Tea for tea ceremony!

[sassybat]

Hey everyone,

I'm getting married in July, and I want to do a tea ceremony on the day of the wedding with my family, but I'm not exactly sure of the procedure or the type of tea used. My parents just kind of brush me off when I ask. Can someone detail this out for me? Thanks!

[Jason Perlow]

The stuff that is usually used is very high quality oolong or Jasmine.

Your best bet would be to go with one of the teas by Ten-Ren.

http://www.tenren.com

In Taiwan I believe they use Green Tea for this purpose.

The type of tea itself is not nearly as important as the two red dates and lotus seeds that are added to it. The tea is also sweetened.

Edited May 3, 2006 by Jason Perlow (log)

[annachan]

Hey everyone,

I'm getting married in July, and I want to do a tea ceremony on the day of the wedding with my family, but I'm not exactly sure of the procedure or the type of tea used. My parents just kind of brush me off when I ask. Can someone detail this out for me? Thanks!

←

To be honest, the tea itself wasn't really important at my ceremony nor my relatives. For my ceremony, we just ordered tea from the hotel and held it at my suite. What was important was the procedure. Here are a few points my mom emphasized on:

Make sure you include any elders and/or special relatives who have passed on.

Make sure that all the family members, including the young ones are given tea.

Make sure that tea is given in order of your family's hierarchy.

Make sure to use both hands when giving the tea.

And make sure the person who helps you with the tea and receiving gifts is an important family member. That person should not be your parents or grandparents. The aunt I was closed to was the one who helped me.

That's about all I remembered. Good luck!

[hzrt8w]

And the newly weds need to kneel down to serve tea with both hands to the seniors, one pair at a time. Right?

[miladyinsanity]

And the newly weds need to kneel down to serve tea with both hands to the seniors, one pair at a time.  Right?

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Right.

One pair at a time, and each get 2 cups of tea.

As in, there's bride, groom, Elderly Aunt and Elderly Uncle. Both bride and groom serve tea to Elderly Uncle, then repeat with Elderly Aunt.

[sassybat]

wow, when i think about the size of my family, that sounds like a lot of tea.

[Dejah]

From my experience with family members (nieces, nephews), they limited the tea service to the elders: grandparents, parents, uncles, aunties, special cousins.

Young single relatives were not expected to participate, especially in large families.

I remember that the man, whether receiving or serving, was always on the right. In this arrangement, the man always serves to woman - son to mother or m-i-l. I don't know if it was to save time, or a departure from custom, but each received only one cup of tea. There was a great accumulation of Li See and beautiful jewelly on the tray.

Edited May 5, 2006 by Dejah (log)

[annachan]

There was a great accumulation of Li See and beautiful jewelly on the tray.

←

If I remember correctly, I had to put the jewelry I received on as soon as I got each piece.

I think the important thing for you, sassybat, is to remember what works with your family. The traditional ways of doing things tend to be time consuming. Each person is supposed to get two cups of tea. However, I have seen it being done as Dejah mentioned that each person only gets one cup.

Also, who to give tea to will be up to you. We did include the single, younger cousins, as well as my Godmom and some family friends. But we didn't have a big wedding and that was manageable. Since my husband's family is British, they weren't "prepared". So, my mom prepared some extra red envelopes for them to participate in the ceremony.

Kneeling is traditional but not always done nowadays. My grandmother, if she was alive, would not want us to kneel and just bow, as she has asked for at other tea ceremonies.

Don't forget, it's YOUR wedding. The "rules" of the tea ceremony are more like guidelines. Do what works for you and HAVE FUN!

[jokhm]

Yes, stick with oolong or black tea..

those always handle proper tea ceremonies ...properly. Green tea doesn't have the same strength, nor is it as versatile with nice chinese yixing pottery that you'd normally find in a tea ceremony. Pu'er can also work well..