Chinese tea ceremony emphasizes the beauty of five aspects, namely tea leaves, tea water, heat control, tea sets, and the environment. Today, let’s talk about the tea sets among the beauty of these five aspects.
Tea sets were also known as tea utensils or tea wares in ancient times. How many of these 13 common tea sets have tea lovers used?
Teapot: A teapot is a spouted vessel used for making and pouring tea. It consists of four parts: the lid, the pot body, the pot bottom, and the foot ring. The lid has details such as holes, knobs, seats, and covers. Most teapots are made of purple clay or porcelain. Especially on the tea tables of seasoned tea drinkers, there must be several beloved purple clay teapots, because they contain some trace elements that are beneficial to the human body. Moreover, the tea becomes more fragrant with each brewing, and people become more energetic with each sip.
Gaiwan: Gaiwan is a Han tea set with a lid on top, a saucer at the bottom, and a bowl in the middle. It is also known as the “Three Talents Bowl” or “Three Talents Cup”. The lid represents the sky, the saucer represents the earth, and the bowl represents people, containing the meaning of the harmony of heaven, earth, and people. When making tea with gaiwan, first, it can brew the tea fragrance faster; second, it won’t burn your hands because of the tea saucer; third, it can filter out the tea froth.
Aroma-smelling cup: As the name implies, the aroma-smelling cup is used for smelling the tea fragrance. It is a unique tea set for oolong tea. Usually, porcelain cups are selected because they have better heat preservation effects, which can make the tea fragrance disperse more slowly and help with better appreciation of the tea fragrance.
Water heater: An appliance used to boil water. Most of them are now automatic water heating devices made of stainless steel or glass.
Tea canister: A canister used to store tea leaves. It must be odorless, airtight, and light-proof, which is beneficial for moisture prevention, maintaining the tea fragrance, and long-term storage. Its materials include tinplate, stainless steel, tin alloy, and ceramics.
Tea tray: A tray used to hold tea cups or other tea sets, which can catch the tea water flowing out or poured out during the tea-making process. Tea trays are made of a wide range of materials, with various styles and sizes. The common ones are square, round, and fan-shaped.
Fairness cup: After the tea soup in the teapot is brewed to an appropriate concentration, pour the tea soup into the fairness cup and then distribute it into each small tea cup to ensure a uniform concentration of the tea soup.
Cup coaster: Used to hold cups, mainly playing a role in heat insulation from the tea table and for aesthetic purposes. Most cup coasters are made of cork pads, which have the characteristics of wear resistance, mildew resistance, low thermal conductivity, and high temperature resistance. They are also not easy to deform, waterproof, and anti-slip.
Tea towel: Also known as “tea cloth”, it is mostly made of cotton or linen. Its main function is to dry the teapot. Before enjoying tea, dry the water marks remaining at the bottom of the teapot or the tea pitcher. It can also wipe the tea water dripping on the table.
Tea pet: As the name implies, a tea pet is a pet nourished by tea water or an item for playing with during tea drinking. Most tea pets are made of purple clay, resin, or clay, and their images are mostly golden toads, golden pigs, or pixiu.
Six gentlemen of the tea ceremony: The six gentlemen of the tea ceremony refer to: tea scoop, tea needle, tea strainer, tea tongs, tea spoon, and tea caddy.
Cha Ze: It is an implement used to measure the amount of tea leaves and transfer them into the teapot. Generally, it is made of bamboo.
Cha Zhen: It is used to dredge the inner net of the teapot to keep the water flowing smoothly.
Cha Lou: When putting tea leaves, it is placed on the mouth of the teapot to guide the tea into the pot and prevent the tea leaves from falling outside the pot.
Cha Jia: Also known as “tea chopsticks”. The function of Cha Jia is the same as that of Cha Ze. It can pick out tea dregs from the pot. Some people also use it to hold the teacup when washing the cup, which is both anti-scald and hygienic.
Cha Chi: Also known as “tea spatula”. It is called Cha Chi because it is shaped like a teaspoon. Its main purpose is to scoop out the brewed tea leaves in the pot. After brewing, the tea leaves often tightly fill the teapot. Plus, the mouth of an ordinary teapot is not big. It is neither convenient nor hygienic to pick out the tea leaves with hands, so Cha Chi is used.
Cha Tong: It is a cylinder used to hold tea art supplies.
The six gentlemen of the tea ceremony are usually made of bamboo or wood. Bamboo products have an elegant temperament, and wooden products have a pure texture, complementing the aroma of tea and ink.
After using the tea ceremony set, it should be dried or air-dried to avoid bacteria growth. Therefore, when putting it into the Cha Tong, do not get it wet.
Cha Dao: Cha Dao is mainly a tool for prying compressed teas such as Pu-erh cake tea, brick tea, and tuo tea. Cha Dao can be made of wood, bamboo, ivory, horn, ox bone, gold, silver, copper, iron and other materials.
Gai Zhi: Gai Zhi is the place to put the lid, usually called the lid holder or teapot lid stand.
This concludes the introduction to the most commonly used tea set utensils for tea tasting. I hope it is helpful to everyone.
