Teaware July 2016
EDITOR'S NOTE
Hello fellow tea lovers, It's been a crazy couple of months with World Tea Expo and some changes at work. I wasn't able to pull together content about Kenyan tea as promised in the last issue, but sometimes things work out for a reason. Some truly awesome tea folks contributed fantastic information about teaware from around the world. I'm so grateful to all of them for their efforts as well as to all of you for reading. The articles featured here are usually from tea companies but submissions are welcome whether you are a tea seller, blogger or just an enthusiast. My main goal is further tea education and to give back to the tea community that has given so much to me. As always, I'd love to hear your questions, thoughts, feedback and ideas. What would you like to see in the next issues? Please feel free to shoot me an email at nicole@teaformeplease.com. My inbox is always open! Nicole
OPIUM, CHICKEN SOUP, AND JIANSHUI ZITAO TEAWARE By Glen Bowers of Crimson Lotus Tea It all started with chicken soup. That’s the story at least. As far back as anyone can remember the clay available in the town of Jianshui, Yunnan has been used to make specialized chicken soup cookers. It’s a simple but creative device thrown on a wheel that is a bowl with an upside down funnel running up through the middle. When placed over steam and covered it can cook the chicken soup. In Yunnan restaurants, they’re stacked on top of each other and can heat multiple bowls at the same time. This type of functional pottery is called ‘cutao’ (粗陶) in Chinese. Jianshui historians claim a nearly thousand-year history of cutao pottery in Jianshui, according to archaeological discoveries. Modern day Jianshui came about largely because of opium. In the 1800’s the opium trade was flourishing in China. People with money wanted opium paraphernalia that was more ornate than the commoners. There is a similar obsession with the beautiful teaware used in gongfu tea brewing setups. Jianshui clay, in particular, became famous for being used as the vaporizing bowl on opium pipes. The few examples I’ve seen are gorgeous and ornate. It was during this time period that potters in Jianshui created the blend we now call ‘Zitao’ or purple clay. Jianshui is known for having 5 unique clays. Each clay is a different color and mineral composition. Blended just right there is a sweet spot that creates ‘Zitao’. It’s a balance of color and mineral composition believed to be perfect. It is this blend that is the magic of Jianshui Zitao. Discovered in 1840 it enhanced the opium experience, it makes delicious chicken soup, and it can noticeably improve your tea. Jianshui clay is rarely glazed. Brewing tea interacts directly with the clay. Each clay blender in Jianshui has their own special recipe for getting the color and clay just right. It is a closely guarded secret. Additionally, it is illegal to export Jianshui clay out of the Jianshui area. Right up until the end of the 18th century Jianshui was still largely used for functional pottery. There wasn’t any real focus on using Jianshui for artistic purposes. That changed with one man, the grandmaster of Jianshui, Xiang Feng Chun (向逢春). Modern day Jianshui is what it is because of his efforts. He grew up in Wanyao village in the early 1900’s where potters still to this day work to perfect his methods. His focus was on three areas; elegance and simplicity of shape, beautiful calligraphy and painting and the perfect 5 clay blended color.
Modern Jianshui is created with a team of individuals. Each is responsible for perfecting a different part. One person blends the clay. Another person throws the piece on a wheel. In the case of a teapot others make the lids, handles, and spouts. An artist or calligrapher will paint or write on the outside with ink. Another will carve out the artwork and inlay different colors of clay. Then you have specialists who fire the pieces and others who do the final polishing. This is the first major distinction from Yixing claywares. Jianshui is made by a team. Xiang Feng Chun had a problem though. Too many of the people he worked with were hooked on opium. They were unreliable and he couldn’t finish his pieces on time because of the hold opium had on their lives. He himself set out to master each area of Jianshui production. His works are considered national treasures. He spent his life promoting Jianshui clayware as skilled pieces of beautiful art. He even exhibited his artwork at the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago where he won several awards. His influence on Jianshui Zitao pottery is undeniable. However he made relatively few teapots. His focus was largely on ornamental vases used for flowers. The cultural revolution in China changed Jianshui. Individual artists like Xiang Feng Chun were absorbed into the “Jianshui Gong Yi Mei Shu Chang” (建⽔⼯ 美 厂) or “Jianshui Arts and Crafts Factory”. This governmentowned factory was responsible for producing all Jianshui clay products until the year 2,000. Sadly during the cultural revolution many of Xiang Feng Chun’s works were either destroyed or had his name painted over. His son also worked for this factory and his work is largely uncredited because all pieces made were marked simply with “云南建 ⽔” / “Yunnan Jianshui”. Pieces with his son’s actual name on them are even more rare and valuable than his. When the Jianshui Arts and Crafts Factory was privatized and went out of business there were many skilled artisans out of work. They quickly opened their own shops and began to create their own pottery.
Now we’re getting up to the big puerh bubble. The popularity of puerh tea was peaking in the mid 2000’s. There was a growing focus on creating Jianshui teaware. Puerh tea and Jianshui are a perfect match. They literally come from the same soil. There is a synergy there that is undeniable. Jianshui also has the advantage of having accessible clay of a known origin. There is no fake Jianshui clay. There is far less uncertainty than if you are dealing with Yixing. The growing popularity of puerh, the connection to the birthplace of tea, and the uncertainty in the Yixing market created the perfect conditions for teaware to thrive in Jianshui. The Jianshui city government began to organize a culture around gongfu teaware. It has really paid off. They have created an advantageous environment for artists to work in Jianshui. Many artists from around China relocate to Jianshui to ply their craft in the local medium. It is more than possible for poor people with skill and dedication to improve their livelihood by learning the potter's trade and starting out small. You can still see people getting their start selling their wares out of the back of a van. Some shops we’ve worked with have a bigger space each year. Jianshui clay offers a real opportunity for the determined to literally pull themselves up out of the dirt.
Crimson Lotus Tea is a Seattle area puerh tea import and education company. Puerh tea is the fuel that drives our passions; both literally and figuratively. We spent three months this Spring in Yunnan, China sourcing high-quality puerh teas. You can find out more at http://www.crimsonlotustea.com
What the Heck are Tea Pets? by Nicole Martin
Tea pets are one of my favorite types of teaware but I feel like they often don't get as much attention as sexier topics like yixing teapots. First things first: what exactly is a tea pet? It's any kind of figurine, usually some sort of animal made out of yixing clay, that is kept at the table while brewing gongfu style tea. Most are meant to have tea poured over them but some are better suited for sitting on sidelines and presiding over the proceedings from a safe distance. Tea pets have existed since as early as the Yuan Dynasty. Oddly enough, there is very little documentation about how they happened (at least not in all of my English language researching). It is generally presumed that the artisans who craft yixing teapots used scraps of clay to make them. Whether that was just for fun or something that was meant to be for sale is left up to the imagination. I believe the very first tea pets may have actually been statues of Lu Yu. I have read several stories of tea merchants in China pouring hot water over these figures in the hopes of promoting a good harvest.
Since they are often made out of yixing clay, tea pets will develop a shine over time from absorbing the tea that is poured over them. Dedicated owners will even use a brush to make sure that their color changes evenly. You might also find ones made out of resin that magically change color before your eyes. Mythological animals, particularly those in the Chinese zodiac, seem to dominate the market but I've seen everything that you could possibly think of. FYI, viewer beware when searching for tea pets on Aliexpress! Some tea pets even have mysterious little tricks to perform when you give them tea. In my own collection, I have a frog that squirts water and a pig that blows bubbles. The infamous "pee boy" is also a common sight. The wonderful thing about tea rituals is that you have the freedom to make them your own. Collect a menagerie, focus on a specific theme or find your spirit animal. There is no right or wrong when it comes to tea pets. I've seen everything from Starwars action figures to terrarium accessories. Perhaps part of why they've become so popular in the west is that we are often solitary tea drinkers. I know very few of my local friends enjoy tea the way that I do but my tea pets are always there, waiting for their next bath.
AN ODE TO XI SHI By Geoffrey Norman of Steep Stories
One evening, several of us tea bloggers were having a conversation about teaware. I rarely had anything to say on the subject, given that I was hormonally predisposed to knowing absolutely nothing about such things. Okay, sure, plenty of guys do know a thing or thousand about teaware . . . but I doubt that knowledge came easy to them. Certainly didn’t (and doesn’t) to me. We all had to start somewhere. And I started with a teapot shaped like a boob. Or at least, that’s what a teashop owner friend-o’-mine told me it was shaped like. On first glance, it didn’t look like any boob I’d ever seen, but then again, my experience in . . . uh . . . mammarymancy (can that be a word?) was severely limited. Just like with teaware. But I digress.
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So, giggling hysterically, I relayed this newfound boob-shaped teaware discovery to the gang. (I should also add they were all women.) Nicole “Tea For Me Please” Martin was also there. I shared the story I heard, and Nicole said she’d heard that very same story while working as a tea-barista. Several times. From guys just like me. Well, that didn’t stop me from still writing about my new, precious boobypot on my own blog—twice! What’s the big deal about this teapot? I’ll explain . . . Yixing clay teapots come in many shapes and sizes, as many teaware enthusiasts can tell you. One such famous—and even ubiquitous— design is the “Xi Shi” or “Beautiful Lady” approach. It’s stout, melon-like, and not very imposing. In any sort of way. But it looks cute. The name “Xi Shi” is derived from the legendary Chinese beauty of the same name. She is also sometimes referred to as Shi Yiguang. (Don’t ask me what that means, I have no clue. Ask someone smarter.)
Xi Shi was said to have resided in the ancient city of Zhuji, once the capital of the kingdom of Yue, roughly around the 5th century B.C.E. The city still exists to this day. The woman was so beautiful that if she passed by a lake or river, fish would stop and stare. In some accounts, she was also said to have been a very skilled dancer . . . because they always have to be dancers, for some reason. In the latter part of the century, Yue was a subordinate state to the kingdom of Wu, led by King Fuchai. He even had the Yue king, Goujian, imprisoned for a time. His ministers, however, sought vengeance against Fuchai for this affront. In and around 490 B.C.E, one such Goujian minster—Fan Li—had the brilliant idea to send in beautiful women to entice Fuchai. One of those women was Xi Shi. Fuchai was so enamored by her beauty, her kindness, and her dancing. Something to do with the bells, I guess. (What is it about bells in these old legends? I’ve never been turned on by bells. I’m getting off topic.) Yes, Fuchai was obsessed. There was a wrench in this plan, however. Fan Li, the minister who had orchestrated this grand plan, had also fallen in love with Xi Shi. But he stuck with the quasi-betrothal, so that the Yue plan could be carried out. A plan that would take twenty years to execute.
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In the interim, King Fuchai forced his most trusted advisor—Wu Zixu—to fall on his own sword. He built a temple devoted to beautiful women. And, as if that wasn’t enough of a display of opulence, he completely forgot he had a kingdom to run. Also in that time? Yue’s king, Goujian, was released . . . and, naturally, planned a counteroffensive. In 473 B.C.E., Yue conquered Wu. Their ancient territorial tennis match came to an end. Fuchai, bereft of land and trusted advisors, eventually fell on his own sword. This allowed for Xi Shi to be freed as well. There are several different ways this tale ends. Some say that Fan Li and Xi Shi sailed off for parts unknown, never to be heard from again. Other, grimmer accounts claim Xi Shi died from drowning en route. I have my own theory. Their boat capsized, Fan Li died, and she was rescued off a distant shore by an amateur potter. The two fell in love. And that’s how her boob became the inspiration for a teapot design. What? It’s as good a theory as any.
Geoffrey Norman began writing about tea in 2007. Since then, he has made it a point to track down unique teas and the stories behind them. He is currently working on his first book and can usually be found in his pajamas with a mug in hand. You can find out more at http://www.steepstories.com
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Vietnamese Teaware by Charity Chalmers of Chariteas
My fascination with teapots, cups, and other tea ware began around the same time I began sourcing tea. After visiting Yixing, and Jingdezhen, I was hooked. On a personal trip to Vietnam, I came across a shop selling pottery and I immediately was intrigued. My new mission was to step foot in Bat Trang. As we got closer and closer, pottery shops, warehouses, and workspaces started cropping up. The taxi finally stopped, pointed, and we began a wild adventure. There were so many things to see and touch. Most notable was the assortment of big vases, teapots and cups with white glazes with lotus designs, blue and white crackle glazes, and green and white designs. Within the village, there were also people producing items. Oh, how I wanted to give pottery a try but I didn’t want to give up precious time seeing everything. As it turns out Vietnam has a long history with ceramics and there are entire villages devoted to making these types of items. Upon further research one cannot study the Vietnamese ceramic industry without looking at Bat Trang, a small village on the outskirts of Hanoi with pottery production tracing its roots to the 14th Century AD.
Ancient folklore suggests that three scholars names Hua Vinh Cao, Dao Tri Tien, and Luu Vinh Phuong were sent on a mission to the Northern Sung. On their return they encountered bad weather and were therefore delayed in Guangdong, China. During this time they learned how to produce pottery and use a Kiln. Hua Vinh Cao is credited with teaching the people of Bat Trang how to make a white glaze. The other two went to other parts of Vietnam and taught the techniques they learned. Fastforward through this folklore, to the time of Genghis Khan, many of the artists, potters, and exporters left China in favor of moving to Vietnam and Thailand. The Sung Kiln and glazing technologies were transferred to Bat Trang where it prospered greatly. Vietnamese pottery achieved such popularity that even Japan potters began producing Vietnamese style pottery called Cochi Ware. As I’m writing this article I feel as though my journey will take another turn and I can’t wait to return to Bat Trang and explore the other pottery villages. If anyone would like more information or would like to join me on my next trip, please email me at chariteas@gmail.com or visit our website at www.chariteaspot.com.
CHARITEAS: a place of communitea and qualitea, an oasis of whimsical fun and quiet reflection, and most important a source of GREAT TEA! Chariteas is a purveyor and atelier of fine teas and tea ware in Sandy, OR. You can find out more at http://www.chariteaspot.com
A CONSUMER GUIDE TO YIXING ZISHA TEAPOT BY SI CHEN Go to any stores in Yixing and its easy to feel overwhelmed by the wonderful Zisha (purple clay) teapots with little variations from each other (apart from, maybe...color?) A guide is helpful to offer basic lookouts and to make sense of the design contributes to the performance of your choice of tea. Except green tea and yellow tea, all other types of Camellia Sinensis can be enhanced with Zisha pot brewing.
The basics – test the water Zisha teapot is not cheap. A good entry-level pot starts at $100 and can easily go up to $400 with quality design. With such an investment, most teapot shops are comfortable allowing you to test with water filling the interior and pouring the exterior, and you should also feel absolutely comfortable to see a teapot in action. Filled with water, the spout and handle should balance out each others weight, and visually the whole teapot should exhibit a consistent style, rendering itself a uniform design. A good teapot should also have a seamless fit between its lid and body. A simple way to test the fitness of the lid to body is to fill the teapot with water and pour. Water should come out of the spout without dripping from its edge or the lid. A quality body and spout design will allow the water to project a parabolic pour that is smooth, sturdy with a clean finish. Another way to test is to see if water immediately comes to a stop when the lid airhole is covered in a pouring motion.
It is also important to select a teapot that is genuinely made out of Zisha amongst the self-claimed. When shopping online, unfortunately, there is no way to authenticate the pots material simply from its appearance, so I will not recommend buying Zisha pots from unverified suppliers with vague return policies. While authenticating Zisha pots can be complicated, here are a few simple tricks if you get a chance to touch and feel the pots. The first method is to smell the pot postrinsed with hot water. Pour boiling water into the pot and let it sit for a few seconds, then empty the pot and sniff closely its inside and outside. Teapots made out of true Zisha Hot water appears to be absorbed or divert should smell clean and maybe a little earthy to different courses when flowing down the pot surface of genuine Zisha clay. with no weird or pungent smell of any sort. If there is any chemical smell, that is a flag of questionable chemicals mixing into cheap clay to make it look and feel like real Zisha. Another authentication method is to see how hot water flows on the surface of the teapot. Pour hot water onto the teapot as shown in the photo, and watch how water flows down the outside of the teapot. Zisha clay has natural tiny pores which interfere with the flow of water on surface, so water will be trapped by the minuscule pores and runs unevenly across the pot surface of genuine Zisha clay. If water flows in a smooth run evenly around the pot body, then it is highly likely that the material is not authentic Zisha clay.
The intermediate – suit your needs If you are new to brew tea gongfu style, handling hot water in a delicate and potentially expensive teapot requires practices to get used to. In fact, the word “Gongfu” literally means “achieving mastery or excellence via patient practice”.
Making tea the “gongfu” way is all about to mindfully control the variables of teamaking with precise and stable hand movements, so to be awarded optimal flavor through multiple brews. 1. Start with small I would recommend beginners to start with a small teapot around 150ml to 200ml. It would serve great for brew just for yourself or a small group of 2-4. Yet if you know that you will always serve a big group of at least 5 people, either being family or business meeting, then you want to choose a pot that is at least 300ml so you can make sure that everyone gets a cup filled should they desire. The idea remains, though: after all, the controversial water-to-tea ratio is what distinguishes gongfu tea brew from the British tradition of making, say, a mug of tea. To enjoy tea the “gongfu” way is using relatively small vessels (150-250 ml), a larger quantity of loose leaves (5-7g), and extremely short steeping time (a few seconds to a minute, depending on the type of tea). If we were to steep higher grade teas in a mug for an extended period of time, the tea will be fully saturated in the process and all the aromas and flavors will be lumped together. Decant within a few seconds prevent precisely this kind of coarse-steeping, and through multiple rounds of steeping, tea chemicals are released in layers, thus you can experience the distinct changes across rounds of brews, much similar to the appreciation of wine, coffee, and perfume. 2. How much heat retention does your choice of tea require? The next consideration rests on whether your choice of tea requires a high degree of heat retention in the brewing process. Thick-wall pot is good for brewing teas that require a higher temperature to be steeped. It is similar to why cast iron cookware is preferred in cooking certain dishes. Thin-wall pots are less common, but would be great for white tea and black tea, because they are tender and appreciate faster dissipation of heat.
Thick vs. Thin wall (comparatively shown in the spouts)
3.Shape: Slender vs. Flat As soon as you have a choice tea in mind, we could start checking out different teapot shapes, which is a great transition from intermediate to advanced, weaving functionality into design. For now, let the focus remain on which tea that you want to use the to-be-acquired teapot to brew. After all, we only get one tea for one Yixing pot, which allows us to make an informed decision when shopping for the best brewing gear. If you wish to brew large-leaf teas, such as puer, I would recommend a teapot shape of a wider, fat body with larger lid opening. Not only the fat body grants room for the expansion of steeped leaves, it also makes getting teas in and out easy. On the other hand, what would be tailored for brewing puer might not suit wulong, even though both require high water temperature to unfurl the compressed or tightly curled leaves within. If you want to brew aroma-rich teas such as tie guan yin wulong, I would recommend a teapot of a tall and slender body with smaller lid opening, so as to trap the volatile aromatic compounds inside the tea liquor, ready to be released in the pouring.
The advanced - Style Variations To select your favorite Zisha teapot design can be as fun as to consider the perfect engagement ring. You can choose the cut of the center stone (should there be a halo of accent stone surrounding the center one?), the style of the prong and shank (any side stones?), and whether to engrave both of your initials. Whether you choose to go minimalist with a round-cut solitaire, or glamorous for double-halo cushion-cut with cathedral shank setting, your choice speaks of who you are. Similarly, you will find design elements in a Zisha teapot that truly resonate with you, reflecting your personality and also what you love the most about the matching tea. Unlike car body design, few Zisha potters will start with a sketch. The craft is learned by apprenticeship, favoring precision in realizing design elements over premeditated sketching notes. On the consumer level, most pots are made out of tried-and-true traditional geometric forms. It was not until recently that custom-made teapots started to be popular. The design tasks for a basic shape can be unpacked into seven main aspects: 1. Body
Round Shape
Square Shape
Vein Pattern
2. Lid Fit
2. Lid Knob
4. Foot
5. Handle
6. Spout (curvature,lip strainer)
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE
Infographs. Credit: Iris Ma
CONFESSIONS OF A TEAWARE HOARDER By Nicole Martin When starting any hobby I find that we all tend to indiscriminately collect anything and everything related to our new passion. I've been through this phase in the past with other hobbies (collecting Breyer model horses when I was younger) but nothing could have prepared me for the overwhelming miasma of stuff that the tea world has to offer. Teapots, teacups, gaiwans, books, and gadgets; if it was related to tea I just had to have it. After a while, I actually ran out of room to store and display everything. A normal person might have said, "Enough is enough.". I, on the other hand, went to Target and simply bought a larger bookcase. This continued on for several years. While working in NYC I constantly perused thrift stores and local tea shops for my next prize. It wasn't until it came time to move in with my boyfriend that I realized just how much stuff I had accumulated. Jason knew I was into tea but I don't think he was at all prepared for it to invade his person space just yet. When it came time to set up the bookcase in our new apartment, I just couldn't bring myself to reassemble the cluttered mess that was my teaware collection. Anything that had not been used within the last six months was either given away or donated. Then and there I decided to be a reformed teaware collector. My passion remains but I'm much more selective about what I purchase. I find that I enjoy my collection much more because of this new policy. It looks a lot nicer in my apartment to boot! You know what they say, a Petr Novak in the hand is worth two cruddy teapots in the bush.
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