This post is all about teaware

With the widespread availability of tea knowledge and frequent information exchanges online, tea drinkers' demands on teaware have not only increased but diversified. Gradually we are witnessing a revival/ reinventions of  teaware item. 

Crafted glazed Korean ceramic cups, pair of two, 38 USD

Blanc de Chine 'White from China' tea cups, 19 USD each

 The items that you find in my shop have been almost exclusively sought out from various locations. Along the way, I have also met people and professionals who share my love for teaware and the creation of unique pottery pieces. They continue to inspire me to write about anything to do with the vast and deep topic of tea.

Ivory white tea display plate - leaf design, 13 USD each

Hongni (red clay) Yixing teapot 1970s, 380 USD

As our bodies renew themselves with the coming of spring, I thought this to be an opportune blog entry to  include select pieces of teaware items (as requested) that add to your pleasure of designing and drinking from Cha Xis (茶席).

Floral & fauna pewter saucers, set of five, 280 USD

Japanese dark green teaboat with painted scene, 38 USD each

Tropical colours absorbent tea cloth - 23 USD each

To order, please email: missteadelight@gmail.com.

Learn Chinese on a Chaxi (Part 2)

Let's resume our lesson from Part 1, shall we?

Two weeks ago, some of the most common teaware items were introduced on my blog. They include: 1. 废水碗 Fei4 shui3 wan3, 2. 茶杯 Cha2 bei1, 3. 盘子 Pan2 zi3, 4. 茶布 cha2 bu4 ..... 7. 茶海 cha2 hai3.

I will continue this posting with 8. 茶叶罐 cha2 ye4 guan4, also known as a tea caddy. In a cha xi, tea masters seek out balance where different aspects come together harmoniously. Branding on tea packaging affects one's judgement as fancily packaged tea leaves could be perceived more favourably than a rather plainly packed tea leaves. By introducing a tea caddy into our cha xi, we can do away this problem and depending on the type of tea and the material of your tea caddy, tea can actually improve using a suitable storage jar under the right conditions. So far, I have no complaints about this pewter storage jar that I have available in two sizes: tea for everyday use at 50g in capacity, tea prepared for longer term storage at 100 g storage capacity.

9. 茶荷 cha2 he2 This is a tea leaves display plate that I use for apportioning a suitable amount of tea before brewing. By preparing the right amount of tea beforehand, you can immediately add tea into your teapot after preheating. Doing so, minimises heat loss (yes, a few seconds lost in tea makes quite a difference in taste) and the tea master's movements can appear swifter.

10. 水壶 shui3 hu2, water vessel. This is a Japanese pewter pot turned water vessel that I keep ready on the side when my boiling kettle needs a refill. The pewter further refines the water before pouring into the kettle.

Brewing with a Gaiwan 盖碗

11. 煮水壶 zhu3 shui3 hu2, boiling kettle. Water is an important component in preparing tea. Between using an electric kettle and a hot plate, I prefer heating water slowly on a hot plate to yield better tasting results. An electric kettle boils water in a much shorter timespan than a hotplate. However, the high speed of boiling water electrically means very little room for controlling the boiling process. In the end, there is always a tendency that water overboils in an electric kettle that explains for the harsher taste of water boiled in this manner.

Personally, I have heard a lot about boiling water over a charcoal stove. From the little bit that I understand, this is a very ideal method of bringing water the boil. The water as I experienced it was very soft, palatable and well worth the hassle! For the serious tea learners who would really like to give this a try, please make sure to keep your surroundings well-ventilated at all times to eliminate any risk of carbon monoxide posioning.

Learn Chinese on a Cha xi (tea setting 茶席）

Tea culture being deeply rooted in Chinese history and its people, I find it important for tea lovers to be briefly initiated in the language and familiarise themselves with some of  their favourite teaware pieces. You will of course notice word similarities shared by Chinese and Japanese.

1. 废水碗 Fei4 shui3 wan3
This dark ceramic bowl can be used both as vessel for collecting waste water or for rinsing teacups between tea sessions as guests leave and new ones join in.

2. 茶杯 Cha2 bei1
Tea cups


3. 盘子 Pan2 zi3
This is a classic blue and white Qing dynasty plate that I would often place under small teacups when pouring tea so any stray drops of tea are caught and do not stain the cloth too heavily.

4. 茶布 cha2 bu4
Cloth for creating tea space and improving one's chaxi experience.


5. 茶托 cha2 tuo1
Tea saucers to match various teacup shapes and sizes. Apart from catching stray drops of tea, it lessens the risk of burnt fingers while handling hot tea!

6. 盖碗 gai4 wan3
A lidded tea bowl and probably the most versatile brewing tool to have be because glazed porcelain is neutral to all tea types and can be quickly rinsed and used for the next tea.

茶海

7. 茶海 cha2 hai3
This literally means the sea of tea, but in practise it is a fair cup where you pour tea pour tea from the Gaiwan into and further distribute this tea among the cups.

In the context of the Chinese language, the act of drinking (tea for instance) is often associated with assimilating knowledge. Carved on these rather meaningful plaques I found in Teaparker's tearoom, they read: to drink from the sea of Buddhism (Gaiwan), you (Cha hai) will in turn shine like a beacon of knowledge for the others (tea cups) around you. The same concept can be exactly said of drinking tea (饮茶 yin3 cha2).

饮诸佛法海，放大智慧光

To be continued..

Same tea, different pot

Dong ding oolong

When it comes to oolong teas with light oxidation, the gaiwan is the most common teaware used to prepare this tea. To achieve a higher resolution in the taste profile of this tea, I thought I might give it a try with a clay teapot. By a higher resolution, I mean tasting notes that appear in higher densities in the mouth cavity and can be felt most prominently on the tongue followed by a trail of flavours that enters the nose.

Mixed clay teapot

I confirmed the following theories with medium roasted oolongs but have yet to do the same with light oolongs. With a gaiwan, you will get a bit of everything: fruity and nutty notes with a weak aftertaste that seems detached from the roasting. When brewing medium roasted oolong in a teapot, the lighter fruity notes are felt less, the roasting presents itself more robustly, balanced with a lengthier aftertaste and  an emerging sweetness. The extent to which tea, water and teaware materials interact bears the most influence on the end result.

To brew this light oolong from Dong ding, I used a teapot made from zhuni, zisha, sandstone and yellow clay. The colour of the infusion came out stronger than one would have expected from a gaiwan and the fragrance leans a bit on the heavier side where the sweet smell clearly stands out from the rest.

The floral, fruity and grassy notes coat the tongue surface very evenly, similar to the bouquet where every flower stands out in its own little way. After a while, the flavours also extended to the back of my throat. I thought that the heaviness could be attributed to the longer aftertaste and higher resolution of this tea infusion from the pot. Compared to the gaiwan where mostly fragrant notes are emphasised, I also like today's experiment where a change in teaware has helped to reveal the other side of this tea previously unknown to me.

Colours of freedom

Friday afternoon flew by so quickly over a pot of red tea, delicious pita bread, falafel and hummus, courtesy of my Palestinian friends who hosted us at their cozy abode. We discussed food recipes, traditional music from a string instrument called Oud, history and culture. What I particularly like are their flag colours of green, white, red and black, every colour tells a different story of its people and their collective hope for the future.

On this basis, I have designed a cha xi that I named  "The colours of freedom": a green cha bu to represent the occupied territory, white porcelain cups to signify peace, Dian Hong, the best red tea in my collection is brewed in a zhuni ('zhu' stands for ruby red) pot in recognition of the sacrifices made by these people in their pursuit of liberty, and dark wood tea saucers that symbolise the lives of people coping under an oppressive occupation and the slabs of concrete walls that have been put up around them.

The little pebbles that I used for my cha xi add a nice touch from the outdoors. They represent more or less the only line of defense that children have to guard themselves against bulldozers and tanks. This cha xi paints a heavier side of reality and is a vivid reminder for us to always stand up for the right beliefs and reject political lies.

I let the water come to a quick boil and proceeded to preheat my pot and cups. The young and slender leaves rest nicely in the warm pot and already started to emit their honey-like fragrance. Wait and watch the pot do its magic.

Golden red tea fills the cups to complete the picture. Sweet and flowery notes greet my nose and lift my spirits. The clean, crisp and fruity taste of this tea refreshes me like a high mountain oolong and brightly marks the finale of today's tea session. To quote a friend "One ray of light wipes away the gloomiest jet black nights. All the darkness in this world cannot wipe away the faintest of flickers in a beam of light."

天 Heaven , 人 man and 地 earth gaiwan

A gaiwan is a tea cup used for the infusion and consumption of tea. Invented during the Ming Dynasty, a gaiwan consists of a lid, a bowl and a saucer symbolising heaven, man and earth. The lid concentrates all heavenly smells of good tea at every steeping. 

This ivory white beauty comes adorned with nine beautifully fragile butterflies.

Exquisitely hand-painted and made from bone china, this gaiwan weighs 213 g and has a filling capacity of 166 ml that is perfect for ball sized oolong leaves to unfurl.

Three sets have been added to my teaware collection.

Blogeintrag auf Deutsch:  Gaiwan - 天 Himmel, 人 Mensch und 地 Erde