions of the East, then the first thing you should realize is that in any of the Eastern traditions there are no trifles that can be thrown aside like unnecessary garbage. Not even that, they just don't exist! Everything is important in the oriental tea ceremony: the setting, the utensils, the quality of the tea, and even serving it to the guests.
The first thing you should do is take care of preparing the area for tea drinking with friends, colleagues or relatives. At this stage, it will not be superfluous to take care of the dishes. If you want to have tea, really observing the traditions of the homeland of tea, then you will have to get a clay tea set. Yes, yes, although porcelain has always been held in high esteem in China and Japan, traditions usually come from the habits of the people, and they did not drink or eat from porcelain. In addition, clay is the only material that can reveal the true taste and aroma of a tea drink. But what about color? - you ask. I don't see a problem! In modern stores, you can easily find clay tea sets with white inner walls.
Second - buy natural Chinese or Taiwanese tea! What it will be: white, black, green, blue-green, red, yellow or pu-erh tea - depends on the taste preferences of you and your guests. The main selection criterion is high quality. Tasty and fragrant high-quality tea simply cannot be cheap - remember this once and for all.
However, the taste of tea depends not only on the quality of the tea leaf, but also on the skillful hands of the mistress of the house.
How to brew tea correctly?
Directly in the tea ceremony itself, there are many incredibly small details that an outsider may consider insignificant, but, as I already said, there are no trifles in it, so let's start from the very beginning, because brewing tea is a whole show art that real masters learn over the years, if not for the rest of your life.
So:
And one more piece of advice from the ancient Chinese: a person with a pure heart and in peace of mind should conduct the tea ceremony. Tea does not like malice, so a violation of tradition will bring trouble to the owner's house, but moderation in thoughts and actions, on the contrary, brings wealth and joy. The tea ceremony in the East has always been something like an Indian peace pipe, so very often the Chinese even drank from one cup, passing it around. This tea party was a gesture of trust and unity.
The tea ceremony in Japan is a special ritual that dates back to the Middle Ages and is revered to this day.
The Buddhist monks created the tea ceremony, and soon it became an integral part of Japanese culture, glorifying it all over the world.
In general terms, the tea ceremony is a meeting of the tea master and his guests according to certain rules for collective relaxation, contemplation of the beauty hidden in ordinary things, conversations during which tea drinking took place. The ceremony is held in a specially furnished room and represents actions carried out in a certain order.
tea ceremony photo
Before the beginning of the sacrament, the guests are placed in a room where small cups of boiling water are brought to them in order to arouse in the guests the anticipation of the subsequent ceremony as a wonderful and cozy event.
The guests then walk through the tea garden tyaniva to the chashitsu tea house along the stone-covered roji path, which looks like a mountain path and creates a natural feeling. This transition has a special meaning - a departure from the hustle and bustle of life, petty worries, worries and misfortunes.
Looking at the garden, the participants of the ceremony are predisposed to spiritual contemplation and cleanse their thoughts from everyday worries.
When the guests reach the tea house, the host comes out to them. At the end of a calm, moderate greeting, visitors go to a nearby well and perform a bathing ceremony. Water is scooped up with a small ladle with a long handle, the ceremony participant washes his face, hands, rinses his mouth, then washes the handle of the scoop. The ceremony of washing means the establishment of bodily and spiritual purity.
Then the guests enter the tea house through a small entrance, which marks the edge of the ordinary, vain world, and take off their shoes. The small size of the entrance makes the guests bend, which means their equality at the time of the ceremony - any person should bow, regardless of origin, wealth or position.
Before the visit of the participants of the tea party, the host kindles a fire in the hearth, puts a cauldron of water over it and places a tokonoma (a scroll with a saying that sets the theme of the ceremony), a bouquet of flowers and an incense burner in a special niche near the entrance.
Tokonoma photo
Entering the house after the guests, the owner bows and sits next to the hearth, opposite the rest of the participants in the ceremony. Not far from the owner are the items needed for tea drinking: a wooden chest with tea, a bowl and a mixer made of bamboo. Before tea drinking, guests are served kaiseki - a simple, low-calorie but gourmet meal that will not satiate, but relieve hunger. The word "kaiseki" comes from a heated stone, which in ancient times, Buddhist monks put in their bosoms to alleviate hunger. Before the tea party itself, “omogashi” are distributed - sweets for tea.
At the end of the meal, the ceremony participants leave the tea house for a short time to take a walk in the garden before the main tea drinking ceremony. While the guests are outside, instead of a scroll, the host puts an aesthetic bouquet of flowers or branches into the tokonoma chabana. This composition is based on the rule of unity of contrasts, for example, it can be a pine branch, which represents reliability and strength, next to a camellia flower, which denotes sensitivity and fragility.
After the participants return to the house, the main part of the ceremony begins - the host prepares and drinks thick powdered green tea. The preparation of tea takes place in absolute silence. All the actions and movements of the host are precisely worked out and measured, the master moves in rhythm with his breathing, the guests are attentively watching the sacrament, listening to the sounds of boiling water and the crackle of a burning hearth. This is the most meditative stage of the tea ceremony. Tea is poured into a rough ceramic bowl, then it is filled with boiling water, and the tea is stirred with a bamboo stirrer until fully cooked.
Dishes for the Japanese tea ceremony photo
The host bows to the participants in the ceremony and passes the cup of thick tea to the senior guest. The guest puts a fucus silk handkerchief on his left palm, takes the cup with his right hand, puts it on his left palm and takes a sip of tea. After that, he lowers the fucus on the mat, wipes the edges of the bowl and gives it to the next in order. Each guest sips tea in the same way.
Drinking tea from a common bowl represents the unity of the participants in the ceremony. When the guests empty the bowl, it will again go from hand to hand empty, so that everyone carefully examines the bowl, recognizes its shape, and again feels it in his hand.
Then the host prepares light tea for each tea party in separate small cups. There comes a time for a conversation, the topic of which is the inscription on the scroll in tokonoma, the elegance of the composition of flowers, the cup for tea, the tea prepared by the master.
After the end of the conversations, the owner asks for forgiveness and leaves the tea house, marking the end of the ceremony. The guests take a last look at the decorations, symbols and utensils used for making tea, the flowers in the tokonoma, which opened at the end of the tea party and symbolize the time spent by the guests together.
When the guests leave the tea house, the owner stands next to the entrance and silently bows to those leaving the ceremony. Then the owner is in the tea house for some time, mentally returning to the past tea party and thinking about the feelings caused by it. After that, the master takes out the dishes, removes the flower arrangement, cleans the tatami and leaves the tea house.
An interesting video about the Japanese tea ceremony with translator's comments.
Genre of the article - Culture of Japan
