Traditional Tea Ceremony in Hangzhou

Guest post by Shelley Seale

One of the best places to experience a way of eating, and of life, that has been part of Chinese culture for hundreds of years is at a tea house. These establishments are a big part of people’s social lives, where they play Mahjong, gossip with friends or listen to opera.

At the Taiji Teahouse in Hangzhou, an eastern city that is a major tea exporter in China, trays of dumplings and bowls of snacks are served family-style during a tea ceremony that is as much social and cultural as it is gastronomical. The cups are lined up for the tea pourer, who arrives bearing his brass teapot with an extremely long spout, which he pours in the elaborate taiji style the teahouse is named after, circling the vessel around his head and pouring the green tea as he balances the spout along his shoulders. Like many of the best traditional teahouses, the proprietor is its 7th generation.

The numerous tea farms and villages in Hangzhou still pick and process their tea leaves by hand, as they have for centuries, in a completely organic process. Yet tea is not the only authentic local delicacy to be had at a tea establishment; often regional specialties are offered such as Beggar’s Chicken, a poultry wrapped in lotus leaves and cooked in a thick clay coating for more than four hours. I got a surprise at the Taiji Teahouse when we were served chicken feet! I must say we impressed our hosts when we gamely went about attempting to eat the sauce-laden claws. To find authentic teahouses throughout China, look in historical areas and near parks, temples or universities. Or simply ask a local!

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