Formal tea Ceremony

One of Kara's request was to go to a tea ceremony and of course I made that happen, especially since one of the hotels does them every day. So we arrived for our tea appointment and the room it was in was beautiful. While we waited, we got to look outside onto this very manicured garden, which was on the 7th floor. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to go outside. Finally it was time for the tea ceremony. Here is our tea master preparing to start making our tea as she moves the water into the bowl. Next she uses that whisk in front of her to whisk the green tea powder.



After each of us had our very bitter tea, our tea master told us a few things about the set up and then told us to move into the next room, which is below. The room is a traditional tatami room, where tea ceremonies were originally held and very small. She told us that up to 10+ people would sit in this room as the tea master would prepare the tea. It was also the place where samurai's would hold secret meetings to discuss stuff. Here, she brought us more green tea, which is the type of tea that most Japanese people drink on a daily basis. It is suppose to be good for your health.


And of course we needed a group shot after we finished our tea! It was a good tea ceremony and nice to see the two different aspects of it.