The Japanese tea ceremony is a multifaceted traditional activity strongly influenced by Zen Buddhism, in which powdered green tea, or matcha, is ceremonially prepared and served to others.

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A tea practitioner should strive to be knowledgable if not expert in the wide range of disciplines and traditional arts that are integral to chanoyu —for example, the production and types of tea, kimono, calligraphy, flower arranging, ceramics, and incense— in addition to his or her school’s tea practices. Because of this, the study of the tea ceremony is virtually endless. Even to participate as a guest in a formal tea ceremony requires knowledge of the prescribed gestures and phrases, the proper way to take tea and sweets, and general deportment in the tea room.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]

Cristóbal Vila, June 2008, Zaragoza, Spain