When the Chinese first started drinking tea, they didn't use teapots. Instead, they put tea leaves and hot water into a small bowl with a cover. Drinkers would bring the bowl to their lips and lift the cover very slightly with their forefinger, just enough to drink the liquid but not the leaves. People drank tea in this way regardless of the occasion, and it was always offered to guests.
Tea drinking was an important part of Chinese life, but nowhere in the world did people drink tea with more ceremony than in Japan. There, a strict ritual was set down in the fifteenth century by the first great tea master, Shuko. This tea ceremony is still performed today. Guests must wash their hands and faces and remove their shoes before entering the restroom through a low doorway that forces them to stoop and appear humble. As the guests kneel or sit cross-legged on mats, the host places a spoonful of powdered tea into a special bowl, adds boiling water, and then stirs it with a bamboo whisk. Although in early tea ceremonies everyone drank from the same bowl, it later became the practice for the host to serve the tea in individual bowls. The guests sip the tea slowly and talk until they have finished drinking. Then they are expected to throw back their hands and take the final sip with a loud sound to show how good the tea is. As the ceremony comes to an end, the guests admire the empty serving bowl for its beauty. The host washes the cups, and the ceremony ends. The formal tea ceremony is certainly not undertaken every time someone drinks tea in Japan, but the tea is always served with much care and politeness.