Tea ceremony in Japan
In the previous entry titled "Drinks in Japan; Japanese Green tea", I wrote that there are many variety of green tea in Japan. If you missed the entry,here are examples of variety of Japanese green tea.
"Tea" in Japanese is "Cha".
Shin cha
Available only limited time because "shin cha" is the very first harvest of Sencha tea leaves. It is hand picked and they are picking very young tender leaves. "Shin cha" is also known for strong grassy aroma unique to tea with less bitterness.
Sen cha
Sencha is steamed and dried tea leaves and this is probably most popular tea in Japan.
Ban cha
Ban cha is made from hard leaves and stem after young tender leaves are picked for "Sen cha".
Gen mai cha
Gen mai cha is Ban cha (above) is mixed with roasted brown rice.
Mugi cha
This is the most popular tea during summer and it is served cold,not hot. Mugi cha is made from Barley.
Houji cha
This is roasted Ban cha (above).
Matcha
Matcha Green tea..
This is the tea used at the tea ceremony.It is green powdered tea as you can see in the picture above.
New green tea leaves are made into powder form. The green tea for tea ceremony is called "matcha" in Japanese and, matcha tea is made by adding hot water to the powder and mix well with whisker made with bamboo to proper consistency. When properly whisked, you should see the froth on top of the tea.
Matcha tea is very bitter and amount served in the cup is much less than you would drink in tea in the glass. You would find that if you attend at tea ceremony, you will be tasting bitter matcha tea along with very sweet sweets to balance out the bitterness and the sweetness.
When it comes to preparation of Matcha tea at the tea ceremony, you can find various ways depending on what style you would follow.
With this entry, I would like to more about history of Matcha; Powdered Green tea used for tea ceremony in Japan.
History of tea ceremony in Japan
As you know, we,Japanese, drink a lot of tea. However, our culture did not have tea tree or seed of tea tree until tea tree seed was brought from China.
In China, according to the japanese tea ceremony website, they were drinking tea from the 4th century.
During the tang dynasty (618-907) in China, they have brought the seed of tea tree to Japan, and around 8th century, the record of first tea ceremony in Japan is found.
By 8th century, tea tree grew in Japan and often used among priest and novels as medicine.
However, later, the tea became beverage.
Tea ceremony culture was also brought from China and the tea ceremony was refined by Sen no Rikyu in 16th century in Japan.
Refined tea ceremony incorporated Zen custom and promulgates wabi aesthetics;simple beauty.
Sen no Rikyu served under Shogun "Nobunaga Oda" and "Hideyoshi Toyotomi", and tea ceremony was popular among shogun families.
After the death of Sen no Rikyu, variety of tea ceremony style was created by his descendants; Omote Senke, Ura senke, and Mushano koji senke.
Variety of tea ceremony styles
"Omote senke" is the name of one of 3 schools that teach tea ceremony and, the word "Omote" (Front in Japanese) comes from location of the tea house which face toward the street.
"Ura Senke" is the probably most popular way of tea ceremony now in Japan. Many culture center has classes that teach Ura senke way of tea ceremony. The original school was built faced backside on the street.
"Mu-sha no ko-ji sen-ke" is the name of one of 3 schools and smallest of the three. The name "Mu-sha no ko-ji" comes from location of the school,which is located at Mu-sha no ko-ji do-ri (Do-ri means "street" in Japanese".
Difference between the Omote senke and Ura senke school style is that, Omote Senke whisk the tea a little less than Ura senke school style.
Ura senke's tea is mixed well enough to make frothy on top all the way.
Omote senke's tea gets froth on top but all around the cup and leaving the center free of froth.
Also, utensil each school use are slightly different.
You can read more about different style of tea schools at Japanese tea ceremony website here.
As basic tea ceremony utensils, you would see are..
Cha sha-ku; tea scoop that is used to transfer powdered green tea (Matcha) to tea bowl.
Hi sha-ku; water ladle
Ne tsu-ke; Container for green tea powder
Ka-ma & Furo; kettle and brazier
Mi-zu sa-shi; jug of water for pouring into kama or to wash the tea bowl
Cha ki-n; tea cloth
Cha-sen; split bamboo tea whisker. Use to mix powdered green tea and hot water
Cha wa-n; tea bowl
Ke-n su-i; basin for used water
Tea ceremony room is called "cha-shi-tsu" and, it is tatami room. Each section has purpose of the use. You can see what the tea ceremony rooms would look like at wikipedia website here.
Guests and host uses different entrance,and there is section where hosts prepare tea and food for guests.
Tea served at tea ceremony has 2 kinds; u-su cha (thin tea), ko-i cha (thick tea).
U-su cha is made by pouring hot water into powdered green tea in a bowl and quickly whisk the tea, and the host serves U-su cha to each guests.
Ko-i cha is made by whisking the tea slowly, and it is served in big bowl and each guests have a sip of the ko-i cha.
As you notice, host does not serve all kinds of tea all at once to everyone just like you will be passing can of sodas, for example. There will be the proper way to make the tea, way to properly serve tea, way to properly drink the tea and share the sip of big bowl of ko-i cha host made for all guests.
If you attended tea ceremony classes in Japan, you would soon notice that tea is not the only one that are served to you.
Always tea is served with sweets; Hi-ga-shi (dry sweets), o-mo ga-shi (fresh sweets).
Sweets are served at tea ceremony when you get a sip of ko-i cha (thick tea) because ko-i cha is bitter by itself.
Guests will place the sweets on ka-i shi (special paper napkin for tea ceremony that the guests bring with them) and eat them with Ka-i shi in hand.
Also, host and guests at tea ceremony wear kimono for tea ceremony.
When I was working at culture school in Japan, students for tea ceremony always came in kimono.
Here are basic proper way to make green tea for tea ceremony and proper way to drink the tea. Depending on style of tea schools you follow, utensils,taste of the tea etc will be slightly different.
How to make matcha (green tea made with powdered green tea)
1. 1.5 cha sha-ku scoop of powdered green tea into tea bowl
2. Ladle hot boiling water about 3.5 pouring with water ladle over the tea powder and whisk the tea with Cha sen (bamboo whisker) until you see the froth on top.
How to drink matcha tea at tea ceremony..
1. Place sweets on your Ka-i shi (special paper napkin you bring to the ceremony) and eat them with host's signal " O-ka-shi wo do-u-zo. (Please have your sweets.)".
2. Host will make a tea for you
3. Receive the tea by bowing to the host and the other guests
4. Take the tea bowl with your right hand, and place it in your left palm
5. Turn the tea bowl in your palm about 2-3 times clock-wise
** Avoid having the tea bowl front comes in front of you
6. Drink 3.5 sips
7. Wipe the area of the tea bowl where you sipped from with your finger
8. Clean your fingers with kai-shi
9. Turn the tea bowl counter clock wise until the front of the tea bowl faces you
I came across youtube video where you can see how tea ceremony is done.
Japanese tea ceremony;Ura senke
If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video.
"Tea" in Japanese is "Cha".
Shin cha
Available only limited time because "shin cha" is the very first harvest of Sencha tea leaves. It is hand picked and they are picking very young tender leaves. "Shin cha" is also known for strong grassy aroma unique to tea with less bitterness.
Sen cha
Sencha is steamed and dried tea leaves and this is probably most popular tea in Japan.
Ban cha
Ban cha is made from hard leaves and stem after young tender leaves are picked for "Sen cha".
Gen mai cha
Gen mai cha is Ban cha (above) is mixed with roasted brown rice.
Mugi cha
This is the most popular tea during summer and it is served cold,not hot. Mugi cha is made from Barley.
Houji cha
This is roasted Ban cha (above).
Matcha
Matcha Green tea..
This is the tea used at the tea ceremony.It is green powdered tea as you can see in the picture above.
New green tea leaves are made into powder form. The green tea for tea ceremony is called "matcha" in Japanese and, matcha tea is made by adding hot water to the powder and mix well with whisker made with bamboo to proper consistency. When properly whisked, you should see the froth on top of the tea.
Matcha tea is very bitter and amount served in the cup is much less than you would drink in tea in the glass. You would find that if you attend at tea ceremony, you will be tasting bitter matcha tea along with very sweet sweets to balance out the bitterness and the sweetness.
When it comes to preparation of Matcha tea at the tea ceremony, you can find various ways depending on what style you would follow.
With this entry, I would like to more about history of Matcha; Powdered Green tea used for tea ceremony in Japan.
History of tea ceremony in Japan
As you know, we,Japanese, drink a lot of tea. However, our culture did not have tea tree or seed of tea tree until tea tree seed was brought from China.
In China, according to the japanese tea ceremony website, they were drinking tea from the 4th century.
During the tang dynasty (618-907) in China, they have brought the seed of tea tree to Japan, and around 8th century, the record of first tea ceremony in Japan is found.
By 8th century, tea tree grew in Japan and often used among priest and novels as medicine.
However, later, the tea became beverage.
Tea ceremony culture was also brought from China and the tea ceremony was refined by Sen no Rikyu in 16th century in Japan.
Refined tea ceremony incorporated Zen custom and promulgates wabi aesthetics;simple beauty.
Sen no Rikyu served under Shogun "Nobunaga Oda" and "Hideyoshi Toyotomi", and tea ceremony was popular among shogun families.
After the death of Sen no Rikyu, variety of tea ceremony style was created by his descendants; Omote Senke, Ura senke, and Mushano koji senke.
Variety of tea ceremony styles
"Omote senke" is the name of one of 3 schools that teach tea ceremony and, the word "Omote" (Front in Japanese) comes from location of the tea house which face toward the street.
"Ura Senke" is the probably most popular way of tea ceremony now in Japan. Many culture center has classes that teach Ura senke way of tea ceremony. The original school was built faced backside on the street.
"Mu-sha no ko-ji sen-ke" is the name of one of 3 schools and smallest of the three. The name "Mu-sha no ko-ji" comes from location of the school,which is located at Mu-sha no ko-ji do-ri (Do-ri means "street" in Japanese".
Difference between the Omote senke and Ura senke school style is that, Omote Senke whisk the tea a little less than Ura senke school style.
Ura senke's tea is mixed well enough to make frothy on top all the way.
Omote senke's tea gets froth on top but all around the cup and leaving the center free of froth.
Also, utensil each school use are slightly different.
You can read more about different style of tea schools at Japanese tea ceremony website here.
As basic tea ceremony utensils, you would see are..
Cha sha-ku; tea scoop that is used to transfer powdered green tea (Matcha) to tea bowl.
Hi sha-ku; water ladle
Ne tsu-ke; Container for green tea powder
Ka-ma & Furo; kettle and brazier
Mi-zu sa-shi; jug of water for pouring into kama or to wash the tea bowl
Cha ki-n; tea cloth
Cha-sen; split bamboo tea whisker. Use to mix powdered green tea and hot water
Cha wa-n; tea bowl
Ke-n su-i; basin for used water
Tea ceremony room is called "cha-shi-tsu" and, it is tatami room. Each section has purpose of the use. You can see what the tea ceremony rooms would look like at wikipedia website here.
Guests and host uses different entrance,and there is section where hosts prepare tea and food for guests.
Tea served at tea ceremony has 2 kinds; u-su cha (thin tea), ko-i cha (thick tea).
U-su cha is made by pouring hot water into powdered green tea in a bowl and quickly whisk the tea, and the host serves U-su cha to each guests.
Ko-i cha is made by whisking the tea slowly, and it is served in big bowl and each guests have a sip of the ko-i cha.
As you notice, host does not serve all kinds of tea all at once to everyone just like you will be passing can of sodas, for example. There will be the proper way to make the tea, way to properly serve tea, way to properly drink the tea and share the sip of big bowl of ko-i cha host made for all guests.
If you attended tea ceremony classes in Japan, you would soon notice that tea is not the only one that are served to you.
Always tea is served with sweets; Hi-ga-shi (dry sweets), o-mo ga-shi (fresh sweets).
Sweets are served at tea ceremony when you get a sip of ko-i cha (thick tea) because ko-i cha is bitter by itself.
Guests will place the sweets on ka-i shi (special paper napkin for tea ceremony that the guests bring with them) and eat them with Ka-i shi in hand.
Also, host and guests at tea ceremony wear kimono for tea ceremony.
When I was working at culture school in Japan, students for tea ceremony always came in kimono.
Here are basic proper way to make green tea for tea ceremony and proper way to drink the tea. Depending on style of tea schools you follow, utensils,taste of the tea etc will be slightly different.
How to make matcha (green tea made with powdered green tea)
1. 1.5 cha sha-ku scoop of powdered green tea into tea bowl
2. Ladle hot boiling water about 3.5 pouring with water ladle over the tea powder and whisk the tea with Cha sen (bamboo whisker) until you see the froth on top.
How to drink matcha tea at tea ceremony..
1. Place sweets on your Ka-i shi (special paper napkin you bring to the ceremony) and eat them with host's signal " O-ka-shi wo do-u-zo. (Please have your sweets.)".
2. Host will make a tea for you
3. Receive the tea by bowing to the host and the other guests
4. Take the tea bowl with your right hand, and place it in your left palm
5. Turn the tea bowl in your palm about 2-3 times clock-wise
** Avoid having the tea bowl front comes in front of you
6. Drink 3.5 sips
7. Wipe the area of the tea bowl where you sipped from with your finger
8. Clean your fingers with kai-shi
9. Turn the tea bowl counter clock wise until the front of the tea bowl faces you
I came across youtube video where you can see how tea ceremony is done.
Japanese tea ceremony;Ura senke
If you are a blog subscriber,please click here to watch the video.
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