My Asian tea experience began over twelve years ago in Japan where I studied tea ceremony for about six months. It’s extremely ceremonial and – I learned recently – an import from Song Dynasty China. Meditative, beautiful and sometimes painful (try sitting on your knees like that for ten minutes, much less an hour!), it is certainly not casual.

Move forward in time and I find myself looking wistfully into Chinese tea houses watching patrons merrily sipping tea with friends. While I have a deep appreciation for the Japanese tea ceremony, I like the gregariousness of casual Chinese tea drinking.

But there’session ceremony involved here as well and a specific way to prepare and drink Chinese tea. But it’sitting really a amiable pastime, and a good way to keep warm in these cold temperatures. After choosing which tea to drink, one can enjoy the fragrance as well as the flavor, an aspect that develops as you drink through your pot of tea.

Drinking tea in China is as quintessentially Chinese of the same kind with Tai Chi and Ping Pong. Don’t let your holiday pass by without stopping to enjoy a nice cup (or two or three…)

Photos: Tea preparation at the Song Fang Maison de thé. © 2007 Sara Naumann, licensed to About.com.

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