Idea #418 – Discovering the art of Tea Gong Fu cha
The Chinese art of the tea, the Gong Fu Cha, was defined under the dynasty Ming. At the same time as the culture of the tea infused spread, appeared the first teapots, resorting to the use of the earth of Yi Xing for their manufacturing. To drink the tea was then a social and sophisticated act, which tried to find and to imitate gestures forgotten by the tradition Song. This research gave rise to a textbook of tea, Cha Shu, which describes very exactly every stage of the preparation of the tea and by which was directly inspired the Gong Fu Cha.
The preparation gongfu chá is a method not a ceremony, gongfu meaning ” the art to act diligently “, and this preparation has only few common points with the chanoyu – the Japanese ceremony of the tea – the notion of crowned and of social communion which can exist in the gongfu chá, but in a concomitant way, while these principles are fundamental in the chanoyu, the Zen ceremony. The gongfu chá is simply a friendly method allowing to obtain a good tea, as well as in West the oenologists use certain glasses and a wine prepared by a sufficient ventilation, in the deliberate temperature, to taste Grand Crus. This method also allows to put forward the flavors of the tea, as well as the tea itself by a sophisticated dishes.
Some Pictures
Where is it ?
Pekin, China
