Tuesday 14 July 2015

A Postcard a day - 14 July 2015

Good morning everyone!,

Today we 'travel' to China, as I'm showing you a postcard I received this week all the way from China. It was sent to me by Zihu.

It depicts a beautiful tea set that is used for the famous tea ceremony. 




Now for the stamp:

It looks like a ship connected to an off-shore drilling station.

If you'd like to know more about the tea ceremony,
I have found some info on the internet about it (what would we do without internet I say...)
I will post that at the bottom of this post.

That's it from me.

Have a good day and CU tomorrow,

Lisca

The Chinese practice a form of tea ceremony called Gong Fu, which has some similarities and many more differences to the possibly more well-known Japanese tea ceremony. 
In a Gong Fu style tea ceremony, the tea master preparing the tea for the group is considered an artist in his or her own right. 
Styles for pouring the water and tea vary individually, and many devote a lot of time practicing difficult and artistic maneuvers. Usually the equipage for this tea ceremony would be a clay Yi-Xing pot and several small teacups, a tea sink or shallow bowl for draining water into, and a few bamboo tools for handling the hot objects. 
The tea master will arrange the teapot and cups in a circular fashion over the tea sink or in the bowl, and pour hot water into each to rinse the objects and to warm them so that the temperature of the tea is more consistent. This rinse water is discarded, and then a generous helping of tea leaves, usually oolong, is measured into the pot. More hot water is then poured into the pot and the tea leaves will begin steeping. 
Every infusion in Gong Fu ceremony is very quick, about 30 seconds, though the method for timing is never exactly precise. In one tradition hot water is poured over the outside of the teapot, and when the water is seen to be fully evaporated, the tea is ready to be poured. In another, the tea master must count a full 4 deep breaths before beginning to pour. Either of these methods is roughly a 30 second steep, and remains consistent throughout the multiple following infusions. 
Then the tea master will begin pouring in a continuous flow around to each of the teacups, a little at a time, resulting in each person having the equal amount and strength of tea in his or her cup. After enjoying this first round of tea, the leaves may be re-steeped for many more infusions.















































16 comments:

  1. Welcome to T Tuesday. I love my tea so this meme is perfect for me, except this week I forgot the tea story lol. I love that teaset, I have a Japanese teaset that I love to use.

    Hey do you like decorated envelopes? Come and join us in the Envelope Exchange, hurry it closes tomorrow for sign up http://pushingtheenvelopes.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/exchange-envelopes-next-exchange-sign-up.html

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    1. Thanks. I have signed up for that and have made my first envelope. (Haven't heard yet if I have been accepted, but it's fun to do anyway)

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  2. Welcome to T Tuesday.
    That is a lovely tea set and I am always drawn to postage stamps and feel a bit disappointed when mail arrives from overseas with the computer generated postage which I guess is faster and easier for the postal services to use these days.
    Wishing you a Happy T Day!

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  3. Great postcard and I love the stamp..... reminds me of the quote "COMING ON A SLOW BOAT FROM CHINA" :)

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  4. Fascinating about the differences between Chinese and Japanese tea ceremonies. I _love_ that tea set :)

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  5. Thank you for joining us for T Stands For Tuesday this week. I love postcards and look forward to seeing more. I remember another T player who shared this same ritual, although she lived in Singapore. It truly IS a ritual, so unlike what we are used to, whether it's high tea in the UK, or just a casual cup in the States.

    Again, welcome and so glad you could join us for T this Tuesday.

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  6. Indeed, life would be boring without the internet! I must explore your blog more later, can't believe you live in a cave house! Happy T-Dayl

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  7. Well i enjoyed that visit to China! :) Lovely postcard too! I honestly didn't know that China AND Japan had tea ceremonies. :) Happy happy T day! Hugs! deb

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  8. There is a postcrossing meetup in Spain, not sure how far this is from you http://forum.postcrossing.com/viewthread.php?tid=101056#pid7474733

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    1. Again thanks. I have duly made a note of the link. It's in Galicia which is on the other side of Spain, a day's drive (two for us as we don't drive very fast). But we have always wanted to go to Galicia because of the folk music. I will have to find out if it coincides with a folk festival and it will be a good reason to go.

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  9. Perfect postcard for T Tuesday. Interesting stamp too.

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  10. I didn't realize that China had tea ceremonies also--very interesting story. Thanks for sharing for T Day.

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  11. What an interesting description of the Chinese tea ceremony - I know about the Japanese tea ceremony as I used to have a Japanese exchange student with me for a while when I was teaching! Happy T day! Chrisx

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  12. The tea set is stunning and the description fascinating. Happy T Day :D

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  13. Love that Tea set!!
    Happy T day...a day late!

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  14. Love the tea set AND the stamp! happy T day very late! ♥

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