Chinese legend and folklore have lauded the ability of tea leaves to provide refreshment without stupefaction since ancient times
DRESSED IN A cassock-like kimono, the tea master prepares the infusion as his hushed congregation watches. Soshin Kimura, grand master of the Hoshinkai tea school, wields his implements with all the ritualistic elegance of a priest celebrating mass. Mr Kimura prefers the broader idea of “teaism”, rather than “tea ceremony”, as a translation of the Japanese. The “way of tea” reaches its destination with a sip of the viscous, aromatic broth that his assistants pass round in shallow bowls .
By the early 18th century, fine porcelain from Meissen and rival factories provided the pots, jugs, cups and saucers that would turn Europe’s own tea ceremony into a domestic cult. While public coffee-houses hosted the masculine pursuits of politics and commerce, tea at home became a feminine domain. By the mid-18th century, a commodity that had once traded in Europe at the equivalent, in today’s prices, of £850 per pound had spread from palace to cottage.
In a sweeter vein, Kazuhiro Yajima, a Japanese architect, has created an “Umbrella Tea House” , crafted out of bamboo and paper. Cunningly engineered, his fragile edifice conjures up the sociability of tea consumption and the power of a shared beverage to wash away differences. The narrow door of the traditional tea-house, Mr Yajima explains, forbade clients to carry divisive marks of distinction through its portals. “They had to get rid of their social status.
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