Japanese Tea Ceremony at the Toronto Tea Festival

Once again I attended the Toronto Tea Festival held at the end of January. I've done a post about my experience there when I went for the first time 2 years ago (you can read about it here). 

That first year we watched the Korean tea ceremony, this year we caught the Japanese tea ceremony. And let's be honest, when we think of tea ceremonies we think of Japanese. I was stoked to be watching all the steps of the ceremony go down with a wonderful explanation for each part. 

In Japan the ceremony is called Chanoyu, Sado, or Chado which means 'the way of tea'. It is more than about preparing and drinking tea, the choreographed ritual is about practicing ''Wa, Kei, Sei, and Jaku'' that is harmony, respect, purity and tranquility. 

The host's movements are always with the guest in mind; where the burner is depending on the season, the angle of the utensils used for them to view etc. Our host, Momo, prepared a traditional bowl of matcha tea (no matcha lattes here), and proffer sweets to balance the bitterness of the tea. Cleaning the utensils and laying out items. 

The responsibility of the guest is also to practice the way of tea and to be present in the moment. Examining and admiring the bowl, being sure to slurp the last sip to express appreciation for the tea and the host. The host will continue to prepare bowls of tea until the guest tells them to wrap it up and then the ritual of cleaning up begins. The guest can inspect the tea caddy and the scoop and ask questions about where they were acquired and who carved the scoop.

Once the host has completed the circle and returned the items to their storage, they bow and the ceremony has ended.

If I do make it to Japan as I had wished, I will certainly be seeking out an opportunity to be part of 'the way of tea'.

Have you ever participated in a tea ceremony?

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Home Afternoon Tea

A few months back I was on a quest to find my English Afternoon Tea in Canada. I found a few winners (here and here) but no matter how they tried, it was still a bit Canadian feeling. 

My 'Afternoon Tea' friend and I decided to have out own afternoon tea in the comfort of our home. The catalyst for this was visiting the Toronto Tea Festival this year and purchasing some lovely teas that just begged to be enjoyed with finger sandwiches and cream tea scones.

There were no bubbles at this tea either but instead we had White Tea Champagne and it's as good as you can imagine.

Tea Sparrow offers a $20 monthly subscription to excellent teas delivered right to your door. Four premium loose leaf teas, both herbal and caffeinated, arrive to your home ready for you to try and experience yourself. (Full disclosure, I am not a member and this is not a sponsored post, but my friend did become a member at this year's festival.)

Finger sandwiches were made; chicken with cranberries, cucumber and cream cheese, and egg salad. The classics.

I made scones (really easy recipe found here) and brought over a jar of my grandmother's Strawberry Rhubarb Jam.

Finally, desserts were bought from a local bakery and our afternoon tea was complete.

In true afternoon tea fashion, we had so much food leftover, even after stuffing our faces full. So good. When's the next?

As you can see, the clotted cream is missing from the set up, but really I think we did quite well for a last minute throw together tea party.

If you've never done an afternoon tea at home, I highly recommend trying it out with a few good friends. I enjoyed the preparation and displaying everything prettily on the plates before maowing down on all the deliciousness in a truly lady-like fashion.

What's your favourite bit about an afternoon tea?

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Toronto Tea Festival

Elevenses, high tea, low tea, afternoon tea, tea time, a quick cuppa, the soothing leaf, black tea, green tea, white tea, Oolong, Darjeeling, Assam. I love it all. So what a better way to spend a cold afternoon than at the 3rd annual Toronto Tea Festival that took place at the Toronto Public Reference Library.

The tickets were a reasonable $13 and change (early bird) for one day admission, so I grabbed my tea drinking buddy and headed into the city to sampled everything we could get our hands on.

This short series I've entitled, 'Spot them on paper, see them in real life'. Catchy ain't it?

In addition to many fruit teas, matcha, tea infused foods and facial products there were other goings on at the event. We first took in the tea talk "Tea 101", it seemed like a great place to start. In the short 40 minute talk was quite informative given by a professional tea taster (I KNOW, RIGHT?)

As the legend goes, and I love a good legend, Chinese Emperor Shen Nong was outside enjoying a mug of hot water, as you do, when a leaf from his tea plant fell into his cup. When he drank the resulting beverage he felt the shining, healing effects and tea was born. Isn't that lovely? Bullocks, but lovely.

Throughout the day there were tea ceremonies from Korea (pictured here), Japan, and China. I loved watching the Korean tea ceremony, it was like watching an delicate dance.

Isn't that dude's coat excellent?

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