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Summer Tea Party 2017!

"Today I have experienced and appreciated Japan more than when I was in Japan."
- Rumiko Tylor

Yakuzen & Chanoyu workshop

Tea & Food = Medicine

For 500 years Japanese have practiced the Tea Ceremony as a way of cultivating focus, respect and mindfulness.

More than 4000 years, Chinese cultivated a way to stay healthy by balancing energy flow
“qui” and living in harmony with Mother Nature through medicinal cuisine.

Yakuzen & Chanoyu are great Asian traditional wisdoms to modern life!

Making a bowl of matcha workshop in Moraga

The Way of Tea acts these values out in a pleasant drama in which you are one of the actors.
In the first part of the workshop you will learn how to be a guest in a casual tea ceremony setting and will play that role as the host serves you tea.
In the second part of the workshop you will follow step-by-step instructions to prepare a bowl of tea and serve it to your guest.
You will learn how to take the drama of appreciation and respect into your everyday life so that whether you are greeting a friend or ordering a cappuccino, you are practicing in a Japanese wisdom of mindfulness!

workshop for Child and Parent

The Japanese Way of Tea brings the principles of appreciation and respect toward each other into the parent-child relation. This short version of workshop will review the basic practice of serving and being served in the Japanese Way of Tea setting. The workshop will begin with a demonstration of tea service where the participants play the role of guests. Then the children will make tea for their parents, following step-by-step instruction of the sensei.

Making wagashi and
the Way of Tea
workshop

At the end of the sweets making session, you will give a ‘poetic name’ for your own creation. Tea sweets are presented with their poetic names to the guest. We appreciate the sweets with our five senses; sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. Hearing the poetic name marks an important part of the tea ceremony.
Then, you will enjoy tasting your own creation at the casual tea ceremony. You will enjoy koicha (matcha, consistency of melted chocolate) in a casual tea ceremony.

The six weeks course (level 1, 2 & 3)
This practice is good for all ages.

demonstration

during the demonstration,
students learn how to act as a guest.

Making flower arrangements for tea room is also a part of the curriculum.

practice

how to hold a tea bowl,
how to prepare a tea serving tray,
and how to make a bowl of tea!

lecture

The lectures will provide participants with with a background in the history, culture, refinement and tradition of the classical Japanese tea ceremony