Tea Etiquette for Lunar New Year

Flowers to Lunar New Year is like Christmas tree is to Christmas. Flower markets are created in parks and football fields a few days before Lunar New Year to accommodate the procurement from a large portion of the population. Getting some flowers in one of these crowded places is a walk in the park, so to speak, compared to all those other festival preparations.

Lunar New Year for ethnic Chinese is like Halloween plus Thanksgiving plus Christmas in one go — except that it lasts longer and there are more rituals.

It gets everyone in the household busy: cleaning up the house for another new beginning ( to be done on the 3rd day before New Year ), decorating with flowers and new tapestries, piling the living room with fruits and candies for guests, writing lucky sayings on couplets with calligraphy that you have practiced only last New Year, preparing all the different festival cakes, snacks and dishes for the many meals in the four main days of the New Year, getting new clothes and shoes for everyone in the family, filling red packets ( lai-si ) with money for dispatching to young ones and the seniors, annual visits to relatives and friends ( whose children’s names you may have forgotten )… These in addition to the family and company dinners and hard decisions over what gifts to whom. People who need to make religious or ancestral offerings are even busier.

To many, these are only customs that may not mean much except for following a pattern. Some seek the deeper meanings of Lunar New Year. They want to find the significance of this heritage so they can carry it on with a purpose.

One almost forgotten ritual may offer a clue for those who seek, and it has to do with tea: Lunar New Year Sweet Tea.

First thing in the Morning

On the first day of traditional Lunar New Year, the eldest generation sit properly in the dominant chairs in the living room. Their next generation offer them sweet tea in proper manner. If there is yet another younger generation, these grand children do the same to their grandparents and then parents.

All properly dressed in the new clothes and groomed.

Well-wishing

Tea offering is the first ritual on the first day of Lunar New Year

The offerer always face the receiver when giving the tea. Standing and slightly bowing, he ( or she ) addresses properly the receiver when handing over the cup. He folds the hands in front lightly while reciting the proper traditional auspicious phrases for New Year wishes. When the tea is sipped and the well-wishing said, the receiver returns with a red packet and auspicious wishes to the offerer.

Originally when the tradition began ( no one really knows when ), well-wishes were written on red paper inside the packets, but somehow the content has become money. I received some with chocolate candy coins and small change when I was a child. In any case, some nice thing has to be inside; it is very nasty to give out empty packets — some would see it as a curse.

The Etiquette

When offering tea, the handle of the cup should face left for the offerer and right for the receiver, supposing the receiver is right-handed. The offerer holds the cup by the saucer with both hands. The receiver take the cup by the handle with one hand and the saucer with the other, and sip the tea while listening to the New Year well wishes from the offerer.

When a gaiwan is used, the offerer also holds the gaiwan by the saucer with both hands and the receiver takes the saucer with one hand and the lid ring with the other. ( Read more about Using the Gaiwan as a Cup )

When smaller teacups without handles and saucers are used, they have to be served up with a tray. It is not proper to hold the cup when handing it over, unlike what you may have seen in Mainland China, where traditional rituals have either been lost, distorted, or re-appropriated for certain agenda.

The second offerer

Since there may be another offerer or more to the same receiver, the second one (or subsequent ones) to offer tea to the same receiver would not offer tea in another cup, but rather fill the receiver’s cup again with fresh tea. That is why traditionally it used to be full-size gaiwans or larger cups in such situation. They make refilling and handling more comfortable than smaller cups.

The receiver’s cup should be rested on a table in front, or if in a proper traditional setup, the tea table on the side of the receiver’s chair. The offerer is to pour tea to the cup, however little amount is needed, with one hand holding the teapot handle, another the pot lid. A chahai can be used in place of the teapot. In such case, the other hand can be touching the side of the chahai.

When tea is poured, the pot should be rested and the offerer take the cup to offer to the receiver, while saying the good wishes.

This ritual used to be conducted at home as well as during family visits.

Auspicious items in the tea

To make the tea a little special during this festive season, little sweet things are put in the teacups.

Candied fruits and vegetables, each carrying specific auspicious meaning (see above photos). Not many people are aware of this however, so it is okay to put almost any casual selections from the traditional range.

Tea Selection

The tastes of most selections of black teas, classic style oolongs, and puers (shu cha) blend well with these candied fruits. The concern is rather the way the tea is prepared and held in such situation, particularly when quite a number of family members are presented, where a greater quantity of tea is needed. Use a lower tea to water ratio, such as 2g or even 1g to 300 ml. Unless it is for a puer, pour boiling water into the empty pot without the need for preheating and use the sandwich drop method. Steep the tea for longer time, such as 8 to 10 minutes. ( Read more about Basic Infusion Techniques )

Time to connect

The simple item of tea again takes centre stage humbly in a festival glorifying abundance and praying for prosperity. It does not matter whether it is hard times or good. As long as tea can be afforded, it can become the medium to make connections again. Between the generations or individuals, there could be resentments, misunderstandings, or even hatred or disgusts. Or the opposite. In the wake of Spring, of another hope for a new beginning, tea makes it easy for a ritual gesture to smooth chaps or to moisten stronger growth.

Life does passes and fate continues to drift. Relationships irrigated to last to yield sweet memories are better than broken with regrets. A time to offer tea with well-wishes give an opportunity to make deeper connections.

Although we were bare-bone poor when I was a child, my mother managed to successfully keep this ritual till we have been able to consciously picked it up on our own. I do not know how many more times we are able to serve her Lunar New Year sweet tea but most certainly she will continue to be with me in every turn of the Chinese zodiac. Every year as I hand her the cup, I have learned to taste the sweetness of the brief moment a lot more.