I woke up Sunday morning and went to a tea party. It was fairly large, with more than 100 guests, and the dress code seemed to be smart casual, as is customary for such events. The guests sat patiently and enjoyed pastel colored sweets while they waited to be served.
It wasn’t exactly a stereotypical tea party with scones and crustless sandwiches. Shozo Sato, master of Zen arts, was leading a Japanese tea ceremony and tasting of Maccha green tea in Norris. Dressed in all black with square black glasses and white hair, Sato moved slowly and deliberately as he mixed the precise ratio of “espresso powder green tea.”
Even with its Eastern roots, this kind of tea party has a long history in Chicago. Sato, a visiting professor at NU and “superhost” as one audience member dubbed him, has been hosting local tea ceremonies since he started teaching in 1967, and has held them on campus several times.
Indeed, Chicago claims one of the world’s most renowned tea services at The Drake Hotel, which served tea to Queen Elizabeth in 1958. At the Drake, “tea has been a long tradition.” Beginning its service in 1982, the hotel now serves Afternoon Tea from 1 to 5 p.m. every day of the year.
Sato’s ceremony, designed to celebrate spring, dates back centuries in Japan. “It was adopted by the warrior class to show off their wealth and power,” Sato said. Inside the tearoom, participants are quiet and reserved, learning about and admiring “perfect and rustic beauty” as well as the aging process.
The drink itself offers many of its own benefits. Green tea has been so lauded for its positive health effects it is now in everything from hair products to chewing gum. And (without the oft-accompanying pastries), tea is healthy – black, green, white and red tea all contain antioxidants and less caffeine than coffee.
The tea gospel is spreading, and has certainly found a patron in the Windy City. Argo Tea, which opened its first café in Chicago in 2003, grounds its business in the principle that tea is good for you.
“The variety is much larger, the spectrum of the palate that’s available,” said Ryan Swing, the general manager of Argo’s Evanston location. Swing, who switched to tea after his 5-espresso-shots-a-day diet gave him two ulcers, said tea can mimic sodas and other less healthy beverages.
Argo, whose wide selection of tea includes Mango Mambo (black), Moroccan Mist (green) and Darjeeling Champagne (rare), now has 14 franchises in Chicagoland.
The tea ceremony Sato is offering at the Art Institute this weekend, with an 11-course meal that costs $100 per ticket, sold out in two hours. (For a free adventure in tea tasting, try Teavana at Old Orchard or Water Tower Place.)
Prepared authentically, Sato said the Maccha tea should be thick and green and leave a ring all around your mouth, like a milk moustache. Sato’s brew had the bitterness of a strong green tea but was thick and slushy, the texture of a roughly blended smoothie and the color of the Grinch.
But don’t think you’ll be hosting tea parties like Sato anytime soon – it takes 10 years to become a tea master. Cheers.
Medill senior Jen Wieczner can be reached at [email protected].
