It's All About Tea — jian zhan

When choosing the right teaware for our tea ceremony, we may be faced with a common pondering. Porcelain or glazed stoneware? Or perhaps a non-glazed ceramic material like Yixing clay? Ultimately there exist many different types of clay, and on top of that, glazes that influence the final look of the teaware and even the taste of tea. 

This post will discuss all ceramic teaware and how its unique composition can alter the final tea drinking experience. You can use this guide to choose the right teaware for yourself or friends or simply get acquainted with the different pottery styles. (Read more)

Jian Zhan teacups have been prized in China and Japan for hundreds of years. During the Song Dynasty, there was even a time where it was considered better not to drink tea at all rather than drinking it from a cup that is not Jian ware! 

Following the Song Dynasty, the great art of making Jian ware pottery faded in China. It wasn't until recently that pottery artists are starting to pick up the long-forgotten art of Jian pottery, re-learning it from Japanese potters. The latter have adapted it into tenmoku pottery. (Read more)

Teacups! They come in so many different shapes and sizes. Growing up in the west, I was always used to drinking tea from giant mugs. And the more absurdly giant the cup was — the better! I still remember like it was yesterday, the day I first tried tea from a tiny teacup, which barely fit in my fingers. It seemed it wasn’t even enough tea for half a sip. However, that half a sip was incomparable to any of the giant tea gulps I’ve had before! 

There exist many different styles of teacups used for both the tea ceremony and casual tea drinking. Let’s take a look at each one. (Read more) 

We already got deep into why this type of tea ceremony ware is so desired in our last article. This time let's dive into how it's made and how to choose the right Jianzhan teacup. (Read more)

Jian Zhan pottery is the perfection of Chinese black porcelain. It was an inseparable part of tea culture in the Song Dynasty, however it slowly gave way to Yixing teaware. It continued to prosper in Japan, where it is known as Tenmoku. Nowadays, it is a national treasure in Japan and many local pottery artists in China are hard at work to remake this once forgotten part of the Chinese tea ceremony. Jian ware is not only teaware, it is an art form and an important part of history. One we can get lost in for hours just by looking at its cosmic-like glaze. (Read more)