Your shopping cart is empty!
FREE SHIPPING OVER 35€
WELCOME COUPON €5 "CIAO5"
The tea ceremony indicates the process of preparation, presentation, and tasting of tea practiced in ritualized forms of a meditative and religious nature: a social and spiritual ritual, at the center of the tradition of various Asian countries. In the East, in fact, tea is not just the consumption of a beverage: from its cultivation, to its preparation, until the moment it is poured into the cup and tasted, this product is treated with meticulous care, and is at the center of rules, precise codes of behavior based on spiritual and meditative concepts and principles. The tea ceremony is generally associated with the ritual practiced in Japan: the Japanese tea ceremony is probably the most well-known, known as Cha no yu and characterized by precise and particularly strict rules and styles. In reality, the tea ceremony originated in China, and is widespread in various Asian countries, where it has taken on different ritual and cultural forms that have made it a moment of well-being, an art, an aesthetic but spiritual practice, for achieving harmony.
The tea ceremony therefore originates in China, the birthplace of tea culture: the different codified variants in other Asian countries, including the Japanese one, have been influenced precisely by the Chinese ceremony. The first written traces concerning Chinese tea ceremony (Gong fu cha) date back to the 8th century and can be found in the Classic of Tea, or Cha Jing, a monograph on tea written by the monk Lu Yu during the Tang dynasty. In this historical document, in addition to recounting the mythological origins of tea, and describing the practices of harvesting and processing, the necessary tools for the preparation and tasting of tea are listed (it even reports the need for 28 accessories!) and all aspects related to boiling water and infusion.
The tea ceremony is therefore an extremely precise practice of preparing the beverage, which over the centuries has been perfected to obtain the best possible taste from the infusion, but it has also transformed into a spiritual ceremony, in which gestures, rituals, tools aimed at preparing the perfect tea are also part of a meditative process typical of zen practices, aimed at extracting, in the hustle and bustle of the day and worries, a moment of contemplation, of attainment of internal spiritual happiness, of approach to simplicity and humility, in a formal, symbolic ceremony and inner search. It is not necessarily a religious practice, but based on the zen principle that everything is precious and requires dedication and attention.
This practice strongly contrasted with another Japanese practice, the tōcha, which developed with the spread of tea in Japan and far from the silent and reflective tea consumption was practiced in the aristocratic circles of society: a sumptuous ritual of displaying wealth in which competitions were organized in which participants had to guess the origin of the tea leaves they were drinking.
The Cha no yu aimed to bring back the tea ceremony to its origins of simplicity and spiritual meditation, a sobriety that was found in the objects, of peasant inspiration, in the reduction of the size of the tea room and the number of necessary accessories: revisited over the centuries by various Buddhist monks, it was Sen no Rikyū, considered the true founder and greatest tea master in history, who codified the so-called wabicha, the style according to which today the tea ceremony takes place, and contributed to the spread of the ceremony beyond the environment of Buddhist monasteries, to the samurai and the imperial court. The tea ceremony referred to the ritual of sarei, in which temple monks gathered to drink tea, in a moment of conviviality aimed at uniting spirits. According to the tea master's codification, the tea ceremony had to follow the Zen practice of wabisabi, that is, the contemplation of things and the exaltation of the beauty of imperfections and simplicity.
The tea ceremony is still considered the ultimate expression of Zen aesthetics, and is carried out in a very specific environment, called the "tea room", formerly a wooden and straw hut detached from the main house that is accessed through a low door that requires the participant to prostrate in a sign of humility. The tea room is a small space, filled with precise and simple objects, with few tatami mats, the Japanese flooring panels, and is designed to assist in mental presence exercises, dimly lit thanks to screened windows. In Japanese it is called chashitsu. Very important, inside the chashitsu, is an alcove, a niche called tokonoma, where a writing is hung, a poem or a composition suitable for the occasion and often aimed at defining the theme of the ceremony and a floral arrangement. The kettle, or kama, is positioned differently depending on the season: in cold months it is placed in a square-shaped pit, while in spring and summer it is placed in a brazier. The tea room is a spiritual place, furnished according to Zen aesthetics, devoid of the richness and ostentation of daily life, where everything must be a harmony of elegance, harmony, and tranquility. The tea room should be a place that helps to free oneself from judgmental thoughts and achieve a sort of 'mental emptiness', that is, a liberation from attachments and worries of life.
In the Japanese tea ceremony matcha tea is predominantly used, a highly prized tea made from a very fine powder with a bright green color obtained from the stone grinding of tea leaves. Matcha tea is a very special tea, as it is not prepared by infusion, but by suspension, emulsifying the powder with water: matcha tea itself requires the use of very specific objects for optimal preparation: the chasen, the typical bamboo whisk, and the chawan, the bowl in which it is prepared. There are two types of matcha tea preparation methods:
In both cases, the preparation ritual is the same, matcha is used in different quantities, and it is mixed with water, also in different quantities depending on the preparation. Matcha tea is a tea rich in caffeine, significantly stimulating but with a high content of catechins that help mental relaxation.
If you are interested in organizing a tea ceremony at your home, we suggest watching the tutorial of the Japanese Tea Ceremony. On Terza Luna, we have a section dedicated to matcha tea and the accessories to prepare it: you can purchase the chasen, complete sets for matcha preparation and above all the ‘Ceremonial Grade’ matcha, the highest quality green tea, highly prized, used in Japanese tea ceremonies.
The tea ceremony consists of preparing the tea cup, but it goes beyond: it follows a code of conduct in which each phase, from preparation, to the choice of location, to tasting, requires studied gestures and precise rules, as well as the use of specific tools with specific names, intended for specific actions. The meaning of Chan no yu is a symptom of how it is not just about ‘preparing’ the drink to drink it, in fact, the verb used for preparation is tateru, which means ‘to celebrate’, indicating how all the processes leading to the final tea cup are of spiritual importance and enriching for the body and mind.
The tea ceremony is a sacred, silent ritual, in which the tea is passed from hand to hand, and the utmost attention and appreciation are required: the movements are studied, the words measured and relevant to what is about to be experienced, in which increased formality enhances the spirituality of the moment.
But how does the Japanese tea ceremony work?
The guests are led through the garden into the tea room. They must wash their hands to purify body and mind, and enter the room through a small door, which requires crouching to pass through, ensuring a demonstration of respect.
These phases describe the simplest ceremony, that of light tea usucha, but the tea ceremony exists in various, much more complex, long, and dramatic variants, such as that of koicha, which require the use of many more accessories and different preparation methods. For this reason, it is possible to describe the phases of the tea ceremony, but it is difficult to convey the emotions, thoughts, and mental states that arise from experiencing it.
The utensils used in the Japanese tea ceremony can be numerous in more complex ceremonies, but even in the simplest ceremony of light tea, the use of recognized style objects, specially designed for certain actions, is imperative. Among these we find:
During the tea ceremony, sweets are generally consumed, which are served using specific wooden chopsticks and cut with special knives. The wooden chopsticks are called hashi. The consumed sweets are called wagashi, and they are typical Japanese sweets specifically formulated for the tea ceremony, created with various ingredients and the inevitable bean paste.
If you are interested in learning more about this particular tradition, both in Japanese culture and in other Eastern countries, we suggest reading a book that explores the history and practice of this tradition: The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura and The Culture of Tea in Japan and the Pursuit of Perfection by Aldo Tollini, as well as The Classic of Tea. Chinese text with translation by Yu Lu, the pillar for understanding the tea code and its ancient history.
Despite the complexity and spirituality associated with the tea ceremony, in Japan, as well as in other countries, it is possible to participate in tea ceremonies. In Japan, there are many tea rooms or temples in cities like Kyoto or Tokyo where tea ceremonies are organized for foreigners and tourists, to convey the values that guide them and share this social and cultural ritual: of course, it is good to know the rules and norms, to behave appropriately, but often tea ceremonies for tourists are simplified compared to traditional ones, and as a guest, you are guided step by step in the experience. The tea ceremony is an incredible experience, which has the power to give a sense of peace and harmony and to get us used to seeing the preparation of tea as a sacred ritual for our soul, of inner contemplation.
