Korean tea ceremony - A natural approach to tea - Encyclopedia II

Central to the Korean approach to tea is an easy and natural coherence, with fewer formal rituals, fewer absolutes, greater freedom for relaxation, and more creativity in enjoying a wider variety of teas, services, and conversation.

This leads to a wider variance of teahouse design, tea garden entries and gardens, different use and styles of teawares, and regional variations in choice of tea, choice of cakes and biscuits and snacks, seasonal and temporal variations, and the acoustic and visual ambiance of Korean teahouses.

Tea storage containers were often large - being made of clay coils, finished on potter's wheels, and 3/4 glazed from within the kiln itself as wood burned. Natural green ash glazes were typical. A wood scoop with a long handle often a split bamboo with a scoop end would be used to retrieve the tea.

Generally the best local water is used to make the tea, and at times some of the best Korean teahouses had their own small springs. Water is brought to boil above a wood fire, poured into a teapot and brought immediately to service.

Tea is poured initially by a tea hostess into warmed cups from a heated teapot at a distance above the first cup so as to create a controlled flow of tea with attractive bubbles. This is done to create good luck.

Tea ceremonies have always been used for important occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, remembrance of old friends, and increasingly a way to rediscovering the joys of Seon meditation.

As Korean tea was often green tea, even small leaves were rare.

One of the modern variations of the Korean tea ceremony involves a low tea table around which the guests and master sit. The tea master or host will sit on one side and will heat and pour and clean the tea ware as part of the whole ceremony from start to finish. The host or master will often keep all the tea ware on the tea table all year, and will cover it with a cloth while not using it. The collection is often made up of several different teapots, often with many diferent color & shape teacups. The ceremony begins with all the guests sitting around the table and as the water heats the host will begin the conversation, usualy with informal or casual questions, such as asking about the guests family.

The host will start the official ceremony by first heating the pot, cups and decanting bowl with hot water, then after this is complete, will pour the tea leaves - usually green tea - into the pot. Then the host pours hot water onto the leaves and will then pour out the water very quickly, thereby rinsing the leaves of any dust and opening them up slightly. Then, the host will pour the hot water into the decanting bowl and allow it to cool to the correct temperature for the tea they are using. This depends on when the tea is picked; tea picked earlier in the season, such as the first buds picked in early April, will be steeped at lower temperature (140-150 degrees farenheit) than tea leaves picked in June (160-170 degrees farenheit). Once the water is at the right temperature, the host will pour the water into the pot and steep it for anywhere from 20 seconds to two to three minutes, depending on the tea. After steeping is complete, the host pours the tea into the decanting bowl, which serves to get the water off the leaves in the pot and also to give the tea an even mixture. Then it is poured into the cups. The guests will wait until the host or master picks up their cup first, then will pick up theirs. This is repeated until they are finished, which sometimes can be several hours later. The whole ceremony is very relaxing and is a wonderful way to get to know someone or to ease into a business transaction.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "A natural approach to tea", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page