The autumn has come to the ground, bringing us a chance to taste tea with friends in such a pleasant autumnal scenery. Moreover, the Mid-autumn is around the corner, Muse College has invited Chen Xueyi, a national tea master and tea critic, as our special guest to the Unifun Workshop "smelling, experiencing, and tasting", which brings Musers a refined cultural appreciation.

It was the first tea workshop of CUHKSZ to experience the traditional Chinese tea culture, where the journey of tea-tasting started.

The convention of tea drinking has been passed on from generation to generation for thousands of years in China. People who learn the art of tea get to calm the mind, focus on details, understand the ritual, enjoy the harmony and are good at trade-offs. It seems that a long term of getting along with tea, allows one to sense the peaceful smelling, wherefore he could gradually calm down.

In this activity led by the tea master, Musers would as well learn the infinite charm of traditional Chinese tea art.

Chen Xueyi who teaches the art of tea is a national senior tea master, national senior tea critics and tea training tutor. She has a profound understanding about the tea-leaf, tea-criticizing and tea-culture. Growing up in the Chinese traditional culture, she has built a unique knowledge about Chinese tea culture, which could as well be passed on to our students.

Before the tea ceremony, Miss Chen firstly taught the proper sitting posture to make tea.

"The moment you sitting on the tea table, you have to make sure that your upper body is upright. A small trick to help you is that sitting only on the sit bone, accounting 1/3 of the chair, so that your body could be upright."

The Confucian school emphasizes the opinion of "Moderation and Integrity, Love and Harmony". The art of tea acquires us to sit upright to be an integrated person, which as well carries on the thoughts and ideas of the great ancients.

Then, Miss Chen talked about the tea set and its usages, along with some interesting anecdotes related. The simple tea set, including cover bowl, justice cup, tea tray and tea chopsticks, acquaints us with the basic knowledges about the traditional tea set. And interesting stories also brought new understanding of tea set to Musers.

Miss Chen taught the techniques to make black tea with a cover bowl and the way to taste black tea. Black tea, also called "Red tea" in Chinese due to the reddish color of its infusion, is fully fermented. Black tea is mild and suitable for drinking in autumn and winter. And Miss Chen had specially chosen a famous kind of black tea produced in Yunnan Province for our students.

Then how do we make a cup of good tea? First of all we need water with good quality, and soft mineral water is preferred. Meanwhile, the temperature is of great importance. Water with high temperature could stimulate the smelling of the tea. What's more, we should pay attention to the time control. Let the tea leaf soak and unfold in the water for a while and then leave a small gap between the cover and bowl to pour tea gently along the cup wall. Tea ceremony focuses on returning to nature, the unity of man and nature. To learn the art of tea, it's important to respect the law of nature, to do it step by step, and don't be rushed in the process of making tea.

After the explanation of Miss Chen, Musers had gradually learned the artistic concept of tea. Under the patient guidance of Miss Chen, Musers had all tried on their own, following the process of sitting posture, washing, tea-making and tea-tasting. In addition, a specially invited guest, Tu Xiaoyu, gave her perfect performance of Chinese zither, bringing us a pleasant night to taste the tea and enjoy the moonlight.

Musers was immerged in a peaceful night with pleasant tea-tasting by the great smelling of tea and melodious tweedle, forgetting about the fast pace of university life and enjoying the peace of the moment.

The art of tea is an elegant art, learning from which can not only delight our body and mind, but can also cultivate our morality. We met here, where the pleasant melodies lingered, where we enjoyed tea together, where our friendship would last forever.