When it comes to a civilization that is more than 5,000 years old, you can be count on numerous traditions, especially for something that is an integral part of Chinese culture, like tea.
This is accentuated by the fact that different regions of China would have their own cultures and peculiarities. There are also different schools and beliefs.
Rather than pretending to provide a comprehensive guide, we will focus those that illustrate the essence of Chinese tea culture- humility and hospitality.
Feel at Home
The essence of Chinese tea culture is showing hospitality to a guest. Traditionally, if you visit a friend, you can expect to be served tea.
In period dramas, you can see, while the guest is waiting for the master of the house to make his appearance, he is served tea as he waits.
Chinese tea etiquette is centered on this.
Pouring Water
The 2 main ways of pouring water from the kettle are the “3 salutes of the phoenix” and the circular pour.
In the former, the brewer will pour water from a height while rising and falling a total of 3 times.
There are 2 aspects.
The practical one is that pouring from a height firstly cools the water and secondly helps to swirl the leaves, turning them about so that it gets infused evenly.
It also symbolizes the brewer is bowing 3 times to his or her guest as a sign of respect.
The second manner is pouring water in a circular manner around the rim of the gaiwan.
Again there are 2 main purposes.
The first is that the walls of the gaiwan will cool the water partially and avoid the leaves from being scalded. The circular motion will also give the leaves a swirl so it gets infused evenly as well.
The second is that for right-handed brewers, the water is poured in an anti-clockwise manner, signifying a welcoming gesture, as though beckoning the guest to come. The reverse is true for left-handed brewers.
Serving Tea
In pouring tea, the same holds. Serving the tea either from the fairness cup or the teapot directly, the tea is poured in a clockwise (for right handers) motion and the brewer serves himself last.
2 popular ways of explaining this:
i) “茶水倒七分，人情留三分”
Loosely translated, the tea is poured to 70%, the balance is affection or face. Or another way of explaining this is to leave some “leeway” for others, not to push one against the wall.
ii) “自满”
Literally it means being full of yourself which oddly enough pretty much means the same thing in Chinese and English.
Whichever way of explanation, the practical aspect is that filled to the brim, there is a propensity to spill it plus it is too hot for the guest to hold the cup.
However, this does highlight a key aspect of Chinese tea culture- humility.
For example, if you go into most shops and ask for the best stuff, more often than not the retailer would be delighted since usually quality correlates with price- at least perceived quality.
If you went into a tea shop and asked for the “best tea”, you would either
i) Be served with cheap tea
ii) Be summarily dismissed
At least this applies for the more traditional tea shops.
A friend of mine who reacts in the second manner explains it as such:
“Serving tea to people like this spoils our mood for tea and people who don’t understand chadao won’t appreciate good tea anyway.”
It’s in the details
Hence in Chinese tea etiquette the spout of the teapot or the kettle must never face the guest, either it faces no one or when that’s not possible, face the host.
Not outdated to be hospitable or humility
In our modern society, especially as tea expands its reach to cultures previously foreign to it, we often dismiss much of this as superfluous.
That is a pity though as tea is often said to be equal parts beneficial to the body and the soul. While this seems like zen mumbo-jumbo, there is much truth in it.
Hospitality and humility should never go out of style.
