Tea utensils serve as the medium through which we appreciate and taste tea. As the saying goes, ‘Exquisite utensils enhance the color of tea,’ making the selection and arrangement of tea utensils an indispensable aspect of tea. With the development of modern society and changes in tea-drinking customs, the types, forms, and connotations of tea utensils have seen new developments. They not only provide delicious tea soups but also bring a pleasant effect on the mind and spirit.
A well-matched set of boiling kettle and stove can inspire endless creativity in tea brewing. The ‘Four Treasures of the Tea Room’ include the jade book simmer, which is the boiling kettle, and the Chaozhou stove, which is used for boiling water. The jade book simmer is a reddish-brown, thin porcelain, flat-shaped pot with a capacity of about 250 milliliters. When the water boils, the lid makes a ‘pop’ sound, as if calling for tea brewing. This pot is rarely used in modern times; tea art galleries typically use larger purple sand pots from Yixing, often shaped like pumpkins or Dongpo’s beam pot. There are also iron pots, which are simple and durable, boiling water that is soft, with a round and sweet taste, effectively enhancing the taste of tea. However, iron pots are quite heavy to lift. Silver pots boil water with a soft and sweet taste, and they are not heavy, but their price is relatively high.The teapot is the centerpiece of tea utensils, and its size, clay material, and shape also affect the aroma and charm of the tea soup. During the Ming Dynasty, small pots were considered valuable, as ‘a small pot prevents the taste from dispersing and the fragrance from hiding’; Xu Cishu pointed out in ‘Tea Elaboration ยท’ that pots made of silver and tin are beneficial to tea soup, followed by porcelain pots with glaze inside and out.
Unfortunately, old porcelain pots are mostly not resistant to sudden boiling water pouring, and the body is prone to cracking. Although purple sand pots from Yixing, Jiangsu, were highly regarded by tea enthusiasts at the time, it is still necessary to avoid insufficient sintering temperature and soil smell that spoils the tea. A good pot should have a tight lid. When purchasing, first fill the pot with eight-tenths of water, then press the air hole on the pot lid with your finger and try to pour water. If the water does not flow out, the tightness of the pot lid is very high. In addition, the pot should be symmetrical, the pot mouth should be round; the pot spout, pot button, and pot handle should be straight, forming a straight line; remove the pot lid, put the pot upside down on the table, the pot mouth and pot spout should be level. The soup should be smooth and neat, the water column should be fast, long, round, and upright. If the flow speed is too slow, it will affect the quality of the tea soup; the pot spout’s water cut should be clear and clean, without dripping or backflow. Most importantly, whether a pot feels comfortable and easy to use when lifted. Each of our hands is different in size, length, and thickness. When choosing a pot, it should feel comfortable in your own hand. Some pots have poorly designed handles or a forward-leaning center of gravity, making them difficult to operate, which is not an ideal pot. After filling the pot with water, if you can lift it flat with one hand and pour water slowly, and the feeling of pouring is comfortable and natural, it indicates that the pot has a moderate and stable center of gravity.The primary function of a teapot rest is to ensure the cleanliness and dryness of the tea service surface by catching the hot water from pouring over te theapot. The purpose of this pouring is to warm the teapot, thereby extracting the exquisite and true flavor of the tea. Only teas that require high-temperature brewing are suitable for this method, and in such cases, a deep-bellied tea boat should be chosen to catch the hot water.
When using a deep-bellied teapot rest for brewing tea, remember to dispose of the water used for pouring over the teapot promptly, avoiding leaving the teapot immersed in cooled water for long periods. Not doing so could not only lower the temperature of the teapot, preventing the extraction of a delicious tea infusion, but also cause the teapot to develop a two-toned color over time. For teas that do not require pouring over the teapot, one can freely choose various materials, colors, and sizes of shallow dishes or frameless coasters to highlight the aesthetic lines of the teapot. Sometimes, even a stone slab in the corner of a wall or a handful of pebbles, when meticulously arranged by a tea practitioner, can become the main stage for the teapot, akin to the lotus seat beneath Buddha. A lidded bowl, also known as a lidded cup, is a tea set consisting of a lid, bowl, and saucer. During the Qing Dynasty, flower teas were popular in the north, and the lidded bowl, with its insulating and properties larger tea capacity, evolved. The bowl has a wide mouth, allowing for a clear view of the tea soup and leaf shape once the lid is removed. When drinking, one often uses the lid to push the tea leaves aside and can directly sip from the bowl or lift the lid to the nose to enjoy the aroma. The saucer prevents burns when holding the bowl, and holding the saucer makes the lidded bowl appear elegant and generous. When selecting aded lid bowl, one should try holding it to see if the bowl’s mouth is too large to handle comfortably. Also, test whether the lid is easy to move, ensuring convenience when separating the tea leaves. A tea, also known as a tea sea, is named for its ability to evenly distribute the strength of each cup of tea. Some refer to it as a ‘tea ocean’. In Chapter 41 of ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’, Miaoyu teases Baoyu: ‘One cup is for tasting, two cups are for quenching thirst, and three cups are for drinking like an ox or a mule. What are you drinking from this sea?’ When purchasing a tea sea, one should note that its capacity should be larger than that of the teapot, as it is used to mix tea soup and may need to hold tea from two infusions. The opening of the tea sea should be large to facilitate the pouring of tea soup from the teapot. Additionally, like the teapot, the pouring of tea from the tea sea is crucial; when pouring into tea cups, consider the smoothness of the pour to prevent spillage. The power of a tea cup is such that it can alter the flavor of the tea soup. We use cups of different materials, colors, shapes, sizes, heights, and thicknesses to taste tea, and the tea soup will exhibit different qualities, sometimes with surprising differences.Regardless of the type of tea, when enjoyed from a fine cup, the aroma, color, and flavor of the tea soup become more delicate, rich, and captivating. Cup coasters, historically known as ‘zhan tuo’, complement the cup much like a lady’s shoes complement her attire: they can be assertive like boots, grand like crystal high heels, or subtle like monk’s shoes. The primary purpose of a cup coaster is to prevent burns, and for hygiene, to avoid direct contact with the rim of the cup. It is more appropriate and elegant for the tea host to serve tea to guests using a coaster. When selecting a cup coaster, the focus should be on its proportion matching the size, shape, and color of the cup; the design should be easy to handle. If the coaster is too large, too small, or too flat, the tea cup will be unstable on it, making it an unsuitable coaster. If the tea table is flat, the cup shape is stable, and there is no cup coaster of the right size, a soft cup mat can be considered. When using tea scoops and teaspoons to take tea leaves, it is best to use a tea scoop. Our hands carry odors such as sweat and hand cream, so avoid directly touching the tea leaves to prevent them from absorbing miscellaneous smells. The appearance of tea leaves varies; some are spherical and tightly packed, while others are in loose, filamentous forms. Spherical tea leaves are easy to place in the scoop, while filamentous tea leaves require a larger bamboo tea scoop for easy use. Tea spoons, aside from removing tea dregs, also serve to unblock teapots. Also, slender incense sticks can replace tea spoons, allowing for more freedom in picking up tea leaves. Tea jars are containers used for storing tea leaves, avoiding light damage and summer humidity, hence high-density porcelain jars or pottery jars with glaze inside and out are often chosen, and metal containers should be avoided due to the smell of grease and rust. Tea jars come in various materials, including ceramic, purple sand, bamboo, and tin. When storing tea leaves, avoid sunlight, so the basic requirement is to place them in non-transparent jars. Glass tea jars on the market are mostly for aesthetics or display. When selecting a tea jar, pay attention to its functionality, and choose one with a larger mouth to avoid difficulty in taking out fluffy tea leaves, which could lead to breakage. Tea trays are shallow-bottomed vessels used to hold teapots, tea cups, tea pets, and even tea snacks. The materials used are diverse, with common ones being metal, bamboo, wood, and pottery, among which metal tea trays are the most convenient and durable, and bamboo tea trays are the most elegant and suitable. Additionally, there are tea trays made from special stones such as jade, duan inkstone, and purple sand, which are simple and heavy, with a unique charm.
The styles of tea trays are quite diverse, with varying sizes, including round moon shape, checkerboard shape, fan shape, square shape, and more. Regardless of the material and style, the most important aspects are: wide, flat, shallow, and white. The tray surface should be wide to accommodate more cups depending on the number of guests; the bottom should be flat to ensure the stability of the tea cups and prevent them from shaking; the edges should be shallow, and the color should be white to beautifully contrast with the teapot, tea cups, and tea soup, making it elegant.
As for those intricately carved and luxurious tea trays, they dominate the tea table and not only fail to provide a peaceful and quiet background but also detract from the taste of tea drinking. Additionally, when carrying a tea tray, it is essential to remove the pot, cups, and fair cups from the tray to avoid a mishap that could result in a complete disaster. Water Square, also known as a water basin or water container, is used to dispose of water after warming the pot and rinsing the cups, as well as the dregs after brewing. The choice of a water square should be based on the space available during tea brewing, selecting an appropriate size to avoid occupying too much space and affecting the tea brewing movements. Generally, if one wants to place the water square on the tea table, a delicate small water square should be chosen. If a slightly larger water square is needed, it is best to move it away from the tea guests, such as behind the tea stove, in a place that is not too conspicuous but still convenient to use. The color selection should be coordinated with the colors and materials of other tea utensils. The water squares commonly found on the market are mostly made of ceramic. If there is already a tea tray on the tea table, a water square may not be necessary, as the tea tray can basically hold excess water, and the tea dregs can be cleaned separately. A tea towel, also known as a tea cloth, was originally used for wiping cups and cleaning utensils. The tea towel used during tea brewing should not exceed the size of a handkerchief and should be as delicate and compact as possible. When brewing tea at high temperatures, after pouring water over the pot, one can place the pot on the tea towel to absorb the hot water from the bottom of the pot before pouring the soup. The water used to pour over the pot will not run down the body of the pot. Although strictly speaking, a tea towel is not necessary for its use, and even a dishrag could be used instead, this seems to violate the elegant and clean nature of tea. Zhang Chao in ‘Dream Shadows’ said: Observing the tea towel in one’s hand is enough to know the elegance or vulgarity of the person. Before the tea gathering, the host and guests have not yet met, but they can vaguely see the inner life of the tea person from the square towel.
