Taiwanese Dao of Tea: Oolong and KTV in a Taiwanese Home.

Today we went to the National Palace Museum. The Museum showcasing the Chinese artifacts that were brought with the Kuomintang to Taiwan when they fled the Mainland. Many people in China are pissed that Taiwan won't give them back and the people of Taiwan say that China would have just destroyed these artifacts during the Cultural Revolution anyways. I have mixed loyalties so I won't expand any further on the museum. After the museum we were invited back to the home of our coordinator in Taiwan for Oolong and Karaoke! There was quite some ritual for the tea preparation.

Tea preparation and serving essentials (we had two different types of Oolong):

• Tea leaves
• Bamboo scoop to take leaves from package
• Ceramic bowl with part of the lip extended and rounded in order to make a spout to pour leaves into tea brewing pot
• Pot for brewing tea
• A large kettle filled with previously boiled, and still hot, water
• A pot and strainer to pour brewed tea into before serving.
• A short wooden stand to prepare and pour tea into cups over
• Tea cups for all tea drinkers present
• A separate set of pots and cups for each variety of tea.
• Snacks!
  

The Layout:



The preparation for the first type of tea:


Each steeping had a specific length, the first one for each type of tea was shorter i.e. one minute for the first steep and two for the second. When the desired steeping time was over the brewed tea had to be transferred to a new pot. The teapot being lifted in this picture is the one that has the tea once it is brewed. The cups in the left-hand corner are for the second type of tea. This tea was poured into the tall cups on the wooden stand, waited for a few seconds, then the tea was poured into the shorter cups and the tall cups were handed out for us to smell the tea. The tall cups were followed by the small and now we were free to sip on the tea.

It was good!

There was only one set of tea cups for the second tea variety, and it was more bitter. The second tea was brewed in the red clay pot. Each tea made many brews. When soaked the tea leaves seemed to fill the entire teapot. The pots, as pictured, were quite small. We sat around for about half an hour tasting the different teas and munching on the snacks before we were "all hopped up on Oolong" and ready to sing Karaoke, but when it was time we picked songs from a Karaoke book, typed in the song numbers and sang our hearts out. We even got to hear Taiwanese songs sung by the father, a Japanese song sung by the mother, a duet in Taiwanese by both and as well as song by our classmates, our coordinator and teacher. It was said that they, especially the father, drink tea and sing Karaoke almost everyday.

Karaoke, Ka-la-O.K. and KTV are all the same - glorious - thing.