Tea respect.

When you come into somebody’s home, and if the host respects you, you will always be served with tea. It’s not necessary to be at home, it usually happens in the office/at work. There’s a special tea set: a wooden table with a tray under it, rocks and little Chinese figurines on the table, a tea pot and small tea cups and tea trays. The tea cups are so small, that you can drink it in one sip, and because of the small size of the cup, the tea even burning hot will cool faster.The green tea is poured in the cups, and again in the region I stay we first wash our cups and the set, by pouring the tea on the table and the rocks first. Afterwards, you can drink the tea. When the host pours the tea you have to tap slightly on the table near your cup. It means ‘thank you’ and respect to the person that serves you. This table manner comes from an old Legend about an emperor. One day the Emperor decided to dress up like a simple peasant and check out how the simple people lived. He ended up serving tea to a manservant. The manservant wanting to show respect for his master and at the same time not reveal his true identity, placed his index finger and middle finger on the table and bent them slightly. This signified the act of kneeling thus showing respect to the emperor.You sit, talk and drink tea as long as the host pours you more and more…Image source here.