The beauty of the culture of inviting tea

Thuy Tien

Regardless of the region, the culture of offering tea when guests visit has long become a beauty of Vietnamese people. A cup of tea shows the politeness and enthusiasm of the inviter and a flowery and elegant lifestyle regardless of any class or status in society. Tea is indispensable during death anniversaries, New Year, ancestral altars, and sidelines of conferences. Drinking tea and offering tea is the beginning and the end.

Tea has long been associated with the daily life of Vietnamese people. Tea is not only used as a drink but also as an item in wedding ceremonies, funerals, thanksgiving ceremonies, and receptions. When guests come to visit, the homeowner, no matter how busy, stops work and makes tea for the guests. Commoners drank like commoners, mandarins, and aristocrats had tea parties like aristocrats. All show respect and hospitality. Over a cup of hot tea, many things were mentioned and revealed.

Our ancestors have long had a saying, “If guests come to the house, if they don’t have tea, they will have wine.” Whenever they visit, the homeowner will invite them to have a cup of tea to show thoughtful and polite hospitality to the guests. It is a popular drink that is familiar but contains the host’s emotions.

Vietnamese people often start a story with a cup of tea. Therefore, since ancient times, there has been the saying “A cup of tea is the beginning of the story” to replace the saying about the old custom of chewing betel. The homeowner inviting guests to sip a cup of fragrant tea is a new feature in today’s modern lifestyle and represents the homeowner’s warm greeting.

Along with developing national culture, drinking tea has become a hobby and an art full of meaning. People call tea-drinking culture an “art” because of the depth of meaning in terms of the tea’s enjoyment, form, and flavor. For a cup of tea to meet quality standards, that cup of tea must be made up of “One water, two tea, three oem, four bottles”, meaning the most important thing must be the water to boil the tea, the second is the type of tea, Next is the equipment for making and drinking tea and how to brew and drink tea. For Vietnamese, offering tea is a cultural behavior that shows politeness and hospitality. Drinking tea is also a cultural behavior, drinking to respond to the hospitality of the person offering the tea to begin a conversation.

Through many ups and downs of history and the development of the times, the Vietnamese custom of drinking tea has created a cultural identity widely circulated in people’s lives, even in folk songs. , proverbs, lyrical folk songs, immortal poems, and even in the everyday consciousness of each person.