In chinese culture there are many ritualistic sentiments associated with drinking tea and its collectibles. Some are for
- Upper class persons had the most delicate teapots of beautiful designs, also know as high quality.
- In both the East and West tea drinking has long been linked to formal ceremony and highly evolved rituals.
- The designs on the teapot has intricate & deep meanings with your personality.
Well, if you ever go to southern China, you would be interested to know about the Yum Cha rituals!
At every restaurant, ongoing trolleys keep the food flowing during yum cha, accompanied by an incessant stream of piping hot tea. But did you know, there is an important tip when it comes to getting your pot filled. If the lid of your teapot on your table is closed then you will be disappointed. You will notice that people usually take off the lids off their pots; so here lies the key to constantly get your teapot refilled with piping hot aromatic tea. You’ll even notice in some restaurants, the lids are tied to the handle with a piece of fishing line so they can hang loose until they’re refilled and your teapot will be magically filled with steaming hot water.
How did this custom emerge?
Lifting the lid is actually a polite way of asking for your pot to be refilled, and as with most Chinese customs and rituals there is a lovely story behind the tradition. This story involves a poor student who hid a bird in his teapot. The waiter came to refill the pot, lifted the lid, and the bird flew away. Now, the cheeky student actually had a plan. He started to make a loud commotion, claiming that the bird was very valuable and demanding compensation.
To save themselves from further embarrassment and expense, the restaurant decided to wait for customers to lift the lids on their pots before they refilled them with water. Other restaurants began to follow suit and this became a common custom in southern China.
The custom is not generally observed in northern China, however, where customers may need to ask waiters refill their pots. At better restaurants staff take the initiative to ask, or check to see if pots needs refilling. As such, this has become a good indicator how good the service is.
So don’t forget to keep your teapot’s lid open!
Photo credits and source: caroline-dunn.com, oneworldclassrooms.org
