China Trip - New Culinary Experience - Chinese Tea House

Culture, Tradition, Ceremony

Tools of the trade

Following our visit to the Summer Palace, we were treated to a tea tasting in a traditional tea house. Not only did we get to sample five different teas, but we also enjoyed watching and listening to the tea master prepare each tea and describe the qualities and characteristics of each.

Tea service prepped for our tasting

Our first sampling was ginseng oolong, and we were instructed in the proper method of experiencing the aroma and flavor of the tea. The tea was poured into a thin cylindrical porcelain cup and presented to us on a small wooden tray with a typical bowl-shaped porcelain cup.

Tea cups ready to be filled

We were then instructed to place the bowl-shaped cup on top of the cylinder and quickly invert the cups, so that the tea was transferred to the bowl-shaped cup. Then, we were told to pick up the cylinder and roll it gently between our palms while inhaling the aroma of the tea vapor remaining in the cylinder.

Ginseng oolong prepared for inversion

Inverted ginseng oolong

Ginseng oolong ready to taste

Finally, we learned how to properly hold the tea cup and sip the tea. Men were instructed to hold the cup with the thumb and index finger around the rim, the middle finger under the cup, and the remaining two fingers tucked against the palm – the manly way of drinking tea.

The manly way to hold a tiny tea cup

Women held the cup in a similar fashion, but had to extend their pinky finger out away from the cup – very feminine and ladylike!

Becky demonstrates the proper ladylike way to hold a tea cup

We also sample jasmine tea, puer black tea, lychee black tea with rose buds, and a dried fruit “tea” that contained no tea leaves, but had dried kiwi, mango, pineapple and peach.