Tea Ceremony at Happoen Garden

As part of our tour we also went to a tea ceremony at Happoen Garden. The tea that is used is green tea but not the normal green tea that we all drink instead it is powedered green tea. In order to make it sweet you eat a piece of sugar (ours were shaped like flowers).

The history of the tea ceremony is that around the end of the 12th century, the style of tea preparation called "tencha", in which matcha was placed in a bowl, hot water poured into the bowl, and the tea and hot water whipped together, was introduced by Eisai, another Japanese monk returning from China. He also brought tea seeds back with him, which eventually produced tea that was of the most superb quality in all of Japan. This powdered green tea was first used in religious rituals in Buddhist monasteries.

It is a very peaceful ceremony where the hostess makes tea by purifying all of the tools and grinding up the powder and it can be done in a smaller room.






We also had the chance to walk around these beautiful gardens, too bad it was raining!