Among the Japanese, the habit of drinking tea reaches its climax in the chanoyu, the tea ceremony. This 500 year-old ceremony still follows the teachings of its creator, Master Sen-no-Rikyu, who delineated its structure, emphasizing the spirit of unattachment allied to four basic principles: wa (harmony), kei (respect), sei (purity) and jaku (tranquility, peace of mind). The tea room should be lined with tatami mats. Each place is pre-determined according to hierarchy: the most important guest is seated closest to the tokonoma (the focal point of the room).

Guests are greeted by the  kakemono, a calligraphic scroll with poems selected according to the theme of the ceremony. Incense burns to purify the room.

here may be a meal or not. The matcha  is the tea used in the ceremony. Unlike any other tea, it is not infused. For the ceremony, the tea leaves are stone grounded to a fine green powder. Boiling water is added to this extremely bitter powder, which is then whisked with a chasem (a bamboo whisk).

A garden is also essential in the chanoyu. This must be the path to the tea room, a passage way where guests  leave their worries behind. This is the purpose of the tea ceremony:  to encourage guests to forget about the outside world and experience the new.