The preparation of a cup of tea was the same for both loose-leaf and compressed-cake tea. The loose-leaf tea was ground to a fine powder. Compressed tea was first wrapped in good-quality paper, pounded with a mallet, and the pieces broken down in a special roller. Both the rolled compressed tea and the ground loose-leaf tea were passed through several sieves to yield a fine powder. A scoop of the tea powder was then placed in a shallow bowl, and a small quantity of hot water was poured from a height in a thin stream from a narrow-spouted ewer. The tea was mixed with the water to make a creamy paste to which more water was added, and the liquid was then whisked with a bamboo brush. Once the tea powder had settled in the bottom of the bowl and the first liquor had been drunk, more water was added and whisked. This was repeated up to five times.
