Today we were invited to a Japanese tea ceremony. This is a very traditional ritual. There is a very strict procedure on how to make a cup of tea to the point where there is a club at school so that students can learn how to perform this ceremony. The ceremony went for 2 hours. In that time we had to introduce ourselves to the Japanese community members in Japanese which again I was not prepared for as I wasn’t aware that this was going to happen. I just did the best that I could do. After the introductions a pianist and a singer came in to perform for us. They were very talented. We then had to try singing a Japanese song in Japanese. It was pretty basic so it was ok. After the performance we watched the girls perform the tea ceremony.
It was fantastic to watch. All the girls were dressed in Kimonos and had gone to a lot of effort to get their hair done. They looked beautiful. The green kimono was my favourite. The tea we drank was green tea and it was very bitter. There was no asking for sugar. To make it taste a little sweeter they give us a Japanese sweet to eat before we drank the tea.
The tea was like a cappuccino all frothy on top. Before you drank it you had to turn the cup 2 turns clockwise. Once you had finished you wiped the cup clean with your fingers and then turned it back 2 turns. You had to perform each step in the right order.
After we tried the tea that the girls made for us we were able to have a turn to make the tea. It was fun having a go. My froth was the best – it looked like a real cappuccino! Trying to drink two lots of tea was an effort though. I wouldn’t say that I would drink it everyday. Some girls at my school have invited me to watch them practise their tea ceremonies. So I think I will be drinking another cup of green frothy tea.
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