The culture of Chinese Tea

Chinese tea culture refers to the methods of preparation of tea, the equipment used to make tea and the occasions in which tea is consumed in China. The terms chayi "Art of Tea (simplified Chinese:茶艺; traditional Chinese: 茶藝, pinyin: chá yì)" and "Tea Ceremony" have been used, but the term "Tea Culture茶文化" includes more than just the ceremony. Also "culture" is easier to translate into English from the Chinese term "art (simplified Chinese:艺; traditional Chinese: 藝, pinyin: yì".

Tea culture in China differs from that of Europe, Britain or Japan in such things as preparation methods, tasting methods and the occasions for which it is consumed. Even now, in both casual and formal Chinese occasions, tea is consumed regularly. In addition to being a drink, Chinese tea is used in traditional Chinese medicine and in Chinese cuisine.

Etymology

For contemporary Chinese, the word "茶" (pinyin: chá) has come to commonly denote the drink that is derived from Camellia sinensis, the tea plant (simplified Chinese:茶樹; traditional Chinese: 茶树, pinyin: cháshù). Prior to the 8th century BC, the tea was known collectively under the term "荼" (pinyin: tú) along with a great number of other bitter plants. The great similarity of the two characters are notable with the exception of an additional horizontal stroke in 荼. The character is made up of the "艸" (pinyin: cǎo) radical in its reduced form of "艹" and the word "余" which gives the phonetic cue. The plant was later more distinctly identified and was called "檟苦荼" (pinyin: jiǎkǔtú, literally "'evergreen shrub' of bitter 'bitter plant'"), or in simplified forms "苦荼" (pinyin: kǔtú) or "荈" (pinyin: chuǎn).

The word "茗" (pinyin: míng), which was possibly derived from the Burmese word, was later used to indicate tea where its popularity spread and became more common in Ancient China. This word is still used in modern tea communities in Taiwan and the People's Republic of China to denote tea. By the end of the 8th century BC, the character "荼" was finally simplified to "茶". Lù Yǔ (陸羽/陆羽, 733-804) of the Tang Dynasty, wrote in his crowning work, The Tea Classic or Chájīng (茶經/茶经), on the origins of the character for tea as well as the numerous words used to denote tea. In the first chapter of Chájīng, "The origins" (卷上, 一之源) he wrote:

其字：或從草，或從木，或草木並。 qí zì : huò cóng cǎo, huò cóng mù, huò cǎo mù bìng.

which means: "Its character: may come from herb/grass (茶 chá from 文字音義 Wénzì yīnyì in 736 AD), or from tree/wood (梌 tú from 本草經 Běncǎojīng, an ancient medical text), or the combination of the two (荼 tú from the 爾雅 Ěryǎ, atreatise on lexicography from the Han dynasty)"

其名：一曰茶，二曰檟，三曰蔎，四曰茗，五曰荈。 qí míng: yī yuē chá, èr yuē jiǎ, sān yuē shè, sì yuē míng, wǔ yuē chuǎn.

which means: Its names: first it is called 茶 chá, then 檟 jiǎ, thirdly 蔎 shè, fourthly 茗 míng, fifthly 荈 chuǎn.

Where:

檟 jiǎ: according to the author Yang Xiong of Han dynasty, the term was used by Zhōugōng (周公), the duke of Zhou dynasty to indicate the 苦荼 (kǔtú)

蔎 shè: the term by which natives of present day Sìchuān used to indicated 荼 (tú)

茶,蔎,茗,荈 chá, shè, míng, chuǎn: in legends, Guōhóngnóng (郭弘農), specified that first tea harvest is known as chá, followed by míng, then shè, and finally chuǎn

Tea drinking customs

There are several special circumstances in which tea is prepared and consumed.

As a sign of respect

In Chinese society, the younger generation always shows their respect to the older generation by offering a cup of tea. Inviting their elders to go to restaurants and having some tea is a traditional activity on holidays. In the past, people of lower rank served tea to higher ranking people. Today, as Chinese society becomes more liberal, sometimes parents may pour a cup of tea for their children, or a boss may even pour tea for subordinates at restaurants. However, the lower ranking person should not expect the higher ranking person to serve him or her tea in formal occasions.

For a family gathering

When sons and daughters leave home because of work or get married, they may have few times to visit their parents, and parents may seldom meet their grandchildren as well. Therefore, going to restaurants and drinking tea becomes an important activity for family gatherings. Every Sunday, Chinese restaurants are crowded, especially when people celebrate festivals. This phenomenon reflects Chinese family values.

To apologize

In Chinese culture, people make serious apologies to others by pouring tea for them. For example, children serving tea to their parents is a sign of regret and submission.

To express thanks to your elders on one's wedding day

In the traditional Chinese marriage ceremony, both the bride and groom kneel in front of their parents and serve them tea. That is the most devout way to express their gratitude. In front of their parents, it is a practice for the married couple to say, "Thank you for bringing us up. Now we are getting married. We owe it all to you." The parents will usually drink a small portion of the tea and then give them a red envelope, which symbolizes good luck. Another variant is that the bride serve tea to the groom's parents, symbolizing that she is to become a part of the latter's family.

To connect large families on wedding days

The tea ceremony during a wedding also serves as a means for both parties to meet with each other. As Chinese families can be rather extended, and there may be one or two hundred people, it is entirely possible during a courtship to not have been introduced to someone. This was particularly true in older generations where the patriarch may have had more than one wife and not all family members were always on good terms. As such, during the tea ceremony, the couple would serve tea to all family members and call them by their official title. Drinking the tea symbolized acceptance into the family, while refusing to drink symbolized opposition to the wedding and was quite unheard of since it would result in a loss of "face". Older generations would give a red envelope to the matrimonial couple while the couple would be expected to give red envelopes to the unmarried younger ones.

Folding the napkin in tea ceremonies is a traditional action and is done to keep away bad Qi energy in China as tea (茶) was regarded as one of the seven daily necessities. The others being firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar (simplified Chinese: 柴, 米, 油, 盐, 酱, 醋; traditional Chinese: 柴, 米, 油, 鹽, 醬, 醋; pinyin: chái , mǐ , yóu , yán , jiàng , cù ).

Finger tapping

Light finger tapping is a custom for thanking the tea master or tea server for tea. After a person's cup is filled, that person may knock their bent index and middle fingers (or some similar variety of finger tapping) on the table to express gratitude to the person who served the tea. Although this custom is common in southern Chinese culture such as the Cantonese, in other parts of China it is only acceptable if for some reason you cannot actually say thank you at that moment, for example if you are in the middle of talking with someone else at the table.