Questions & Answers in the 1st East Asia online meeting

Q1：I noticed that Saara was very attentive to the direction of movements - counter clock for certain aspects and clockwise for other. Is this part of yin/yang?（Katherine, USA）
剛才展示的茶道，有時候是順時鐘，有時候逆時鐘，這也和陰陽有關嗎？
A1: The basic principle of the tea ceremony of the tea ceremony is: to try to avoid action in straightforward way, centered on the master, to set the layout in a balanced way on both the left and the right, to move and to stop intermittently to show that you are calm and everything is under your control. Therefore, whether it is clockwise or counterclockwise, it is possible to be considered as a way to balance the yin and yang, and centered on people, to balance between the left and the right.
茶道的行茶基本原則是：行茶亦走弧線，以人為中心，左右分流，有行有停，方顯從容與大氣。所以，不管是順時針還是逆時針，都是以人為中心，左右分流，平衡陰陽的一種方式。
 
Q2：Is there a reason why did not wash the tea leaves before first infusion? (Pablo, Argentina)
I learned in China that you throw away the first brew. Why didn’t you do it? (Hannelore, Germany)
我知道的中國茶的第一泡茶通常是不喝的，但剛才示範時第一泡茶還是喝，為什麼呢？
A2: There are many varieties of tea in China. There are mainly six types, namely white tea, green tea, yellow tea, black tea, green tea and dark tea. Different tea requires different way to deal with. The temperature of the brewing water, and the time of washing and brewing tea are different for different tea. For tea that are very clean, and that has not been even once processed on the ground during the manufacturing process, the tea leaf does not need to be washed. Of course, some teas might have been stored for a long time, such as dark tea. Then we wash the tea. In that case, in addition to cleaning, it also has the effect of waking up the tea.
中國茶有很多品種，主要有白、綠、黃、紅、青和黑六大類茶品，也就是白茶、綠茶、黃茶、紅茶、青茶和黑茶，每種茶的泡法會有不同，沖泡水的溫度以及洗茶、泡茶的時間都各有不同。針對茶品清潔度很高，且茶在製造過程中全程沒有落地加工的茶葉，第一道茶是不用洗的。當然有一些茶儲存的時間很長，比如黑茶，那麼我們用洗茶這種方式，除了清潔之外，還有醒茶的功效。

Q3：How much tea how much water should we use? (Jagoda, Poland)
泡茶時水和茶的比例是？
The amount varies for each type of tea, though the amount might be slightly different. Depending on each person’s taste, it might be further varied. Generally speaking, a regular tea is 1 portion of tea leaf to 40 portions of water. That is about 1 gram of tea leaf to 40ml of water. But this is just for reference, and you may adjust the amount of tea according to your own taste.
A3：每種茶的投茶量會略有不同，根據每個人對於茶品的濃淡程度會有不同，通常來說，常規的茶一般是1:40就可以了，也就是40ml的水大約放1克的茶葉，但這個只是一個參考，最終根據自己的口味以及茶葉的不同來調整投茶量的多少。
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Q4：What is the best time during the day to perform such a tea ceremony? I think it's not convenient to do it after a meal, for exemple? （Carla, Portugal）一天中最佳的行茶時間是什麼時候呢？
A4: The best time to drink tea varies but in general it is to correspond to the four seasons and the timing of the day. Our day in traditional Chinese culture, is divided into 12 parts, and one part is 2 hours, so we have to drink according to the time of the day as Chinese medicine marks the focus of different parts of the day.
China has 24 solar terms. For example, it is Hanlu now. Generally speaking, it is more suitable to drink tea half an hour after a meal, and it is suitable to drink some fermented tea at night, such as Chinese Pu'er tea and Liubao tea, which are good for sleep. When you wake up in the morning, you can drink some green tea in the morning, which is good for refreshing your brain. According to Chinese culture, the best time for tea is between 3 pm and 5 pm, when the bladder meridian is on duty – in traditional Chinese medicine terms. The tea soup may enter the body and can help our bladder meridian metabolize.
通常喝茶的時間呢是根據茶品來對應我們的四季和一天的時辰的，我們一天是分12個時辰，一個時辰是2個小時，所以要對應這個時辰來喝。還有節氣的問題，中國有24節氣，比如現在是寒露的節氣。常規來說，一般飯後半小時以後喝茶比較合適，在晚上適合喝一些發酵的茶，比如中國的普洱茶、六堡茶等，有利於睡眠。早晨起來，上午的時候可以喝一些綠茶類的，有利於醒腦。根據中國文化，最好的行茶時間是在下午三點到五點的時間，是膀胱經當值的時候，有內含物的茶湯進入體內，可以幫助我們膀胱經的代謝。
 
Q5: I have Chinese tea cups and they are very small. Why they are so small? I remember that the Japanese teacups, for the tea ceremony, are much bigger! (Arnoud, Spain) 
為什麼中國茶的茶杯那麼小，日本茶道的茶杯比較大？
A5: Because we use the method called kung fu tea making. The tea soup will be thicker, and I also like to drink the tea when it is hot, so we will use small cups so we can drink when it is hot (other times, it can stay in the kettle to keep warm). Only when the temperature of the tea soup is hot enough can we better feel the tea.
通常中國人喝茶在行茶的時候，我們採用的是功夫茶的泡法，泡出來的茶湯會比較濃，而且我們也喜歡茶在熱的時候來喝，所以我們就會用小杯保持茶湯一定的溫度，茶湯的溫度夠了以後才能讓我們更好的感受到茶氣。