Chinese Tea Ceremony

by Paulette Licitra
(page 3)

Using finely pointed chop sticks, Jan put the tea in the teapot, then poured the boiling water into it. As he did this he held the pot over a large bowl, letting the overflow run into the bowl. "You don't want any bubbles in the pot. Bubbles, when mixed with the tea, form a foam and that is not aesthetically pleasing." He set the teapot down and covered it. "We don't let the tea steep for too long. It is important when serving tea to know when to pour." Less than a minute later, he poured the tea into our narrow cups, not pouring one cup at a time, but moving the teapot around in a continual motion over the cups, so they filled together.
"Each cup should taste exactly the same." He emptied the pot, then passed out the narrow cups, telling us to smell the tea first. A chorus of oohhh's and aaahhh's ensued. This smells like rose...No, lilac...No,... "Now, in one motion, pour the tea into your drinking cup, then smell the empty cup." More ooohhh's and aaahhh's. The steam left by the tea made the smell more pungent. Yes, lilac, no, honeysuckle!

We were amazed how much aroma was left in the cup after the tea had been poured out.

The more we smelled, the more the scent kept changing. "The smells are able to come through and hit the membranes in your nose."
When we tasted the tea there were more exclamations. The tea tasted much different than it smelled. It had a bitter, green-twig taste, very satisfying. One participant said it tasted like Lipton iced tea mix, another exclaimed, "Special K!"
As we handed back our sniffing glasses for the next "round," Jan refilled the teapot with boiling water. Each pot of tea serves three to four rounds and up to five or six, depending on the tea and the server. The goal is that each round taste the same as the first. Creating consistent flavor is where the mastery of the server is seen.

After successive rounds of tea, I began feeling a little high. Possibly due to the deep breathing of our "scent-tasting" which brought an extra supply of oxygen to my brain! Also, because focusing on the particulars of the tea is very meditative; you think of nothing else, and this makes your mind relax into a kind of swoon.
Jan Lee is happy to serve tea to interested tea drinkers at his store Sinotique at 19A Mott Street, 212 587-2393. You must call ahead to arrange an appointment for tea, but the store is always open for business -- just stepping through the door transports you into a place of beauty and serenity.