Tea serving etiquette in the workplace and at home


Tea serving etiquette


When a tea server entertains guests with tea, who serves tea to the guests often involves the degree of importance attached to the guests.


1. Entertaining Guests at Home


Usually, the younger generation or household servants can serve tea to guests. When receiving important guests, the hostess or even the host himself should serve tea to them.


2. Entertaining Guests at Work


Generally, secretaries, receptionists, and full-time staff should serve tea to guests. When receiving important guests, the highest-ranking person in the unit should personally serve tea.


If there are many guests visiting, the order of serving tea must be treated with caution and must not be done arbitrarily.




1. First, serve tea to the guests first, then to the host;


2. Second, serve tea to the guest of honor first, then to the secondary guest;


3. Third, serve tea to ladies first, then to men;


4. Fourthly, serve tea to the elders first and then to the younger generations.


If there are many guests and they are not very different from each other, the following four orders can be adopted for serving tea:




1. First, start with the person serving tea, and serve tea in order from near to far;


2. Second, starting from the door into the living room, serve tea in a clockwise direction;


3. Thirdly, when serving tea, the order of arrival of the guests shall be followed;


4. Fourth, there is no order in which tea is served, or the drinker can take it by himself.


Tea serving steps




1. Enter the living room with the tea tray in both hands. First, place the tea tray on the tea table near the guest or on a spare table.


2. Hold the cup holder with your right hand, and place your left hand near the cup holder. Pass the cup to the guest from the left rear side with both hands. After the cup is placed in place, the handle should face outward. If you use a cup without a cup holder to serve tea, you should also hold the cup with both hands. Serving tea from the left rear side of the guest is intended not to interfere with his or her work or conversation.


3. When serving tea to guests, be sure to try not to use only one hand to serve tea, especially not to use only the left hand. At the same time, when serving tea with both hands, do not put your fingers on the rim of the teacup or dip them into the tea to contaminate the tea.


4. When serving the first cup of tea to guests, it is usually not advisable to fill it too full, and it is not allowed to overflow the cup. The proper way is to fill the cup to 2/3 of the depth, otherwise it will be seen as annoying or driving away guests.




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