The development of Chinese tea utensils has spanned thousands of years, with a multitude of categories. As early as the Tang Dynasty, the tea sage Lu Yu listed twenty-four utensils suitable for brewing and tasting tea in his book ‘The Classic of Tea’. With the progress of the times, the ‘twenty-four utensils’ have undergone many changes due to practicality issues. What are the ‘twenty-four utensils’ commonly seen on tea enthusiasts’ tables today? Instead of listing them one by one, which would be tedious, we categorize tea utensils into five main types: water preparation, tea management, tea placement, tea tasting, and cleaning tools, to help tea enthusiasts understand the modern ’24 tea utensils’ more intuitively and clearly.
01 ’24 Tea Utensils’ – Water Preparation Utensils are auxiliary vessels for boiling and keeping water warm, which in ancient times were wind stoves, but today mainly refer to kettles. The common types of kettles on the market include: iron kettles, pottery kettles, copper kettles, silver kettles, and glass kettles, each with its own advantages.
A tea brewing pot is a pot-shaped utensil mainly used for brewing tea. There are purple clay pots, glass pots, pottery pots, etc. Among them, the Yixing purple clay pots are the most famous. A gaiwan is the most commonly used tea-tasting utensil in modern times. Almost all six major tea categories can be brewed with a gaiwan. It consists of three parts: the lid, the bowl, and the saucer, symbolizing the ‘Three Powers’ of heaven, earth, and humanity. Mr. Lu Xun once said: To drink good tea, one should use a gaiwan. A justice cup, also known as a tea ocean, is used to evenly distribute the tea soup. Its volume should be larger than that of the pot or gaiwan. Common materials include porcelain, purple clay, glassware, etc. A tea-tasting cup is a small cup used for drinking tea. Common tea-tasting cups include white porcelain cups and purple clay cups. A fragrance-smelling cup is used for smelling the fragrance. It is slenderer than a tea-tasting cup and can better gather the aroma. It is mostly used when brewing high-aroma teas. A cup saucer is a plate used to support and cushion the tea cup. It is not only beautiful but also avoids burning hands when holding the tea cup or the overflow of tea soup, showing great humanistic care. If there is a gaiwan, a cup saucer is not necessary. A lid rest is an object used to place the pot lid, also known as a lid saucer. Common shapes include the tray type (similar to a plate-shaped cup saucer) and the support type (cylindrical). Cleaning utensils among the ’24 tea utensils’ are used for sorting, washing, and storing residues and waste water. They include: tea trays, tea towels, pot-nurturing brushes, tea caddies, tea washers, etc. A tea tray is a shallow-bottomed utensil used to place teapots, tea-tasting cups, tea ceremony sets, and tea pets. Its shape can be square, round, or fan-shaped according to the matching tea sets. The materials are diverse, including gold, wood, bamboo, and pottery, but the bottom of the tray should be flat. A tea towel, commonly known as a tea cloth, is mainly used to ‘dry the pot’. Before pouring tea, it dries the remaining water at the bottom of the teapot or tea ocean or wipes the tea dripping on the table. It can also be used for pot mats and cup mats. A pot-nurturing brush is a brush made of animal hair, similar to a writing brush, used to clean the teapot or tea tray. A tea caddy is a container for placing tea spoons, tea scoops, tea tongs, tea strainers, tea needles, etc. A tea washer is shaped like a large bowl and can be used to soak tea cups, hold the water for washing cups, and the brewed tea leaves. After making tea, the tea cups, teapots, etc. can be placed in the tea washer after being cleaned. Accessories among the ’24 tea utensils’: A tea pet is used to decorate the tea table and add fun to tea tasting. Common ones are purple clay tea pets, with various shapes and auspicious meanings. You can make tea with just a pot and a cup, or you can also pay great attention to the sense of ritual. Hurry up and check which utensil is missing on your tea table?
