Are you fricking kidding me? Of course I’m bringing my teaware. Oh, I’ll MAKE room.
The house I’m moving to doesn’t have any teaware to save its life. And even if it did, well, these are MY cups and pots, carefully selected and tested over time. They each have their own origins.
(Not all are pictured)
- Little blue and white china pot – I actually used this as a toy teaset throughout my childhood. I’m leaving the cups that came with because they’re useless and tiny, but the pot is a good size.
- Yixing with white glaze decanter – I don’t use this very often. In the past, I’ve used it as an open-steep pot, but I learned that it’s a decanter for gongfu serving style, and using it for such will step up the quality of some of my teas. So I’m still taking it with me.
- pair of green and brown porcelain cups – I ganked these from my mom, who had gotten them as a gift from a houseguest. She doesn’t use little teacups anyways, she uses mugs. They’re made by a women’s cooperative in the Philippines, and they really are especially beautiful pieces of teaware. The glaze on the bottom 2/3rds of the cup is actually made with ash from Mt. Pinatubo (remember that massive eruption in the early 90′s? We looked at ash in the sky from my school window in California). The clay underneath is a pleasing white porcelain.
- blue-green ceramic mug with strainer & lid, japanese character – I have no idea what that japanese character means. Maybe someday someone will tell me. This was one of my sister’s Christmas gifts to me a few years ago. It’s one of my most practical pieces of teaware, and I use it a lot.
- small nubbly dark iron pot – given to me by the guy who introduced me to how great tea really is. Simran was his name, and I don’t know him anymore. I dated him briefly; he was older, used to be Sikh. Did some avant-garde vocal music, installation art and painting. How did I meet him? Oh goodness, now I remember!
I met him in the city at a Tim Barsky show (a Jewish storyteller who also beatboxes and plays flute). I was wearing my Crucible volunteer shirt, and was volunteering at Epic Arts at the time. He asked me about the Crucible, we started talking, and I went over to his house and we had tea.
He told me that at the last Burning Man, he’d carried a mobile tea unit – a big suitcase that held a propane stove, pots, cups, and myriad varieties of tea. There was a really bitter tea he had me try that was almost as bad as bitter melon; he said one woman there actually asked for it by name, and for her, the bitterer the better.
The store he bought the pot from informed him that it was actually an inkpot. He said, “Not anymore!” I use this pot for blacks and puers exclusively; it brews one little cup at a time.
- borosilicate glass owl pot – IMO, borosilicate glass is the supreme queen of all teapot materials, practically speaking. For all-around qualities and everyday use, the best. Heat retention and transmission; durability; and you can see the tea! I think every tea lover should have at least one borosilicate pot. The beauty of a glass pot is all in the form. Christianna has one of these too, we both bought ours at Far Leaves. We used to meet there to study, when she was in Berkeley and I was at Mills.
Uhhh… maybe I’ll continue this later. There are a few more pieces that deserve to be named, but I’m tired of writing about teacups, and I’m sure you’ve stopped reading by now.
Attachment, on a scale of 1-10 (not at all – it’s part of my being): 9
Take It or Leave It? Take It
