In the classic novel ‘The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber’, there is a formidable old lady known as Master Nie Xue. This name exudes power and mystery, prompting many to wonder about her story. Why did she take on the name ‘Extermination’? What drove her to such extremes? Does she wish to exterminate all of humanity or just male animals? Amidst these lingering questions, one truth has emerged: she forbids her disciples from falling in love.
More specifically, she prohibits love that is truly mutual. Even her most favored disciple, whom she adores and plans to pass on her legacy, cannot escape a fatal blow if they fall in love with a man. Conversely, Master Nie Xue strongly advocates and encourages the use of friendship and beauty to manipulate men, a stark contrast to her cold and emotionless demeanor. This is evident in her favorite disciple, Ji Xiaofu, who was as beautiful as a flower and fell in love with the handsome Yang Xiao, the Right Envoy of the Ming Cult, and bore a child of love. This enraged Master Nie Xue, leading her to strike and kill her disciple. As for her disciple Zhou Zhiruo, she instructed her to seduce Zhang Wuji, the leader of the Ming Cult… It is likely that Master Nie Xue was deeply hurt by a man in her youth, leading her to harbor two attitudes towards men: one of lovelessness and the other of utility. Fortunately, her disciples learned her martial arts but not her hatred for men. Otherwise, Ji Xiaofu would not have named her daughter ‘No Regrets’. However, life is long and experiences are many; it is truly difficult to have no regrets in every matter. For instance, a tea enthusiast sought comfort, expressing regret over purchasing tea sets from a livestream, claiming they were from Jingdezhen but shipped from Quanzhou… Another tea enthusiast shared their regret over buying a teapot combined with a lidded bowl for brewing tea, which was not only hot to the touch but also poor at steeping tea, and was quite expensive. Indeed, in the journey of buying tea and tea sets, we often encounter some erroneous consumer behaviors. Which tea sets in your home have you regretted purchasing after a single use? Let’s discuss.Regretted Tea Set Purchase: The Combination of Teapot and Lidded Bowl
We know that a lidded bowl is a type of tea set, a teapot is a type of tea set, and a fair cup is a type of tea set. However, there exists a peculiar creation that can only be called a tea device. It is difficult to assign it an appropriate and recognizable name; it is the combination of a teapot and a lidded bowl. This device has the large belly and wide mouth of a lidded bowl, yet it features a small pouring spout like a teapot. From a distance, it resembles a lidded bowl with a teapot spout. It looks like a snow pot with a spout. Such tea devices are usually made from thick clay, not necessarily from Jingdezhen, but often from other regions known for their teapots.People from Jingdezhen are fond of crafting white porcelain, blue and white porcelain, and colored glaze, even when using clay for wood firing, they would pull it into thin shapes before firing, unlike the protagonist we are discussing today, which is thick, heavy, and clumsy, and even hot to the touch. Most of the time, these types of tea utensils are sold in bulk in live streams selling affordable tea sets, targeting traditional aesthetic enthusiasts, typically middle-aged men.
These men have large hands and prefer heavy teapots, cups, bowl covers, and various other heavy tea utensils. It’s a habit, accustomed to the weighty feel of objects; anything too light would feel devoid of substance in their hands. However, this type of tea utensil, a combination of a pot and a bowl cover, despite its weight and heftiness, is not suitable for brewing tea—performing an ancient tea brewing ritual is one thing, but drinking the tea brewed in it is another, as the tea often turns out to be either too bland or too strong, failing to deliver a standard flavor. This is all due to its shape. The shape of the pot combined with a bowl cover, while a significant innovation, also has significant drawbacks. It has the wide mouth of a bowl cover, allowing for slightly wider, longer, and larger tea leaves and branches; but it also has the small spout of a teapot, preventing the large amount of tea in the bowl cover from being promptly and abundantly poured out, inevitably leading to bitterness from the tea leaves stewing in the large belly of the bowl cover. However, this is not the most critical issue; the most critical issue is that it is advertised as not burning hands, but in reality, with such thick clay that does not dissipate heat quickly, it is inevitable that it would be hot to the touch. It’s surprising if one does not immediately drop it upon being burned. No wonder there is immediate regret after purchase. This shape is an innovation and not entirely without benefits. At least one should buy a genuine Jingdezhen product, made from good clay with thin clay bodies and a wide spout, to compensate for the shortcoming of a bowl cover that burns hands. Regrettable Tea Utensil Purchase Two: Dead Blue and White Blue and white tea utensils, especially those produced in Jingdezhen, are the most famous. As everyone knows, Jingdezhen blue and white porcelain has twelve colors, which are: Suma Li Qing, Pingdeng Qing, Huiqing, Zheqing, Shizi Qing, Zhuming Material, Yanglan, Hua Shao Qing, Nameless Yi, Jiu Cai Bian, Jiaozhu, and Chemical Blue Material. What we commonly see are basically one or several of these twelve blue and white colors. There is another one called Dead Blue and White, which may not be as well-known. Of course, Dead Blue and White is not the thirteenth color among the twelve blue and white colors; it is not even a normal color—it is simply a poorly fired blue and white porcelain. A negative example. Those who have seen blue and white porcelain painting know that the blue and white pigment, when poured into a pigment dish and applied with a brush onto the plain white clay body, is not blue in color. Its color is dark camel, brown, or soy sauce yellow.Blue and white porcelain only reveals its various shades of blue after being fired in a kiln at temperatures above 1300 degrees. This includes, but is not limited to, the aforementioned twelve shades of blue and white. However, not every firing results in the desired blue color. Sometimes, the color turns out too dark, lifeless, dull, and lackluster, almost resembling black. Such pieces are usually sold at a low price to minimize losses.
Nonetheless, some irresponsible dealers buy these ‘dead’ blue and white pieces at a very low cost and then sell them at high prices to those who do not understand the true value of blue and white porcelain. These flawed pieces are not due to issues with the painting or the porcelain itself, but solely due to the incorrect color, which is often indistinguishable to the untrained eye. With persuasive sales tactics, these pieces can be sold at a higher price than genuine blue and white porcelain. Additionally, there is another type of ‘dead’ blue and white, which is counterfeit Jingdezhen blue and white from other regions. The colors, materials, glazes, clay, air temperature, humidity, and kiln firing techniques differ from those in Jingdezhen, resulting in a dark, lifeless blue color. These counterfeit pieces have also appeared in many live ceramic sales rooms, still sold at high prices. The lighting in these rooms is very deceptive, with soft lighting and filters making the color appear less dark. By associating the pieces with famous masters (as there are many and consumers rarely verify) and the idea of limited quantities (implying scarcity and value), these pieces can sell out quickly. It is truly astonishing. Regretted Tea Set Purchase: The Mute Tea Pot A friend has recently gained weight. Could it be the beginning of the autumn weight gain? The friend attributes it to drinking old white tea. Li Ma Hua refutes, saying that drinking tea should not lead to weight gain. After a lengthy discussion, it turns out the friend has been using a mute tea pot, given by the dealer when purchasing old white tea, to steep the tea. No wonder the weight gain occurred. The more one drinks, the hungrier one becomes. The principle of the mute tea pot is simple: to ‘mute’ or simmer. Similar to the simmering method in cooking, it uses high temperature and pressure to thoroughly simmer the tea leaves until they are soft. While the infusion method only releases about sixty to seventy percent of the tea’s essence, the mute tea pot extracts one hundred percent, immersing it in the tea soup. This results in a highly concentrated and bitter tea, releasing substances that should not be in large quantities, causing hunger after just a few sips. Naturally, when hungry, one wants to eat. Drinking and eating in tandem leads to an increased appetite, making weight gain inevitable. From this perspective, the mute tea pot is not entirely useless; at least, for those with a poor appetite, it can be used to stimulate the appetite effectively, with the promise of indulging in food and drink in the near future.In addition, the irritation of the steeping teapot to the gastric wall is also obvious. After all, when tea leaves are steeped in hot water for a long time, a large amount of polyphenols are released. After these substances are ingested and reach the stomach, they cause a great irritation to the gastric mucosa. Generally, a stomach that is not very strong cannot tolerate it. Thus, a certain student summarized that although the steeping teapot seems convenient to use and quick for making tea, unexpectedly its disadvantages are so obvious that one would regret buying it after using it a few times.
【PS】A workman must first sharpen his tools if he is to do his work well. As the presenter of the aroma and taste of tea, tea sets play an extremely important role in the process of making tea. Therefore, when selecting tea sets, one must choose them from a practical perspective. Beauty comes first, and practicality is the main consideration. A good tea set should combine both. Otherwise, one should abandon the appearance and directly choose the practical one. After all, the primary value of a tea set is to brew tea with standard aroma and taste, allowing us to obtain a wonderful enjoyment. As for whether it can please the owner in terms of appearance, it can be considered secondarily. Do you have any tea sets that you regretted buying after bringing them home? Or ones that you put aside after using them once or twice? Please leave a message below to discuss.
