It's All About Tea — teaware

Today a chasen (bamboo whisk) is undoubtedly one of the most indispensable parts of Chanoyu (Japanese tea ceremony). You might walk into a modern coffee shop or tea cafe and see the baristas preparing your matcha by shaking or blending the matcha powder with hot water (and possibly milk), but to many matcha lovers out there this is simply despicable. If you are present at a Japanese tea ceremony, you will not expect for your matcha to be whisked with anything but a chasen. (Read more)

If you are only starting to get into the vast and somewhat mysterious world of pu-erh, chances are you’ve been purchasing samples. The samples are an excellent way to get acquainted with the tea and see what you like before investing in a whole cake. An entire pu-erh cake can be pricey, but it is well worth it if you found one that you want as it will last you for many months, if not years, and in many cases only gets better with age.

After you have purchased your first cake or brick, the next step is breaking it into a size suitable for one tea session. For this, we use specially designated pu-erh tea needles. Learn about how to properly loosen and break pu-erh tea. (Read more)

When the weather is warm, all we want to do is go outdoors. And as much as we love enjoying tea in the comfort of a home, there is plenty of time for that during the chilly winters. Summer, on the other hand, is the perfect time to enjoy tea outdoors, with fresh greenery all around and the sounds of mountain streams...

Although packing for some quality gongfu cha time outdoors can be intimidating. What to bring? How do we make sure the teaware doesn't break? What about the water? What if the tea gets crushed? (Read more)

A common mistake people make is thinking you can use your teapot as soon as you get it. We often get questions from people who are curious or taken aback by the smell they sense after getting the piece of teaware. It can be described as “earthy”, “muddy”, “moldy”, and even “fishy”.

To lighten the earthy smell of clay and prepare the teapot for tea brewing we always need to season it before use. (Read more)

So we’ve already covered the importance of clay when drinking tea, and in the previous post we discussed some important points when investing in Yixing teaware. But how about all the other teaware that’s out there? Read more for tips on purchasing the right teaware for your Chinese tea ceremonies or solo drinking!