What do we do at the tea ceremony? You might be surprised to hear that the formal tea ceremony takes around four hours. During the formal tea ceremony, guests eat beautifully presented traditional simple meal (usually rice, soup, fish, seasonal vegetables), one main beautifully crafted sweet (usually made of bean paste ) and dry sweets (usually candies or rice crackers) to enhance the flavour of tea , and two types of Matcha. One is Koicha (thick tea) and all the guests need to share the tea from one cup to show their respect to each other. The other tea is called Usucha (thin tea) and the guest enjoy it by their own cup. Tea ceremony is not only for drinking and eating but also for appreciating arts which include beautiful tea utensils, ikebana flower arrangements, hanging scrolls with calligraphy, specially designed building of the tea room, and a specially designed garden path. In addition to that, host does play of temae which is the preparation of making tea and tidying up and guests also involve as a player. That’s why the tea ceremony is described as a complete form of arts.
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