Now, all the necessary ingredients for a Tea Ceremony and Tea Shop are available thru the Portal Tea Company. The Tea Ceremony is regarded as one of the most sacred of times where people can get together to talk and share their most valued thoughts and feelings. Below is a brief description of the Tea Ceremony.
The Tea Ceremony:
The Western world, with its high paced environments, have abandon the tea ceremony because of the time it takes to participate in one. For untold centuries the Chinese and Japanese cultures have had ceremonial tea rooms whereby the art of drinking tea became an absolute way of life.
Sen Rikyu (1522-1591), the greatest sixteenth century tea master, identified the spirit of the "Way of Tea" with four basic principles of harmony, respect, purity, and tanquility. The tea ceremnony is a way to focus mental energies, relax, and enjoy a tradition that is very ancient. The four principles put forth by Sen Rikyu in the Way of Tea represent the highest ideals of humanity. It is important to reflect on these principles for one's own spiritual groth.
With a cup of tea, and with the mind focused on the meaningful values with the Way of Tea one can aquire peace of mind, and walk ionto the world with peaceful thoughts.
How to conduct a tea ceremony is not difficult, however, the steps to assure the finest tasting tea is very exacting, and if done properly you can extract the finest flavor a tea has to offer.
The Teapot and Tea Cup Preparation:
Curing the teapot and cups is one essential step. When you receive your teapot and cups they have to be cured. The teapot is made from red clay, and to seal the inside of the teapot and the cups you first place loose tea in your teapot and fill it with boiling water and let it sit for three hours to a day. Some tea masters advise to do this for a week before the teapot and cups and pouring pitcher are fully cured. This technique seals the inside of the teapot. Oils from the tea leaves fill in all the tiny pours of the new clay teapot.
There are also washing bowls as shown in the photograph. Pour the hot tea that has been brewing for 5 minutes and fill the washing bowl with hot tea and let the tea cups also sit in the tea. Tweasers are shown here to turn the tea cups in the washing bowl. This technique also seals the tea cups with the resins of the tea. Once the teapot, tea cups, and pouring pitchewr have been cured the next step is to get ready for the ceremony.
The Tea Preparation:
From this point in the tea ceremony it is a matter of style on how best to arrange the room and the setting. There is a very exact way a tea room is built, but creating a warm and inviting atmosphere is equally acceptable, and for many cultures tea room do not even exist. Relaxing music is always welcom.
Prepare the boiling water, and with the tea tweasers carfully place the tea into the teapot until it is about a third full. Make sure the teapot and cups are now on the tea washing tray. Then pour the hot water into the teapot until it is overflowing and then place the lid on, and continue to pour the hot water over the teapot. This allows the entire teapot to be hot. If this is Pu-erh tea let it brew for three minutes and then pour the tea out into the wash bowl and repeat the process. This is to clean the tea of any fermented taste as a result of the Pu-erh tea being so old (6-35 years) depending on the quality. Pour the second brewed tea into the tea cups and pouring pitcher allowing the flavor of the tea to penetrate the tea cups and pouring pitcher.
The third time, pour the boiling water into the teapot and cover. Place the tea strainer over the pouring pitcher. Wait three minutes for the tea to brew. Pour hot water into the pouring pitcher to assure it is hot, and pour that into the teacups. When the tea is ready empty the tea cups and pouring pitcher of te hot water, and then pour the tea into the pouring pitcher through the tea strainer and then pour the tea into the cups making sure to never fill a cup at a time, but by passing the tea over each cup so they fill equally. The strainer step can be omitted, but it assures the tea will be perfectly clean of any tea leaves and tea pieces.
The Ceremony Begins:
There are also, what are called, tea sniffing cups made from porcelin. You pour the tea into the sniffing cup, and then empty the sniffing cup and smell the aroma of the tea. This is not essential. The aroma of the tea is certainly what is sought after; much like a fine wine. When using the small tea cups never drink or gulp the tea, but instead sip the tea through the lips and teeth making a hissing sound. When brewing Pu-erh tea you can get as many as 10-20 infusions before the flavor leaves the tea. Drinking and sniffing the tea in this manner can take over an hour and many fine conversations will ensue. The sign of a tea master is to insure that each round of tea tastes exactly the same.
The Portal Market is now offering its own line of tea thru the "Portal Tea Company". All tea is carefully selected from tea plantations in China, and is of excellent quality.
When a torch candle burns, the herbs burn naturally clean, unlike chemical ingredients, and the colors are gorgeous, as you will soon see.
Beets, Turmeric, and Stevia, are the featured herbs; Together they create a 3-layered candle with stunning shades of pink, gold, and green.
How to order: Contact Portal MarketWe accept Visa, Mastercard and American Express.
Click on image for larger view.
Votive.........$1.75 (Minimum 6 votives per order)
Click on logo to see the details.This is a newly published book from Malaysia.
The book is about all aspects of preparing tea, cooking with tea, identifying tea and much much more.
This is the first comprehensive book on how to prepare for a successful tea ceremony.
Click on tea leafs to see the details.In this updated and expanded version of the 1982 classic that introduced fine tea to the American public, James Norwood Pratt tells the splendid tale of "this most affordable luxury" and its blossoming into one of our world's most noble delights.
Tea Music: A series of #8 CD's
Click on album covers for larger view.
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About the composer
In these collections, tea music is used to convey the diverse chracteristics of tea and flowers to listeners. The composer blends the different features of Chinese instruments such as the paixoao, gaohu, guzheng, and pipa with sounds of nature to create a vivid representation of new age music. This music forges a new direction for Chinese New Age Music which is highly worth of exploration.
Chang Fu-quan a highly praised muscian in Mainland China, entered the composition Department of Central Music Academy in 1960 and then transferred to the China Music Academy to continue his study.
His music is varied and very evocative and the perfect sound to enjoy the many flavors of tea.
List of Cd's in the Tea and Flower series:
How to order: Contact Portal MarketWe accept Visa, Mastercard and American Express.
Harmonybetween ourselves and nature
between all the different aspects
of our surroundings
between nature's seasons and our
man-made environment
between us and other peopleHarmony never means that everything becomes alike.
The point is to achieve a balanced relationship, not
between things which are identical, but between
things which are complementary.... Harmony with contrast,
as in the black ink of
the words and the
space of the
white paper.Harmony weaves everything together
into an intricate,
yet oh-so-simple web.Respect
for the moment
for each person
for time
for ourselves
for the objects we use
for natureRespect could
be defined as
the act of giving
particular attention
to the recipient.In showing respect, we demonstrate
our understanding of the
interconnectedness of all things.And having shown respect, we
understand even better
why it is valued.Purity
of mind
(like the clear stream)
of purpose
(has everything unnecessary been swept away?)
of action
(at any one moment, we should be completely
focused on the action of that moment)
of vision
(do I see my goal clearly?...)To be pure is to contain nothing
that does not properly belong;
so that we are not weighed down
or distracted by that which
contributes nothing to the good
of the whole.Tranquility
the state of being free from agitation of mind
and spirit.If we are in harmony with
our surroundings and if we
respect the moment and what
it brings us, then we can
achieve purity of mind, purpose
and action, and thus carry
with us a state of tranquility.Tranquility
through the practice of
Harmony
Respect and
Purity
is ours to choose,
and ours to create
within ourselves.