Today’s Tea ceremony Phenomenon in Taiwan

The qualitative data gained from both the contextual inquiries and in-depth interviews were firstly debriefed in an affinity diagram (Beyer& Holtzblatt, 1999) and then encoded and interpreted, word by word with Nvivo, a qualitative data analysis computer software application (Gibbs, 2002; Bazeley, 2007). The whole analytic process follows the systematic iterative process proposed in grounded theory (Strauss, 1987; Strauss & Corbin, 1990). The results and main issues of the tea ceremony phenomenon are summarized in the following text.

At present, tea drinking/making gradually has become a widespread leisure activity among people of different ages in Taiwan. In this study, we have found that the ceremony serves two purposes; the first is that it represents a traditional Chinese lifestyle, Zen Buddhism or philosophic Taoism, which looks for the essence of nature, balance and individualism.

Secondly, tea ceremonies have a social purpose to enhance personal relationships, including both uniting family members and enhancing business partnerships.

Attitudes toward the Tea Ceremony

In China, the custom of tea drinking began 2000 years ago. Due to its sweet and fresh taste, elegant aroma, thirst-quenching properties and the medical fact that it can increase mental alertness, tea was the most common drink around the 8th century in China. Many teahouses were built for people to taste tea, meet with friends, socialize, listen to music, appreciate poems and drawings, or enjoy the natural beauty (Wicentowski, 2000; Kumakura, 2002).

In the 1970s in Taiwan, tea ceremonies became common activities of the elderly for healthy and social relaxation. In the countryside, senior citizens shared tea leisurely at parks,

under trees, or in front of temples, repeatedly pouring the steeped tea for each other from a small tea vessel into small pottery cups, chatting and whiling away the whole afternoon. The tea drinking/making activity was a long drawn out and time-consuming affair. This particular way of making tea is called gong-fu-cha in Chinese, “tedious and time-consuming tea,” or lao-ren-cha, “tea of the elderly,” which infers its long and complicated process and that only the retired people will have enough time to enjoy tea in this way. During this period, the specific procedure, equipment and unique teaware for making/appreciating tea were developed in Taiwan, which are significantly different from tea ceremonies in Mainland China and in Japan. Some significant activities of the art of tea have been formed, such as examining and appreciating different types of tea vessels and competing for teas.

On the other hand, for the elderly, a tea ceremony functions as a way to enhance and to maintain their social relationships with friends and neighbors. In the 1980s, tea drinking started being popular among different age groups and the ceremony itself became a part of common practices in many people’s daily lives. While having a meal, tea is served with multiple purposes: helping digestion, enhancing social interaction and relations, and relieving stress. The Taiwanese tea ceremony therefore is no longer an activity that concerns mainly the art, but also presents a social, casual and balanced lifestyle. Although the ceremony has been a tradition passed on from one generation to another, it is noticed that different generations have very different expectations and attitudes today. For the elderly, lao-ren-cha culture still represents a rich and fertile agricultural era in Taiwan, but for the middle and young generations, the ceremony is an activity to escape from the anxiety, worry and stress of modern life:

…Certainly we have knowledge to master the best temperature for brewing tea, to identify different types of teas, or to treasure the teaware. However, we are seldom fastidious about this…

What we appreciate and love in tea sharing are the interactions among friends and family members, enjoyable gatherings, and a genial ambiance (Quote from in-depth interview, subject B, translated from Chinese)

Tea ceremonies are such an important part of my daily life and one of my routine family activities…my parents are not particularly concerned about the brewing of the tea itself as I serve it to them. In my opinion, the purpose of tea ceremonies for my mother is to get the whole family together and make small talk to keep very close relationships among family members (Quote from in-depth interview, subject C, translated from Chinese).

The formal method for brewing tea is not always followed by Taiwanese today, and a lot of details are left out. As above-mentioned, aroma cups and heavy-solid tea trays made by phoebe woods are no longer popular. When it comes to teaware, people look for one that is functional, practical and suitable instead of something that reflects traditional Chinese aesthetics. In addition, because of rapid social change, people live at a fast pace, and the meaning of having a cup of tea casually becomes very different from what it was in the past.

Tea ceremonies represent the concepts of work-life balance; they help people relieve work stress and enrich daily life by shifting attention from work to natural beauty, relaxation, and physical and mental health.

…Sometimes we have a family travel to the west coast by car. Once we find a nice scenic place, we’d park the car, bring the teaware and picnic on the spot. It is very leisurely, comfortable and far from madding crowd. […] To share a pot of tea with family in nature is so lovely. We’ll just sit on the bast-mat and start making tea. You can smell the fresh air and easily escape from the hustle and bustle of urban life (Quote from in-depth interview, subject C, translated from Chinese).

The tea ceremony for me is just like playing tennis, hiking, or doing some exercise. It is a break, which improves my health and mood. […] Therefore, I strongly encourage people to have a tea ceremony in their casual time. Since it requires full concentration, you will feel calm, vital and peaceful after a while. (Quote from in-depth interview, subject A, translated from Chinese).

In the past thousand years, the Chinese tea ceremony has emphasized the art of tea, including the performance and style. However, people participating in the Taiwanese tea ceremony today have focused more on inner serenity and balance. Most participants in the study considered that making tea and chatting with friends in a slow pace brings physical and mental relaxation and makes them more concentrated, patient and perseverant. It is a regime to learn an earnest attitude toward life.

Social Interactions and Relationships

Tea ceremonies always go along with other social activities. Friendly and frequent social interactions are undertaken during the process of serving and tasting tea in very natural ways.

According to the interviews, different types of social gatherings and even business meetings can be improved by performing a tea ceremony. It has been found that doing tea ceremonies can enhance people’s social relationships in three different phases: it helps a person expand his/her social relationships, it maintains social ties with both work partners and close friends and it enhances the cohesion and identification among family members.

In the interviews, the informants have mentioned that many Taiwanese truly enjoy entertaining their friends by serving tea. If the host’s brewing skills can gain guests’ praises, it will be a great honor. In addition, there is a concept, a type of courtesy, of making new friends through serving good tea and through introducing each other’s tea and teaware collection. For instance, one of the informants has mentioned that he enjoys serving his collected, precious tea to his clients and partners. It not only brings him great success in business but also allows him to make more friends: people who are getting interested in tea ceremonies.

Tea ceremonies also increase more intimate interactions among people. Many interactions between guests and hosts take place in the process of making, brewing, serving and tasting tea, passing and sharing tea snacks. Participants can express their cares and concerns for friends through conversation, slight gestures, or facial expressions during the ceremony. These well-meaning actions also make people more open-minded and enhance the friendships. In addition, all informants in the study have emphasized that tea ceremonies strengthen the identification and connections within their family and provide a proper way for people to show regard to their family members. Due to rapid social change in Taiwan, people are struggling with the hustle and bustle of modern society and have begun to cherish any opportunity to spend time with family members.

I can relax my mind by having a cup of tea and chatting with my parents. It’s such a leisurely activity. As time passes, having tea with my family has become a lovely routine. I can have some small talk with my family member. […] It’s quite different from other family activities. If you’re just sitting next to your parents and watching television, you might have no conversation with each other at all. But we are always bound to have an intimate talk when we are sharing a pot of tea (Quote from in-depth interview, subject C, translated from Chinese).

I invite friends to have tea ceremonies at my place about three to four times per week, and my neighbors also come here to have a cup of tea after lunch, almost everyday. It has become a routine, to have tea ceremonies together. […] Sometimes if we (the informant and her parents) feel that the people at the table are not enough, we will make phone calls to see if anyone wants to join us. (Quote from in-depth interview, subject C, translated from Chinese)

Today, tea ceremonies play different roles among people of different ages, and they reflect the changes of social phenomena and values. This thousand years old traditional custom is now enjoying a revival. In terms of people’s varied needs and new expectations, designers clearly have a chance to rethink the meanings of these different types of traditional social activities.

In conclusion, the overall activity context of tea ceremonies and the participant’s

perspectives are explored in this study. However, comparing the contents of contextual inquiries and in-depth interviews, the five consolidated work models do not go far enough in pointing out the significant cultural and social features within tea ceremonies, and do not provide a clear guideline for researchers and designers to obtain the knowledge and then to apply it in design practices. In the next section, to take account of both social and cultural context and individual’s perspectives in design research, an multi-level model is introduced.