{"id":9335,"date":"2024-07-01T16:22:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T08:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/?p=9335"},"modified":"2025-07-31T16:26:53","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T08:26:53","slug":"brewing-excitement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/2024\/07\/01\/brewing-excitement\/","title":{"rendered":"Brewing Excitement"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

There\u2019s more to a good pot of tea than steeping leaves in a pot, as over 60 National University of Singapore (NUS) alumni discovered at a Chinese tea appreciation session organised in May at Tea Chapter, a Chinese tea house located in the heart of Chinatown. Led by Tea Chapter\u2019s Executive Director Mr Fund Lee, the two-hour session kicked off with a brief history of Chinese tea before moving on to the different types of tea (red, green, black, white, etc.) and their distinctive characteristics.<\/p>

STEEPED IN TRADITION<\/strong><\/p>

The practical part of the programme began with an explanation of the traditional tea set. Each participant had his or her own set of these tools, although they could (and did) work together. First, Mr Lee demonstrated the traditional steps to brewing a cup of Chinese tea. This included how to achieve the right colour, aroma and taste. He then showed the group how to properly warm the tea set using hot water and wooden tongs.\u00a0

While Mr Lee explained that there is a great deal of variation between teas, there are some common steps. One such step involved the first brew, which is not for drinking; it is instead to loosen the tea leaves and aid in exposing more surface area for the actual brewing. As for the tasting, it involves three steps. \u201cFirst, you take a sip, then a slurp, and finally a shot!\u201d said Mr Lee.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Besides gaining an appreciation of the finer points of tea brewing and appreciation, participants enjoyed making new connections.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

THE RIGHT BLEND<\/strong><\/p>

The expertise of the instructors and the interactive nature of the session proved appealing to the audience. Mr Ricky T George (Yale-NUS \u201920), said, \u201cI really got into Chinese tea this year, and then I saw the notification for the event and signed up,\u201d he shared. \u201cLoving the tea; loving the people.\u201d<\/p>

Besides learning the finer points of Chinese tea culture, attendees also engaged in another activity characteristic of events organised for NUS alumni: meeting new people and reconnecting with former university mates. For Mr Chew Jun Hong (Science \u201920), connecting with fellow alumni was the main reason he attended the event. \u201cDuring my time as an undergraduate, I did not really interact much with people from other faculties,\u201d said Mr Chew. \u201cI also wanted to learn more about Chinese tea because I normally drink Earl Grey tea, with milk.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Mr Ricky T George relished the opportunity to get to know his fellow alumni better.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Other attendees shared his sentiments. \u201cMy partner and I are both interested in tea, and he had been sharing information about events like this with me,\u201d said Ms Lim En Yee (Design and Environment \u201920). \u201cWe decided on this event because as NUS alumni, it seemed appropriate. We did not know anyone else at our table, but we\u2019ve become friends since the session.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Photos by Mark Lee<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A traditional Chinese tea appreciation event with alumni proved to be a veritable a treat for the senses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":9344,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","category-news-events"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9335"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9343,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9335\/revisions\/9343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alumni.nus.edu.sg\/thealumnus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}