Laura: Do you think there will be a show of the Chinese tea ceremony?
Benjamin: Of course. It's a tea culture festival. So there should be many shows about that. Look, there is one over there. Let's go and have a look.
(They come to see a tea ceremony.)
Laura: He looks very professional. What's the most important thing about a tea ceremony?
Benjamin: Well, the Chinese tea ceremony emphasizes the tea, rather than the ceremony.
Laura: You mean what the tea tastes like?
Benjamin: Yeah. And also, what it smells like and how one tea tastes compared to the previous tea.
Laura: What do you mean by “previous tea”?
Benjamin: A good server can make a pot of tea serve 3 or 4 rounds and up to 5 or 6. The goal is that each round tastes the same as the first.
Laura: Cool. And I notice that the tea cups are very small. Why don't they use bigger ones which can hold more tea at a time?
Benjamin: Well, in China, tasting and serving tea is an art. Tea is the symbol of elegance. So people use small tea cups to taste tea which is different from drinking tea.
Laura: I see. Tea tasting definitely has deep culture meanings.
Benjamin: Yeah. In old times, tea tasting is the thing which could always inspire poetry. So there are many poems about tea.
Laura: Really? That's very interesting.
Benjamin: Last but not least, the water is also very important.
Laura: I know that. Some tea is ruined by boiling water. The best temperature is around 170~185 degrees F.
Laura: I watched a show of the Chinese tea ceremony today. It was really interesting. I was told that the Chinese tea ceremony emphasized the tea, rather than the ceremony. A good server could make a pot of tea serve 3 or 4 rounds and up to 5 or 6, and each round tasted the same as the first. Moreover, the tea cups used in a tea ceremony were really small, for it was for tasting tea, which was different from drinking tea.