A Tea Ceremony

Friday, October 10. Two classes in the morning. At lunch today, with Debbie and Tyler, I remark upon the fact that no one in the lunchroom drinks anything with their meals. This is a big cultural difference, I say, because we never eat a meal without having something to drink. Debbie tells me that they believe that drinking while eating is bad for the digestion, that even when children ask for something to drink, their parents tell them it isn't good to drink with meals. I find this astonishing, especially in light of the very spicy food they eat! But then again, they often have soup with their meals so I guess this gives them the liquid content they need. They drink with meals only when having a "party" or celebration: then it is "wine" and beer (generally for the men) and juice or milk for the ladies.

I rest in the afternoon, then Tiffany, David and I take JuJu out to dinner. She has chosen a "Chinese-Western" restaurant although we order only Chinese food! But the nice thing is that the waitress brings us cold water with lemon as soon as we sit down and then continues to refill our glasses throughout the meal! So much for not being good for the digestion! We have eggplant and green beans (my favorite), tofu, two big fish heads (very spicy), and three small cold dishes: celery (delicious and very spicy), cucumber with a dark, thick sauce, and broccoli with lots of garlic! JuJu is so nice to be with, and her spoken English is probably the best of anyone we have encountered. She is a teacher in the Junior school, and she has been so helpful to all of us since our arrival.

After dinner, we stop into a little shop that sells only products made from dates: gum, candy, soup etc, some with other things added like ginger and mint. Then we go into a tea shop where we are treated like royalty! The owner of the shop makes and serves a wonderful oolong tea. It is fascinating to watch the process. There is a special carved wooden tray with a compartment underneath for the "dirty" water to flow into, a small covered container to put the tea leaves in and a small pitcher to pour the tea into from the covered container (think of a small covered sugar bowl and a small cream pitcher and you'll have the right idea). Then the individual tiny tea cups and small wooden trays, one for each individual tea cup! And of course the curved wooden measuring spoon! And a special two-part, flat electric appliance that has a compartment on one side to heat the tea cups and a burner on the other side for the tea kettle to heat the water.

First, he takes water from the filtered water cooler and heats it in the tea kettle. While that is heating, he spoons the tea into the covered container. Then he pours the hot water over the tea leaves. He dumps that water out onto the tray as it was just for rinsing the tea leaves, after first pouring a little into each cup to warm it and then dumping that out too. Then more water into the covered container. It steeps for just a minute, then he pours the tea (using the cover to keep out the tea leaves) into the small pitcher, then into the individual tea cups. Finally, we can drink it. But the aroma is what strikes me first. It seems as though I can almost inhale the tea plant itself and the earth in which it was growing. While we are drinking that cup, of course, he is pouring more hot water over the tea leaves and the process starts all over again (without the dumping this time because the leaves have already been rinsed). In this way, we are always drinking fresh tea that has been steeped for only a brief time.

He does this over and over and over again until we are about to float away on tea. Then he switches to a different kind of tea: a ginseng root tea! So we have even more tea, until each one of us has to use the toilet! In the meantime, however, Tiffany and I are amusing ourselves by looking at all of the lovely little teapots and stands as well as the little tea sets (covered container, pitcher and 8-10 tiny cups) on display. And the beautiful wooden tray (a steal for only 200 yuan because it has a small crack in it!). Of course, the owner of the shop is no fool - he's cultivating future clients. Before we leave, he gives us each a small bag of tea to take home.

Interesting factoid: Tiffany explains that the difference between green tea and black tea is that black tea is just green tea that has been fermented! And oolong is somewhere in between. I never knew that. Of course, what I know about tea wouldn't fill a thimble.

We don't leave the tea shop until after 10 p.m. and then we walk back to school. I don't think I've been out this late in China other than the night of the Olympics Opening Ceremony!