Cafe Sketchwalk 4: Teahouses in Chinatown.

The complete tea set from the first Chinese teahouse - Tea Chapter《茶渊》along Neil Road

Second stop: Yi Xin Xuan《怡心轩》

My first memories of Chinese were of my grandmother preparing them for festivals as offerings to the invisible deities. They were made thick, strong and in copious amounts. We get to drink them later as we feast on the food prepared for the festivities of the day.

My grandmother made copious amounts of Oolong《乌龙》 and sometimes Pu Erh《普洱》. Then was when I acquired my taste for Chinese tea. My grandmother also helped me to acquire my taste for coffee, but that's another story.

In secondary school, my maths teacher introduced me to the idea of the Chinese tea ceremony: a ritual of making tea that slows you down and opens up your senses, making even the tiniest of gestures an amplified motion. Your sense of hearing, tasting and even seeing is suddenly amplified and enhanced. This was then picked up again during my military stint. A group buddies I hang out with are also into tea drinking.

The last introduction came with my current job: my boss is an avid tea drinker and is absolutely fanatic about tea and often urges us to have tea with him. Being in a working enviroenment with a strong Chinese cultural influence also helped to further nurture and mature my understanding of the sensorial expereince and art of the tea ceremony. This culminates in part 4 of my cafe sketchwalk: tea houses.

Spurred by Liz's interest in Chinese teas, I arranged for one during her visit. Much to my delight, we were also joined by Parka, Favian and Su Min. The experience proved to be a wonderfully therapeutic and quieting experience for all those who were there a the sketchwalk. So inspired was I that I went ahead and acquired a set of tea making instruments for my personal exploration and enjoyment at home...
 

the complete tea set	tea set in use	tea and conversation