How many people to drink tea with?

SHIN BOK-RYONG
The author is a former emeritus professor of history at Konkuk University.

Travel often leaves the best kind of memories. Even I recall memories of traveling when I don’t like going out. Travel often involves ancient historical sites or attractions, but my memories are different. When I retired after working for 40 years, my wife took me on a trip across the U.S. from north to south, starting from Minnesota.

35 kilometers (22 miles) south of St. Paul, the capital of Minnesota, is a quiet riverside town called Stillwater. It is a city renowned for antiques. I visited to find antique books. I recall the tea I had at a riverside cafe after buying a few old books as one of the top ten experiences in my life.

China may be the most historic country for tea. The Silk Road used to be the Tea Road. In Chinese history, the person who completed the tea ceremony as an artistic performance was Tu Long (1542-1605) of the Song Dynasty. He wrote a masterpiece titled “Kaopan yush,” meaning “conversations over a tea table.”

Tu Long wrote that the tea ceremony was to share feelings, show respect, feel the cleanliness of tea equipment, and enjoy the atmosphere. He gave detailed descriptions on how to pick and roast tea leaves, choose water, set the temperature, pour tea, as well as on the equipment and effects.

He put a particular emphasis on the number of friends enjoying tea together. He claimed that tea tastes different depending on the number of people who drink together. Drinking alone is profound. When two people drink, it tastes extraordinary. Tea is enjoyable when three or four are drinking. When five or six people are drinking, it is a punishment. For seven or eight people, the tea is gobbled.

Tea is meant to be drunk with a good friend, and when too many people get too noisy, it is not a true tea conversation. I was too lonely to study abroad in my old age and visited a psychiatrist specializing in foreign students, and I was given memorable advice to have a cup of tea alone.