tea ceremony recap

[Lozen]

So I wanted to share about the traditional Chinese tea ceremony we had. There were seven of us.

 

We picked green jade tea to drink, or specifically, Hua Xiang Cui Yu Green Jade Tie Guan Yin from Anxi, Fujian. It is this great oolong, lightly fermented, a lovely clear jade color, delicious sweet flavor, and a floral, slightly vanilla scent.

 

The ceremony, held at Seven Cups teahouse (which looks like it came off of the set of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) started with an explanation of all of the beautiful intricate tools used (the drink cups, sniff cups, various spoons, pots, etc.) and a lot of information about tea (and our table definitely asked more questions about tea--we had two herbalists, two chefs, three writers, two scientists, an actress/massage therapist and yes, there is overlap in those descriptions. :-) We asked tons of questions about tea, fermentation versus oxidation, white versus green versus black, and on and on...

 

There is a very specific way to make tea, and I won't go into all the details, but my favorite part was that our hostess would really literally pour hot water all over the place. Somehow this didn't mess up the varnish on the table or anything, which my guests seemed surprised by. Something about a special finish.

 

I liked the Chinese tea ceremony because it was so ceremonial but still very comfortable, unlike the formal Japanese tea ceremony, which sounded like I wouldn't enjoy it very much. Very quiet, hardwood floors instead of nice chairs, only one window, no conversation allowed, very bitter tea, etc. I guess I can't knock it until I try it though, and I will admit I've preferred Zen meditation halls to Tibetan ones even without the beautiful warmth and colors-- I can meditate and then leave, and everybody ignores me, so no need to worry about the politics.

 

In any case, the symbolism was beauitful. Every last drop was poured out of the teapot, apparently the Chinese say that the person who gets the last drop is very lucky. The set-up includes a beautiful little tray with Chinese letters (I forget what the words all said...), a drink cup and a sniff cup. First the sniff cup is put in the drink cup to represent the perfect union between male and female (or "happy family!" as the nice woman kept saying) and then the entire thing is turned upside down to represent jumping over dragon gate ("success in business") which is based on a legend of the lucky carp jumping over dragon gate. The story is that every day the fish would see the dragon behind the gate and talk about how great he was. One day one of the fish jumped over the gate and turned into a magnificent dragon. They say that each day if you wake up and try to reach your dreams then one day you can turn into the dragon too... This legend is used to demonstrate that you really need daily dedication and effort to be successful and to overcome everything that stands in your way.

 

After the ceremonial part, we would roll the sniff cup around in the cup and then bring it up to smell it, putting it over our eyes too for the healing heat... Then we would hold the cup with our middle finger on the bottom (women can have their pinkies out, but men can't, heh heh heh) and then we would drink these small cups in three sips--the first you get the aroma over your whole mouth, the second you taste on the tip of your tongue, and the third you drink the rest as fast as you can and exhale so you can taste it on the exhale. It was nice.

 

We did this ceremonially for three of the seven cups and then several of my friends suggested we just drink tea. Was my decision and though I would have preferred to do it ceremonially, it seemed like all my friends just wanted to drink tea, so we did.

 

There is a poem by Lu Tong about the seven cups of tea and the way they make you feel. I will print two versions below.

 

 

The first cup refreshes your lips and throat,

The second elates you from your lonely mood,

The third searches in your arid intestines* and you realize that you have only 5,000 volumes of literature in your memory,

The fourth makes you perspire lightly, and evaporate through your skin the pent-up grievances in your life,

The fifth causes you to feel your muscles are relaxing, and bones losing weight,

The sixth leads you to go on the path to meet fairies,

Oh! The seventh cup! Better not take it! If you had it, the only feeling is an air current passing under your armpits.

* 'searches in your arid intestines' equates to 'makes you rack your brains'

 

"The first cup moistens my lips and throat. The second cup breaks my loneliness. The third cup searches my barren entrail but to find therein some thousand volumes of odd ideographs. The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration - all the wrongs of life pass out through my pores. At the fifth cup I am purified. The sixth cup calls me to the realms of the immortals. The seventh cup - ah, but I could take no more! I only feel the breath of the cool wind that raises in my sleeves. Where is Elysium? Let me ride on this sweet breeze and waft away thither."

 

After the seven cups, we ate mugwort treats with red bean paste and then watched The Great Dance at my house.

 

Next year we may do a green tea ceremony. The cups are different and the ceremony is slightly different and we want to check that one out too.

 

Just a short recap.

[Cameron]

Yael, I have been getting my teas from The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. My favorite right now is called Rasberry Ceylon. But I remember the tea at 7 cups being very good and was thinking of doing an order online. Which teas would you reccomend as being the best?

Edited March 30, 2006 by Cameron

[Lozen]

What are you looking for? Green, black, white, oolong, lapsang, puer or herbal?

[Cameron]

Is white good?

[Lozen]

Sorry, I can't recommend a white tea yet. Haven't tried theirs.

[Lozen]

Cam, my friend and I went to Seven Cups today and tried one of the white teas. They only had three kinds and we decided on Silver Needle after reading something in the menu description about sharp sweetness followed by delicate tingling aftertaste, and after the owner's wife who said it was the best. It is fragrant, tasty, and white tea has antioxidants just like green tea. The tea comes from Fuding County, which they say is where the best white tea come from, and the farm they get it from is in the second year of the process of getting organic certification. They switched from a bigger certified farm because they think the tea is so good. I have never tasted other white tea, but I concur on the quality!! Silver Needle is my white tea recommendation for you.

[Lozen]

I really don't feel like editing but I apologize for the many typos in the last post. I am still getting over being sick so I'm a little bit muddled.