Tea Etiquette

“Etiquette” is one of the classic Chinese virtues and an integral aspect of the tea ceremony. When making friends with tea, we must understand how to build relationships with others using tea etiquette. Etiquette cannot be sloppy even in the presence of friends and family.

Appearance and Manners

No Nail Polish

Nail polish does not perform well in tea-related photos. After all, people who drink tea while wearing brightly painted nails will make a negative impression. In short, when treating guests, hands should be clean and dry, without too many unnecessary decorations.

Without Disheveled Hair

It is not advisable to allow our long hair hang down, drape over our shoulders, or on our chest when attending a tea party, especially when sitting on the main seat and brewing tea for the tea party. Instead, a hair tie is advised for long hair. Because it would be really unpleasant if something like hair accidently came in the tea.

No Perfume

This is applicable to both men and women. The perfume’s strong scent is incompatible with the natural tea aroma. If the person making the tea wears evident perfume on his body, the perfume’s scent will be mixed with the aroma of the tea, making it impossible to discern. Imagine smelling the rose perfume while drinking a cup of Silver Needle White tea.

No Exaggerated Bracelets

Don’t wear too much jewelry on the wrists or fingers, which can easily affect brewing tea.

Togas with long and wide sleeves are not permitted.

Try to wear tight cuffs when brewing tea, otherwise, the wide sleeves hang down, brushing the surface of the tea liquid, and knocking down the tea sets on the tea table, filthy and inconvenient.

Making Tea and Pouring Tea

Keep the teapot’s spout away from the guests

In our daily lives, we observe that many individuals are accustomed to aiming at their guests with the spout while pouring tea for them. Actually, this is quite impolite. If there is too much hot water in the teapot, it will overflow out the teapot spout, scorching the guests.

Don’t overfill the tea cup.

In China, we know that we need to pour Chinese spirits for our guests, and we must fill the cup completely, which will show our sincerity. When we serve tea, however, we cannot pour it too full. Because tea culture and wine culture are different. Tea should be enjoyed leisurely. Furthermore, the temperature of tea is often rather high. If the tea is poured excessively full, the guests will be unable to hold the cup and, on the other hand, the hot tea will quickly overflow and scorch them.

Avoid empty cups and refill tea in time

When drinking tea with our guests, remember to watch their cups and pour tea on time. Pour tea before the cup is completely empty. To show respect, if the guest’s tea is cold, it is best to serve hot tea.

Keep an eye on the tea’s color and replace the tea as needed.

When serving tea to guests, we should be mindful of the tea’s color and avoid serving it too strong or too weak. Furthermore, the tea in the pot needs to be promptly replenished after multiple brews.

Tea should be served correctly.

When pouring tea, both hands must be used to show respect. Hold the cup with your right hand and the bottom of the cup with your left hand, and then serve tea with both hands. It is preferable to utilize a tea cup coaster for formal situations. Also, avoid putting your fingers on the rims of the tea cups or even touch the tea liquid.

Clean Tea Set

Before brewing, clean the tea set. The tea table’s entire tea set, including the gaiwan, teapots, tea cups, tea coasters, fair cups, and other items, has to be meticulously cleaned. While cleaning, double-check the tea sets. There should be no tea stains or stains on the tea sets’ bottom. And also there should be no cracks at the mouth or edge of the sets.

Furthermore, even if the tea sets have been cleansed with clean water before the guests arrive, we should also clean the tea sets with hot water in front of the guests.

It should be mentioned that we shouldn’t touch the tea cups with hands when cleaning the tea set. Instead, grasp the tea cups with a tea tweezer and rinse and clean them with hot water.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like to read the following articles:

Can we drink tea instead of water?
Can we drink teas with an empty stomach early in the morning?
Ways of drinking tea in ancient China
Chinese Tea Culture – Taoism and Tea