Japan 2025 – Tokyo – The Tea ceremony workshop

We sit on the tatami on the floor. As she knows how hard it is for foreigners to sit on their knees, she says we can relax while she explains in detail what is going to happen. We will sit on our knees and assume the correct posture only at the moment of drinking the tea.

We start with a degustation and a game: we taste some tea and then we need to recognize it among 4 different samples of tea, that are all slightly different from us.

My taste buds fail to recognize the right one. It means I need more training.

Then, she passes to the practical explanation and displays the different tools:

in the middle of the floor, a kettle containing hot water, the kama.
a bamboo whisk- chasen
a bowl – chawan
A teaspoon – chasaku
The tea box – chaki
A ladle to pour the hot water in the bowl – hishaku

Each item is is beautiful, functional and simple. They attract me and I decide I want to acquire them as souvenir of this first trip to Japan.

Then she explains that we are going to prepare tea twice in two different ways:

first, the koicha, which is the strongest one, the equivalent of an espresso
second, the usucha, which is lighter.

For the koicha you use 3 gr. of powder, while for the usucha, half of it, which basically corresponds to two spoons or one spoon.

We are offered first a small sweet, shaped as a pink flower, with a small fork. She recommends that we don’t lift the dish, this way it will be easier to avoid that it rolls on the tatami. But she does not know yet how skilled I am. I break the sweet with my fork and immediately half of it rolls out from the dish directly on the tatami.

« It’s ok, we have the 5-second rule, you can still eat it. Actually in Japan it’s just 3 seconds, but it’s ok ». So out of 8 students I’m the only one unable to keep the sweet in the dish. Never mind. That’s me. Sometimes I’m clumsy.

We pass to the second step and she explain us the different phases of the ritual.

She shows us a silk red cloth – the fukusa – that is meant to clean the spoon before the tea ceremony. She folds it according to one of the 200 existing ways to fold it and mentions that while you fold it you give thanks for your family and for your friends.

Soka makes a pause to allow us to take pictures, but filming is not allowed.

During the rest time, she makes a demonstration for us.

She closes her eyes, sits still, concentrates. Then she starts folding the red cloth, closing her eyes. She uses it to purify the different tools. She rinses the bowl with hot water to warm it up, so that it is ready to welcome the tea.

Then, she puts the green powder from the box into the bowl, she pours the water from the kettle with the ladle and finally she takes the whisk to blend the tea with the water. She explains us that the correct movement is vertical, you definitely don’t steer, and also, the correct movement is done by the whisk, not by the arm, the arm is still. The tea is ready when the surface of the liquid is covered in bubbles. If you steer, no bubbles. That’s why she insists on the movement of the hand.

Once the tea is ready, we are explained some rules about the bowl.

The bowl has a side that is decorated. When the host prepares the tea, that side faces the host. Then, the host turns the bowl of 180 degrees, clockwise, so that the decorated side faces the guest. The guest bows in sign of humility, receives the bowl and then turns it again twice clockwise, so that the decoration faces the host, in sign of respect. The guest takes the bowl with the right hand and the left palm under it and raises the bowl in sign of gratitude. You drink slowly your tea and you don’t put your bowl on the floor till you are finished, as long as there is tea inside, you keep on the left palm.

Watch the video from YouTube and meet Mika Soka Haneishi: