碩專二甲 NA0C0003 程方麗
Tea Cultures between East and West
Drinking tea has become so popular in modern times that it has even been commonly
integrated into people’s daily life as a reflection of a culture.
The British people and the
oriental peoples like the Chinese and the Japanese are particularly famous for their
preferences for tea-drinking; however, there exist some differences across these peoples’ tea
cultures in terms of ways of thinking about or attitudes towards tea-drinking, ways of
drinking, contents, varieties of desserts, and table setting. These differences across cultures
make tea-drinking more appealing to not only tea goers but also anyone that is interested in
multiculturalism as the east meets the west in the course of culture exchanges.
Tea cultures are different, and comparisons can be made from some different
perspectives.
First of all, western people’s attitudes towards tea-drinking differ from those
of oriental peoples. Ever since the late 1650 A.C., when enjoying afternoon tea got its
popularity among British people of upper classes, it has been a habit British people delighted
in developing, and the afternoon tea time has been thought of as an occasion for socializing
with others. For British people, such practice of socializing with others while sampling tea
can be traced back to those days when ships embarking jars of tea leaves as well as porcelain
tea utensils from China and Japan commenced the west-east culture exchanges, making
exotic tea-drinking attractive to the people from noble class, especially to the ladies with
much leisure time. In a sense, British people love this laid-back leisure lifestyle by having
afternoon tea, because they can achieve the purpose of socialization.
Contrary to British
people’s attitude, Chinese people or Japanese people treat tea-drinking in a more conservative
and meditative manner in comparison.
“Zen”, “Peace”, and even “Philosophical
meditation” are associated with the core spirit of Chinese tea culture. Some ideas that Taoism
and Zennism preach in the Chinese culture are intimately associated with or embodied in
what is called “Teaism”.
Likewise, tea ceremony in the Japanese culture emphasizes the
synthesized presentation of art, religions, morality, and esthetics in hope of cultivating one’s
disposition faithful to the true “self” and echoing in harmony with the surroundings.
To
some extent, oriental tea cultures have something to do with the spirit of “Zen”, which is
related to profound Chinese philosophy stemming from Laotse (老子), who contended for
purification and freedom from distracting thoughts.
Probably due to the different ways of thinking or attitudes towards tea-drinking across
western and eastern cultures, British people prefer black tea made from tea leaves nearly 80%
fermented and mixed with sugar and milk to add flavor on the one hand and to remove the
bitterness contained in tea essence on the other hand. The earlier practice of adding sugar or
milk to tea later evolves into diversified practices of having other additions like honey,
pepper, cinnamon, whisky, and whatever they like; “Earl grey” and “Assam tea” are said to
be two kinds of tea adapted by having bergamot added to the black tea. Besides, it has been a
British convention that they get involved in tea-drinking very frequently on a daily basis. On
average, they drink tea at least four times a day, including the “early morning tea” slotted on
their waking hours, “eleven’s tea” slotted for the occasion in which they might have visiting
guests at around 11 o’clock, “five o’clock tea” known as afternoon tea, and “after dinner tea”
right before going to bed.
What’s more, in addition to those regular tea times, in between
their daily activities, there may be several activities in the name of tea-drinking like “tea
party”, “tea in garden”, or “picnic tea” etc for a while.
In a sense, British people have
regarded tea-drinking as an essential part of daily life ever since the 18th century, and with its
increasing popularity since the 19th century, tea-drinking has become popular among not only
the wealthy of upper class but also the ordinary people. Therefore, it is not surprising that up
to date in every British household delicately-made tea utensils are on the list of must-have.
One thing worth mentioning is that in British culture tea-drinking never undergoes
alone; instead, on the table are desserts commonly seen lying elegantly on a three-tier curate
stand with varieties of sandwiches and savories on the bottom tier, traditional scones and jam
or cream to be spread on the scones on the middle tier, and cakes, chocolates, fruits and
sweets on the top tier. One formality for eating these desserts is that these desserts should be
consumed from the bottom tier to the top, meaning one will taste the salty in sampling
sandwiches first, and then gradually taste the sweet to let taste buds perceive the flavors from
salt to sweet, from light to heavy. Up to present day, more formalities have been developed,
and “tea etiquette” has been formed in British tea culture, which encompasses such details as
follows.
Holding a Tea Cup:
In order not to spill the hot liquid onto oneself, one had better
hold the vessel of a cup with no handle in the proper way of placing one’s thumb at the six
o'clock position and one’s index and middle fingers at the twelve o'clock position, while
gently raising one’s pinkie up for balance. Tea cups with a handle are held by placing one’s
fingers to the front and back of the handle with one’s pinkie up again to allow for balance.
One should never wave or hold the tea cup in the air. When not in use, the tea cup should be
placed back in the tea saucer. At a buffet, it is suggested that one hold the tea saucer in
his/her lap with the left hand and hold the tea cup in the right hand. The only time a saucer
is raised together with the teacup is when one is at a standing reception.
Pinkies Up: Originally, all porcelain teacups were made in China, starting around 620
A.D. These small cups had no handles. In order not to spill the hot liquid onto oneself, the
proper way to hold the vessel was to place one's thumb at the six o'clock position and one's
index and middle fingers at the twelve o'clock position, while gently raising one's pinkie up
for balance. Pinkie up does not mean straight up in the air, but slightly tilted. It is not an
affectation, but a graceful way to avoid spills. It is advisable that one should never loop
his/her fingers through the handle, nor should he/she grasp the vessel bowl with the palm of
the hand.
Using Teaspoons: One should not stir tea with the teaspoon in sweeping circular
motions. Place the tea spoon at the six o'clock position and softly fold the liquid towards the
twelve o'clock position two or three times. Either place the iced teaspoon on the side of
another plate or ask the server or hostess to remove the spoon from the table.
One should
never leave the spoon in the glass especially when actually drinking the tea.
Serving Tea: Milk is served with tea instead of cream. Cream is too heavy and masks
the taste of the tea. Although some pour their milk in the cup first, it is probably better to
pour the milk in the tea after it is in the cup in order to get the correct amount. Remove the
tea bag from the cup and place it on a side saucer or in a slop bowl. One should not use the
string to wrap around or squeeze the tea bag. When lemon with tea being served, lemon slices
are preferable, not wedges. One should either provide a small fork or lemon fork for guests,
or have the tea server neatly place a slice in the tea cup after the tea has been poured. One has
to make sure of never adding lemon with milk since the lemon's citric acid will cause the
proteins in the milk to curdle.
Drinking Tea: It is important that one does not use his/her tea to wash down food.
One has to sip rather than slurp and swallow his/her tea before eating any food.
Unlike British people incorporating tea formalities and tea practices into daily life so
frequently, Chinese people do not undergo tea-drinking practices as frequently as British
people do during a day, nor do they confine themselves to certain periods of time for
tea-drinking.
Actually, the Chinese people are said to be the earliest people to begin to have
the tea-drinking practice.
According to the Book of Tea written by Lu Yu (陸羽) (c. AD
733-803), Shennong (the Divine Cultivator in the c.27th century B.C.) was the first person
that tasted all kinds of herbs in order to relieve people’s suffering from diseases and utilized
tea as an antidote to neutralize poisonous herbs. After Tang and Song dynasties, tea-drinking
became more and more popular among Chinese people.
However, at earlier times, Chinese
tea was not made in a refined manner. The late Tang poet Pie Rixiou (皮日休) summed up
how earlier Chinese tea was made, mentioning that in old times, most people brewed tea in a
messy way. That is, there was hardly any difference between drinking tea and having soup
that was cooked and mixed with vegetables. Therefore, tea-making and tea-drinking was
not that delicate and reflective in earlier times; even though tea was “drunk”, “consumed”,
and “accepted” before the Tang dynasty, it was not yet “tasted”, “enjoyed”, “appreciated” ,
hence hardly “popularized”.
It is not until Tang and Song dynasties when many poets and
well-learned elites began tea-tasting that the procedures for making tea becomes more
sophisticated and refined.
Lu Yu in his Book of Tea not only graded the quality of water
according to places where tea originated but also described the boiling water in three phases:
“For the first phase, there would be fish-eye like bubbles rising from the bottom of
boiled water, and the boiling sound is low. For the second phase, the water looks like the
emerging spring, and there would be incessant pearl-like sized bubbles rising from the edge
of the container. For the third phase, the boiled water is like the surging wave, and the boiling
sound is as loud as that of drums.”
As is suggested in the Book of Tea, in Chinese tea culture the quality of water is said to
affect the taste of tea.
Based on what Lu Yu graded and many other tea goers mentioned,
the water from mountain is likely to make the best-tasting tea, followed by the water from the
ocean, and the water from the well. (山水上，江水中，井水下。) The color of tea, the smell
of tea, the taste of tea, and the look of tea (色，香，味，形) are determined by the quality of
water. Some emperors in Chinese history are particular tea tasters like Qianlong(乾隆) in
Chin dynasty and Emperor Huizong(宋徽宗) in Song dynasty. During their reign, many
literati made comments on the quality of water in different areas on Mainland China due to
their particularity about tea-tasting.
To put it in a synthesized way, the water that is
regarded as the most suitable water for making tea should be light, cool, savory, crystal-clear,
tender, sweet, pure, and free from choking in essence (清，冷，香，冽，柔，甘，淨，不噎
人。) Obviously, in the later gradually-refined Chinese tea culture, tea is made not just for
drinking to quench thirst but also for tasting, appreciating, and even associated with literary
works, with its increasing popularity after the Tang and Song dynasties.
Such association
with literary works makes Chinese tea culture distinct from the western tea culture.
Basically, in ancient times, the Chinese people preferred green tea with tea leaves not
fully fermented. As for the ways of making Chinese tea, brewing tea leaves is the most
commonly employed.
The procedures that have handed down since earlier times cover
some steps as follows. First, the empty teapot is scalded with hot water to heat it up and
prevent it from cooling too rapidly during subsequent infusions. The hot water is then
discarded. Second, tea is ladled into the teapot to fill about half of its volume with dry leaf.
Third, hot water is poured into the teapot, then immediately poured out in order to rinse the
leaves.
Fourth, the pot is refilled with hot water, then the teacups are heated with hot water
and immediately drained. By the time this is done, the tea will have steeped for some seconds.
The steeping time may vary in accordance with the proportion of tea leaves or the properties
of the green tea leaves. Fifth, the first infusion is decanted into cups for drinking, while
leftover tea is discarded to prevent it from continuing to steep and become bitter. Sixth,
subsequent infusions should only last for fewer seconds than the first infusion.
To facilitate the procedures for brewing Chinese-style tea, the tea ware for brewing
Chinese tea is composed of 1) teapots, used to steep the tea leaves in hot water, 2) teacups, 3)
tea strainers, used to extract leaves from tea solutions, 4) tea trays, used to keep the tea or hot
water from spilling onto the table, 5) tea bags, used to hold tea leaves in water for removal
after steeping, and 6) tea caddies, used to store tea when not being consumed.
The
above-mentioned is the basic utensils for making Chinese tea; some other accompanying
gadgets such as tea scoop, tea laden, tea cloth, etc. can be included in the whole settings,
depending on personal needs.
By virtue of the popularity of tea-drinking, the raw materials
for making tea ware in Chinese history have evolved into pottery and porcelain since Tang
dynasty.
In Chinese history, varieties of raw materials used for producing tea ware also
promote the industry of diversified raw materials used for producing tea ware in China, and
thus Chinese tea culture is distinct from western tea culture, in which the British people seem
to utilize only the tea ware made from Chinese porcelain alone. Among the diversified
varieties of tea ware in Chinese history, tea ware made from Yixing pottery (紫砂陶),
originated in Yixing (宜興) in Jiangsu Province (江蘇省), tea ware made from white
porcelain (白瓷), originated in Jingdezhen (景德鎮), tea ware made from Celadon (青瓷)
originated in Zhejiang Province (浙江省), and Fuzhou (福州) Lacquerware (漆器) inscribed
with the art of Chinese painting and calligraphy are well-known not only as tea utensils but
also as Chinese artworks.
In a word, Chinese tea culture is connected with the growing
industry of varieties of raw materials used for producing tea ware, which is different from
western tea culture featuring only the porcelain-made tea ware.
In addition to the aforementioned differences across east and west tea cultures, Chinese
tea culture is also distinct from western tea culture in terms of some prevailing marriage and
worship practices. Assimilating tea in the etiquette of getting united in matrimony has long
been practiced for thousands of years in Chinese people’s life.
It is a Chinese convention
that tea is used as a betrothal gift to represent that the bride-to-be is engaged to a specific man,
who promises to marry her on a certain approaching auspicious day. And truly, on the
engagement day or wedding day, there is a ceremony in which the bride obediently offers
prepared cups of tea to the parents-in-law as well as other senior members in the
bridegroom’s family.
In many ancient literati’s words, tea is symbolic of “faithfulness”, for
the unlikelihood of transplanting tea trees from one place to another; besides, tea seeds can
prosper and yield many fruits once the seeds are buried in a certain place. Therefore, tea is
associated with positive meanings as a sign of wishing a couple bathed in love and affections
forever and bearing many kids after marriage. Tea has been playing an important role in
turning two families without blood ties into affinity and serving as an indispensible gift
hardly to be taken place of in marriages in the Chinese culture.
Besides the marriage practices, tea has also been frequently used on the occasion of
worshiping. Such practice is affected by the requirement of sitting meditation in the Zen
Buddhism. Drinking tea is one way of helping monks concentrate and freshen while
practicing Buddhist rules.
In many temples, a specific room spared for monks’ studying
Buddhists Scripture quietly while drinking tea (ie, called “茶堂” in Chinese) is often seen.
Whenever monks finish reciting one section of Buddhists’ Scripture with one incense stick
burning to ashes, tea would be served by some other monks to quench thirst and to achieve
the purpose of refreshing. This is called “打茶” in Chinese. Because tea is highly praised in
Buddhism, and tea-drinking is commonly practiced in temples, tea has gotten its position in
worshiping.
Offering tea to the deities is what pious Buddhist followers frequently do to
pray for blessings, because tea is thought of as the best sacrifice.
Using tea as a sacrifice is
hardly heard of in the western culture, even though the British people are tea addicts.
Even though tea-drinking is popular with the Chinese populace, practices of
tea-drinking can be diverse due to the expansive territory in China, and so up to date the
snacks along with tea-drinking practice or the ingredients of tea among the Chinese populace
are different. For a Cantonese (廣東人), the desserts accompanying tea-drinking practice can
include Shaw-Mei, steamed, grilled meat bun, shrimp dumplings, Wonton (雲吞), varieties of
gruel, and small dishes.
For Tibetans, butter tea (酥油茶) can be full of diverse flavors by
adding walnuts, sesames, peanuts, pine nut kernels, guazi (瓜子仁), eggs, or raisins,
depending on personal likes. For those tribes living near Dali, Yunnan, they are hospitable
enough to provide visitors with bitter tea first, then sweet tea, and savors-mixed tea finally,
which is known as “Three Tea”. As the names suggest, the bitter tea is accompanies by
nothing, the sweet tea is made by adding some brown sugar and walnut pieces, while the final
savors-mixed tea is made by putting honey and pepper in a tea cup and then pouring hot
water. To put it synthetically, diverse desserts or flavors or condiments are seen in different
areas, creating different specialties in Chinese tea-drinking and enriching the Chinese tea
culture.
Tea-drinking practices make people’s life colorful, whether in east or in west. Through
the increasing exchanges in every aspect across the west and the east, people on a global
scale are becoming better familiar with Chinese-style tea and British-style tea under the spell
of many health benefits tea brings about as well as many fascinating stories that lie behind
every tea culture in history. In a sense, modern people are blessed to be provided with
varieties of tea to choose from and be able to enjoy tea-tasting to their heart’s content in their
favorite way.
Having appealing charms to add spice to life, tea-tasting enables people to be
detached from the hustling and bustling city life for a while to enjoy a relaxation of body and
mind temporarily.