I spent my Friday evening learning the art of tea ceremony. We were practicing a traditional Chinese tea ceremony, called the Gongfu tea ceremony. It was an evening of dropping in deep with one plant, the camellia sinensis (tea plant). It was 4 of us students in a circle being led by a wonderful teacher, Francisca. Francisca spent 2 hours teaching us how to hold a gongfu ceremony. We tried white teas, green teas, black teas, oolong, an pu-erh. In a traditional ceremony, there is no talking. Rather, the tea pourer and drinkers are in meditation with the leaves and with the whole process of preparing tea. It is a way to find stillness and balance in a life that can be chaotic. This is what I learned from the workshop ::

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Introduction

• White, green, black, oolong, and pu-erh tea all comes from the same plant, the camellia sinensis
• What makes these teas different is how they are harvested, where they are grown, how they are processed after (oxidation and fermentation)
• A tisane is an herbal tea, like chamomille tea or peppermint tea. This is different from "tea" that we drank in this ceremony (the camellia sinensis plant)
• The camellia sinensis species comes from East Asia
• Chinese, Japanese, and Korean culture all practice tea ceremonies
• In Japan the matcha tea ceremony is the most popular
• The camellia sinensis plant is best grown in places that get cold at night because this coldness creates resiliency and strength
• In China tea leaves are traditionally dried with dry heat and in Japan they are dried with steam (this process allows the leaves to stay greener because they haven't been oxidized)
• White teas are the least processed and have not been heat dried or fermented, lending to their delicate flavors
• The amount of caffeine in tea depends on the oxidation process - more oxidation brings out more caffeine

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Steeping

• Each type of tea is very dependent on the heat of the water it is being steeped in
  a) If a tea is steeped in water that is too hot then it cracks the leaves in a way that pulls out more bitter flavors
• Each type of tea is also very dependent on how long the tea is soaked for
  a) if it is soaked too long than it can draw out bitter flavors as well
• Each type of tea can be infused multiple times using the same leaves
  a) the first infusion of tea leaves will taste very different from the 4th infusion
  b) the number of times a tea can be infused depends on the type of tea

White tea // 175-185 degrees // 1 tbsp per cup // 3-4 minutes // 3-4 infusions
Green tea // 180-185 degrees // 1 tsp per cup // 30 sec - 2 mins // 6 infusions
Black tea // 206 degrees // 1 tsp per cup // 15 sec - 2 mins // 4-5 infusions
Oolong tea // 185 degrees // 1 tsp per cup // 30 sec - 2 mins // 4 infusions
Pu-erh tea // 206 degrees // 1 tbsp per cup // 15 sec - 3 mins // 4 infusions
Tisane tea // 206 degrees // 1 tbsp per cup // 3-5 mins // 3-4 infusions

• Little fish eyes at the bottom of a water boiler indicate 175 degrees
• When these little bubbles start to string up to the top of the water boiler (a string of pearls), this indicates 185 degrees
• A full boil marks 212 degrees

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The Ceremony

1. Warm up all your vessels (pot & cups) with hot water and rinse them out so that the vessels are warm to begin with and don't cool down the first tea infusion too fast
2. Heat up your water to the desired temperature
3. Add your tea leaves to the pot and "awaken them" by pouring your heated water into the pot
4. Steep the tea leaves for the recommended time and then pour the tea into the cups for everyone to drink
5. Hand the filled cups to the participants and ask that they smell the tea - smell all of the interactions that the plant has had in it's life time (interactions with other plants, what soil it was grown in, what kind of care it received from human touch)
6. Sip the tea and have everyone return their cups
7. Begin with the second infusion, and continue for as many infusions are recommended

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Fun Facts

• A tea ceremony is seen as an alchemy of elements
  a) fire used to heat the water - in some cultures only certain types of wood are used to heat the water used for tea
  b) water is used to infuse the tea - spring water is not always the best because it contains so many minerals that it affects the taste of the tea / reverse osmosis water is often used
  c) earth is used in the growing of the tea leaves
  b) air is used as the humans that are cultivating and moving around the tea leaves all around the world
• Tea brings more blood to the brain, so it helps with focus and energy
• The 2nd and 3rd infusion is often the highlight in terms of taste because it is the most full bodied and the leaves are awakened
• Oolong is a combination of fermentation and oxidation - it is partially fermented and then stopped with a heating rpocess
• Clay pots are recommended to use for darker teas because the clay takes on the tea flavor and becomes seasoned
• Glass pots are recommended for white teas
• Oolong teas are handrolled or unrolled and have the largest aray of flavors and aromas
• Add 15% more time per infusion
• When you sip the tea, you can close your eyes and feel where the tea goes in your body
• The gongfu tea ceremony stretches time and creates presence

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