tea served without sweets
Refers to the practice of serving tea without accompanying sweets, often implying a plain or austere hospitality.
I ended up serving tea without sweets to the guest today, which might have been a bit rude.
Standard kanji spelling for this term.
Kana-kanji mixed spelling sometimes seen in informal writing.
Compound of 空 (から, 'empty') and 茶 (ちゃ, 'tea'), literally 'empty tea'.