Chinese Tea Guide
Chinese Tea Ceremony
For centuries, the Chinese and Japanese have been practising the art of the tea ceremony as a way of relaxing the mind, focusing mental energy, social bonding and enjoyment. The Chinese tea ceremony is an intoxicating experience that should be experienced by all those interested in tea culture. The purpose of the tea ceremony is to produce the finest and most aromatic brew from high quality tea (usually Oolong or Pu Erh) and to taste the variations in flavour and finish as the tea changes over many infusions. All of this is done with an artistry of skill, knowledge and movement by the tea master that is poetic and hypnotic and takes years of training and tea knowledge. The art of preparing and making tea is called Cha Dao. The smells and taste are the most important parts of the ceremony, so the rules for making and pouring tea vary depending on the type of leaf used.
Usually an unglazed purple or red clay pot and cups are used, with Yixing (a small area near Shanghai) clay being the most sought after due to the belief that it absorbs any toxins from the tea and water. The pot and cups are unglazed so as to allow the tea oils and resins to be absorbed into the material during the curing process which involves soaking the utensils in tea for a few hours a day for up to a week. After the pot and cups are cured they are ready to be used for the ceremony, however the more they are used the better. Because the clay is cured with one type of tea, it should not really be used to brew other types of tea as this would alter the purity of the flavour.
The quality of the water is absolutely essential to good tea. Distilled or soft water produces a flat brew but hard or tap water can introduce too many other flavours that ruin the tea. The best is filtered water with a pH of 7.9. The temperature depends on the tea but usually Oolongs tastes best with water at about 95 degrees Celsius and Pu Erh should be brewed in freshly boiled water.
PROCESS
- The pot is rinsed with boiling water
- The tea leaves are added using a bamboo scoop until about 1/3 of the pot is filled.
- Perfect temperature water (depending on the tea) is poured into the pot until overflowing (this is to wash the tea and remove any fermented flavour).
- The lid is place on the pot and hot water is poured over the entire pot to warm the clay.
- The tea is poured into the clay cups to warm and cure them.
- 1st infusion - Perfect temperature water is poured into the pot until water emerges from the spout. No bubbles should form in the liquid. The lid is returned and the liquid from the cups are poured over the pot to keep an even temperature. The pot is left for about 30 secs or until the drop at the end of the spout has disappeared. The cups are arranged in a circle and the tea is poured in a fast circular motion to ensure that every cup receives a similar amount of tea from each part of the pot, with particular attention to an even distribution of the last few drops of the pouring which considered the best. The aim of the tea master is to make sure that every cup tastes identical. The tea should be drunk in 2 or 3 small sips with the tea passing through the teeth making a slight hissing sound. This is to bring air into the brew for maximum flavour.
Sometimes tea is first poured into a large 'sniffer' cup and then emptied. This cup is passed around for the guests to smell the aroma of the tea. A tea expert's nose will be able to tell the area the tea was grown and whether or not it is a good vintage.
- Further infusions - The process for the first infusion is repeated but the brewing time is left longer (usually about 10-20 secs extra for every infusion). A good tea can be infused up to 8 times (Pu Erh up to 20 times) with the 2nd infusion usually considered the best but connoisseurs take delight in tasting how the tea liquor looks and tastes different with every infusion.
At the end of the ceremony the tea is removed from the pot and placed in a clean bowl for the guests to observe whilst the tea master carefully cleans all the utensils.