Last weekend, I had the incredible opportunity to attend a Japanese tea ceremony demonstration at the National Watch and Clock Museum in Columbia. Why a tea ceremony at a clock museum, you may ask? The demonstration was part of their current exhibit, A Sense of Time, which explores the significance of incense to Asian cultures. The exhibit showcases more than 70 East Asian "fire clocks." Even if you're not into watches, clocks and the history of time itself, I think you'll find this exhibit very interesting.
My friend Katie, a fellow tea drinker and Director of Education at the National Watch and Clock Museum, invited me to this tea presentation and I'm so thankful she did!
Moran Beard, a licensed instructor with the Urasenke School of tea ceremony in Kyoto, Japan, performed the Chanoyu (the Japanese name for tea ceremony) and then took our many questions. The tea ceremony is an intricate affair. It can take months to learn just the sequence of movements and the enumerable procedures. Every movement between the host and the guest(s) is steeped in tradition and treated with reverence.
Everything, and I do mean everything, is strictly choreographed, from the way the guest enters the room to the way the utensils are picked up. Even the locations on the floor where the items are placed are painfully precise. It was actually kind of mesmerizing watching it all. Moran Beard moved through everything so fluidly, but it was very obvious that she was a pro and had studied this for years.
After the ceremony and during the questions, we each got a taste of the sweets that guests would enjoy and our very own bowl of tea. This tea was real green tea. Translation, it was nothing like the green tea you and I are used to. It wasn't horrible; it just wasn't what I was expecting and I didn't ask for a second helping. In this particular tea ceremony, they serve either thin tea or thick tea. We had thin tea, which was almost the consistency of hot cocoa if you can imagine. I wonder what thick tea is like... I would liken the tea's color to miniature golf green; it was really vibrant! And another surprise, it had a layer of lime green froth across the top. It was unlike any tea I've ever seen or tasted, and that made this experience especially worthwhile.
In fact, the whole experience was worthwhile. Getting to experience even a little snapshot of a different culture right here in South Central Pennsylvania... Unlike a traditional English tea, where gossip is expected, this tea ceremony was nearly quiet with senseless chatter not encouraged. I'm a bit of a talker myself so I'm not so sure how I would fare in a Chanoyu... In the end, I walked away with a greater understanding and that is a very cool thing.
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