An obligatory tour, which tourists will be offered in any city / province / island of China is a tea ceremony. Since ancient times, it is believed that the best tea in China is grown on Huangshan Mountain, Anhui Province, at an altitude of 4 km above sea level. This variety is often called "tea of clouds and fogs."
Directly before the tea ceremony ("gungfu-cha"), you should get rid of extraneous smells as much as possible: wash your hands, brush your teeth, rinse your mouth. And also do not combine it with food. Women are recommended to wipe the lipstick from the lips so that it does not spoil neither taste nor smell of tea. In general, the tea ceremony is held silently, but if a person participates in this process for the first time, it is difficult to keep silence.
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Ceremony
The first act of the ceremony is warming up the water for tea. The water is heated right at the tea place. Then a tea demonstration begins for guests.
A portion of tea, measured for brewing, is poured into a special tea-pot, after which each participant of the ceremony twice inhales the aroma of tea and twice exhales it into the tea-pot. When breathing in, one should try to breathe as deep as possible, so that the smell reaches the very bottom of the lungs. Acquaintance with tea can also be limited to viewing it in the "chahe" - scoop.
After rinsing the dishes with hot water, comes "chzhicha in the chahu" (pouring tea into the kettle). Do not touch the tea with your hands, in order not to "attach" to it odors. Then the tea is poured hot water (it's hot water from 60 ° C to 90 ° C, not boiling water).
The first pouring of tea ("sicha") is not yet brewing .It does not need to be given to insist, because it still goes to the drain .First cups are washed with cups for drinking ("chabei") - tea is poured from a cup into a cup, and high cups ("vansyaibey", cups for inhaling the aroma of tea) .The procedures for ablution of calyx are called, respectively, "sibei" and "sivensyabey" .During the bath, the tea leaves begin to open slowly and actively radiate the fragrance - this is the second acquaintance of the participants with tea .The aroma is again inhaled twice deep and exhaled into the kettle (neatly - the fumes are burning!) This is all the preparatory measures, and now - the tea drinking itself is .
The brewed tea is poured through a strainer into a jug, from which it is poured on high cups of "Vansyaibe": so that everyone has tea of the same strength. For this, tea is poured in parts - first a quarter, then another quarter and more. The remainder pours out.
Then, "vensabybe" is covered with drinking cups "chabei", as a lid. The cups are turned over so that the tea does not splash, and the "chabei" is downstairs. High cups are removed, and tea is in drinking cups. In high cups, the aroma is concentrated, which you need to inhale, traditionally, thrusting your nose into the cup. And from a drinking cup they drink tea in small sips.
When the tea is drunk, the entire procedure is repeated anew, until the tea loses its flavor and flavor.