Asian Splendor "Hosting a Traditional Asian Themed Tea Party"

Possibilities are endless when you host an Asian themed tea party, from presenting an overview of Asian teas to replicating a Japanese tea ceremony. Bring the mystery of the orient into your living room with a creative tea party that will have your guests begging for more.
Either way, an Asian tea party is a great way to introduce many exotic Asian teas. Your presentation can vary depending on your guests and how formal or informal you would like the party to be.
Activities
If you don't want to do something quite so formal, you can teach your guests various Asian customs regarding tea, such as traditional preparation methods, types of teas, how to pour and present teas, and Asian tea etiquette. Hosting a traditional Japanese tea ceremony can be fun and educational for your guests. Depending on the overall feel of the party, choose among a variety of possible activities.
If you are hosting a Japanese inspired party, you could include origami as one of the activities. It's also a great opportunity to use different teapots and cups that are Asian inspired. This approach can be unusual, lively, and memorable.
Why not order a batch for your guests and share your fortunes round the table. Like fortune cookies? It's fun, inexpensive, and does not require a lot of space.
Decorations
Use a lot of red and black, as these are customary colors and pair them with dragons and hanging wall fans. To set the mood, purchase a variety of paper lanterns to create a warm ambiance. Decorations can be simple yet elegant.
Look for cards that have "friendship" or other sayings printed using the authentic symbols to use for added ambiance. For added elegance, use specialty porcelain dishes and China as well as designer chopsticks. Find some small parasols to place on each table, or use the small ones for decoration in your teacups.
Bamboo is an easy, inexpensive, and authentic decoration option. Decorate the room and tables with flowers such as orchids and lotuses.
In addition, if you already have them or are able to borrow or rent them, incorporate small water fountains, bonsai trees, or small rock gardens.
Music
Having a variety of Asian music playing the background is perfect for setting the tone of the party.
If your theme is based on a specific country, choose music accordingly. You may want to use some type of compilation, or choose music from a specific region or country, such as Japan, Thailand, or China. Visit the local music store for suggestions.
Invitation Ideas
You can really get creative with invitations, from purchasing ones that are shaped like a fan to using an origami invitation that guests can unfold to read.
Alternatively, you may be interested in invitations that have an Asian picture or symbol on them.
Your budget will influence the style of invitation you choose to use. If you are hosting a formal party, invitations on specialty paper make a beautiful work of art.
There are lots of great companies available online as well. Start with a local gift or party shop. The good news is that there are many options available for all price ranges.
Foods
For starters, offer a variety of sushi, which can be made to suit any taste, including mild, spicy, and vegetarian. The food choices for an Asian tea party are almost unlimited!
It's entertaining and educational! Stir-fry is easy to make for larger groups of people, and you could even prepare the food in a central area so your guests can observe.
Of course, you'll still want to offer fortune cookies! Asian foods rely heavily on rice and noodles, and there are many recipes to find that incorporate these, from soups to main dishes and deserts.
Whichever foods you choose, offer lighter food choices, as those that are too heavy can take away from the tea experience.
Teas
You might also wish to consider "display teas" which actually bloom when steeped in water. This event would be perfect with a delicate Oolong like Monkey Pick or a mystical Tung Ting.
Order from These hand tied extravaganzas are sure to impress your guests.
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You will have them begging for more. If you are looking to impress your guests invite them to experience tea and its birthplace.
(C) Dawnya Sasse
Dawnya Sasse is the creator of the ultimate tea business training school allowing students to discover the secrets of the tea industry,"quickly and easily" without ever leaving home.
Free audio mini course Discover how to "Unlock the Secrets of the Billion Dollar Tea Industry from the Comfort of Your Own Computer" and make your tea dream a reality. Why do some people succeed in the tea business?
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Tea Events Copyright 2006 Dawnya Sasse All Rights Reserved. This article may be distributed freely on your website, as long as this entire article, including links and this resource box are unchanged.
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Gyokuro Green Tea - What It Is And How To Brew It

If you consider yourself an "advanced" green tea connoisseur, perhaps you may have considered or have even tried brewing gyokuro. Since good gyokuro is expensive, it's common for people to try it once, not find it to their liking, and then give up on it. This is often a result of an enthusiast brewing it like they brew their normal sencha green tea. Once you have tried a good gyokuro brewed correctly, however, you will understand what a great green tea it actually is.
Obviously, there is a reason why growers go to all of this trouble - gyokuro is delicious! All of this of course means extra labor, which has a lot to do with why gyokuro is so expensive in the first place. This is accomplished by building an enclosure around the plants using bamboo poles covered with rice straw.

About 3 weeks before the anticipated harvest date, the tea bushes are covered under 90% shade. In case you are not aware, gyokuro is shade grown green tea.
Probably the most important aspect of brewing gyokuro is temperature. Gyokuro needs to be brewed at a lower temperature than other green teas, about 155 Fahrenheit (68 Celsius.) Since water boils at 212F, obviously the temperature needs to be reduced somehow. Even when cooled, however, one can't really start the process with water that is 155F for numerous reasons. If one pours 155F water into a teapot that has been sitting at room temperature, expect that the water will no longer remain at 155F, but will instead drop about 15 degrees. Great, now we're at 140F - too cool for brewing. If in turn one pours that tea into two teacups sitting at room temperature, expect another 15 degree temperature drop. Now we're at 125 F, and two cold, boring cups of improperly brewed gyokuro. So the devil is in the details, and to brew a good cup of gyokuro, these things need to be taken into consideration.
Where you normally can get away with a teaspoon of loose leaf sencha in an 8 ounce teapot, for gyokuro you will need instead about 1 tablespoons of tea per person, and about 5 or 6 ounces of water for each person served. Where you normally can get away with a teaspoon of loose leaf sencha in an 8 ounce teapot, for gyokuro you will need to use more tea. Where you normally can get away with a teaspoon of loose leaf sencha in an 8 ounce teapot, for gyokuro you will need to use more tea.

Where you normally can get away with a teaspoon of loose leaf sencha in an 8 ounce teapot, for gyokuro you will need to use more tea. Where you normally can get away with a teaspoon of loose leaf sencha in an 8 ounce teapot, for gyokuro you will need to use more tea. To brew a good cup of gyokuro, you will need to use more tea.
Western teapots and the like can be used as long as you know what you are doing and take all of the above into consideration. This is not to say you can't use other types of teapots. Additionally, Japanese teapots are usually just the right size for the job. That means it needs a lot of room to expand.

Gyokuro, like other green teas, is compact. One other aspect of brewing gyokuro that is often overlooked is the teapot that one brews it in.
To get down to brewing, I think I can best sum this up by saying the traditional Japanese way of brewing their green tea is also probably the best way to do it, no surprises there. So let's make two cups of gyokuro green tea. You will need three empty teacups, your teapot, and a good gyokuro. Start off by boiling your water in a kettle. When the water "just" starts to boil, immediately turn off the heat and allow the water to cool on it's own for a few minutes. Pour your hot water directly into the empty teapot, filling it, and allowing the teapot to sit a minute or so and warm up. This not only warms the teapot, it also cools the water some. Next, pour the hot water from the teapot into two of the three cold teacups, and then empty the remaining water from the teapot. At this stage we now have a warm teapot, two teacups with hot water in them, and a cold, still empty third teacup. More likely than not, the hot water in those two teacups is still a bit two warm for gyokuro, so what you will want to do is pass back and forth the water between the three teacups, warming the cups and cooling off the water. You usually only have to do this once or twice. This also has the effect of adding oxygen to the water and will improve the taste of the finished product.
All of this does take a little practice to get the hang of, but you'll soon be able to sense when you have cooled the water enough. Put about one and a half tablespoons of loose leaf gyokuro into the warm teapot, and pour the hot water from the two filled teacups directly into the teapot. Brew for 2 to 3 minutes, not disturbing the teapot. Lastly, pour from the teapot back into the warm teacups, draining all of the tea to the very last drop. If you've done that correctly and were patient, you should have one of the finest cups of green tea you've ever tasted. For subsequent infusions, simply re-brew for 30 seconds. It's normal for the second infusion to have a more "green" color than the first. Enjoy your superior cup of green tea!
Kevin Moore is the founder of O-Cha.com, one of the internet's first and largest websites dedicated to Japanese green tea. Based out of Japan, in addition to offering a wealth of information on the health benefits of green tea, O-Cha.com offers a large selection of loose leaf green tea, matcha, and tea brewing supplies.
http://www.o-cha.com
Contact him at
kevinrm@o-cha.com