Current Exhibits

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Extension Featured Exhibit

The Art of Tea

Tea bestows a multitude of health benefits. It is full of vitamins, essential oils, derivatives, and fluoride. If one feels hot or cold, feels melancholy, has a headache, or has painful limbs or joints, tea is the remedy. It can be a diuretic, improve eyesight & increase alertness. It alleviates drowsiness, but the Sage of Tea Lu Yu 陆羽 (733-804) notes, in The Classic of Tea 茶經, that this should not be its only function.

For centuries, the Chinese have followed very specific guidelines for cultivating tea plants. The seeds are selected in October & placed in sandy, rocky soil, but tea that grows wild is best. Tea leaves are usually picked between April 5th & 20th always on clear days. This is the time when leaves become extremely tender.

Roasting & oxidization, sometimes called fermentation, is key to processing tea. Oxidization turns deep green leaves reddish-brown. Doing this for longer time yields darker shades of tea. Green tea is prepared without oxidization; black tea is created through full oxidization; & oolong tea, or dragon tea, is prepared by suddenly halting oxidization.

A teapot should be filled one quarter to three quarters full of leaves. The amount of tea used depends on the physical state of the leaves, mainly how curled they are. A teapot’s size should be proportional to the amount of leaves used.  In most homes in China today, people employ the gong fu 工夫 method of making tea. They steep tea in small teapots to draw out its full aroma & sweetness. This style of preparing tea dates to the reign of Emperor Wanli 萬曆 (1563-1620) in the Ming Dynasty.

Collecting teapots is a popular Chinese pastime. Purple clay teapots made in Yixing宜興, Jiangsu Province 江蘇 during the Ming & Qing Dynasties are the most valuable. Teacups with a white interior are favored for allowing one to better assess tea’s coloring.

How one judges tea is also critical.  Even today, tea farmers, merchants, & connoisseurs take part in tea tasting competitions in China.  Like a fine wine, tea is judged on taste, aroma & color. The tea that wins title of “superior” is sure to grow in monetary value.