A lesson steeped in tradition

Daily ritual

At 62, Ye remains inseparable from tea. A native of Chaozhou, he often says that local people begin drinking tea almost from infancy. His own path into the profession began in 1986, when he formally entered the tea industry.

Over the years, Ye has played a pivotal role in codifying Chaozhou gongfu cha. He participated in drafting the official technical specifications for brewing tea, now adopted as a local standard in Chaozhou, and served as chief editor of the textbook for Chaozhou gongfu cha practitioners, training generations of professional tea artists.

Tracing the tradition's origins, Ye notes that Chaozhou gongfu cha began to take shape during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), when descendants of declining aristocratic families migrated from the Central Plains to the southern region. They maintained high standards in daily life, and over time, that refined pursuit evolved into the tea practice observed today.

For Ye, the defining feature of Chaozhou gongfu cha is its sense of ritual. Tea may be brewed anywhere and at any time, but the tools and procedures must be complete and precise — the stove, the teapot and the cups all matter.

To ensure the tradition can be more easily passed on, Ye distilled the classic 21-step process into a widely applicable framework he calls "three steps and seven methods".

The first step, "preparation", includes preparing the utensils, water and tea. The second, "brewing", emphasizes pouring from a specific height to release the aroma, distributing the tea evenly among the cups, and finishing each cup drop by drop. The third step is "sharing", enjoying the fragrant tea together.

A single cup of tea, Ye observes, contains values worth safeguarding.

"Only good water can make good tea, and having good water also reminds us to respect nature and protect the ecological environment," he explains.

"When brewing, the water must be poured from a certain height to release the tea's aroma."

Even the arrangement of cups carries meaning: three cups in a triangular formation — one for the host, two for guests — reflect a selfless, altruistic spirit. The final few drops, evenly distributed among the cups, embody balance, fairness and consideration for others, he says.

"There is a saying in Chaozhou: 'Work hard, eat comfortably,'" Ye says.

"It means you must put in effort, but when it is time to eat, life should slow down."

Drinking tea is called shi cha, or "eating tea", in Chaozhou, highlighting the central role of tea in daily life.

Beyond technique, Ye has also been involved in setting standards for traditional gongfu cha utensils, from clay stoves to teacups and teapots. He believes the proportions passed down from ancient times are already perfectly balanced and deserve to be preserved.

He likens the transmission of intangible cultural heritage to restoring a once-beautiful but damaged vase: repairs should respect the original form, yet adapt to contemporary aesthetics and real conditions, allowing the object to be reproduced, used, and integrated into modern life without losing its essence.

For Ye, simplifying gongfu cha into "three steps and seven methods" is ultimately about cultural communication — a way to let people sense and reflect through a single cup, to understand and pass on the core of traditional Chinese culture.

This year, he brought the method to Shenzhen in Guangdong through training sessions, and he hopes to carry the tea culture to many more places in the years ahead.