The Way of Tea
One of my favourite books is The Book of Tea, by Kakuzo Okakura. It starts with the words,
"Tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage. In China, in the eighth century, it entered the realm of poetry as one of the polite amusements. The fifteenth century saw Japan ennoble it into a religion of aestheticism-Teaism. Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order. It is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we call life."
Rather than writing yet another ode to tea, I thought I'd let my collection of pots tell the story for me, more eloquently than I ever could. All my pots are up on this lens now, but I'm sure that there will be more soon.
Now that I've added all my pots, I'll start adding some of my cups, caddies and the rest. Adeline also has some wonderful pots, so I'll add those too.
Just a little history...
I've been collecting teapots for about ten years, but only seriously for the last few. All my pots are for use, not for show. That doesn't meant to say that they can't be beautiful as well. Often the greatest beauty accompanies the greatest utility.A small oddity I have with teapots is that I feel that I can't buy them for myself. I can only have them given to me by others.
Glass Japanese teapot
This is a very cute little pot, given to me by Adeline for Christmas in 2008. It's taken me a while to put it up here, as being glass and frequently used, it's not easy to get decent pictures of it. It's probably one of my favourite pots though. I use it for sencha, what with it being Japanese. It's perfect for the purpose.
Pink Japanese tetsubin
This is my newest teapot, given to me on my last birthday by my parents. It's a Japanese cast iron pot of traditional design. An interesting point about tetsubins—traditionally they are cast iron kettles, not used for brewing, but for pouring water for tea. The Japanese do make cast iron teapots as well, with enamelled interiors, for use in brewing. However, these have a distinct design than tetsubins. This pot (and my other tetsubin) are tetsubins by design, but have enamelled interiors, so seem to be intended for brewing. Is this just for the Western market, or is it the current trend in Japan? I'm not sure.
Anyway, I'm very pleased with this pot. I wouldn't have chosen bright pink myself, but it is quickly growing on me. I'm using it for jasmine tea.
Denby Stoneware
This dirty little hobgoblin was my first ever pot. It's one of those things that's just always been there. I have no recollection whatsoever of it appearing (my mum has since told me she dug it out of the back of a cupboard for me when I first went to university, but I don't remember).
For a long time this was my only pot, and as such, I used it for pretty much everything. These days, however, it's reserved for Darjeeling, and any green teas for which I do not yet have a dedicated pot (which means it's pretty much just reserved for Darjeeling really).
I do love all my pots, but this old thing is definitely still my favourite.
Teapot by Jacob van der Beugel
This is a special pot; unfortunately, my photo doesn't really do it justice (I'll take a couple more soon). It's by ceramicist Jacob van der Beugel, made from his characteristic sand speckled, earthy stoneware. I received it from my parents for my birthday a couple of years ago.
It is extremely well designed and an excellent, smooth pourer. The handle may look flamboyant, but it is actually practical and well balanced. The handle is very light, so although the pot is tall, even empty, the centre of gravity is quite low, making it much harder than it looks to knock over!
I knew as soon as I saw it for which type of tea I would use it -- Shao Wu silver needle white tea. I don't actually brew the tea in the pot though, I have the leaves in the cup and use the pot for the water. The pot is part of a matching set of caddy and cup, which I've also received as gifts over the years. I'm a very happy bunny!
Tetsubin
This tetsubin is quite a recent addition to my collection, being given to me by my girlfriend, Adeline, not so long ago.
It's a traditional Japanese design, made from cast iron. I'm sure the particular style has a name, but, alas, I know it not. I love the elegant shape, the weight, and how it pours.
Needless to say, a Japanese pot needs a Japanese tea—I use it for gen maicha.
Japanese pot
This is another pot given to me by Adeline, bought from the very sadly now defunct First Class Teas. I'm ashamed to say I can't remember the name of the potter!
It's an excellent a very practical pot, large enough for two or three cups. I use it for Japanese karigane, which I usually buy from Tea Smith.
Hizen porcelain
This is a wonderfully light, delicate little pot. It was given to me for a birthday years ago by my parents, along with a set of matching cups, in a beautiful boxed set.
Alas, it lay virtually unused for many years. I have a problem, in that anything I receive in a boxed set gets saved for best, and therefore never used. A few months ago, however, I resolved to press it into service, once I found the right tea. And lo and behold, the right tea came along. I tried some Phoenix Supreme oolong at Tea Smith's excellent tea bar, and knew it was the one. The pot is sitting on my desk now, recently emptied.
The pot and cups are traditional Hizen, a style of Japanese porcelain. Hizen has a long and rich history, which we won't explore here (you can read more on WikiPedia though: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imari_porcelain). However, the pot is light, perfectly balanced (featuring an amazingly well crafted handle) and an excellent pourer.
Yixing teapot
This is actually a very special little pot. It was bought back from China for my 30th birthday by some friends. It's a traditional Chinese design, and, interestingly, it is not actually made from clay. The material comes from a mineral deposit similar to clay, found only in near Yixing city. You can read a lot more about this material and the teapots made from it here.
It's traditional to drink straight from the spout of this type of pot (not using a cup), which I do (and no, sorry, I don't have any photos!) I use it for lung ching.
Bodum
This very elegant piece of Bodum glassware was given to me by a couple of friends on my last birthday.
It's only drawback is that its size and filter/press mechanism make it only suitable for three or more people (or two, just about). And so its calling has become that of a runcible pot, used when I have a bunch of people over for dinner.
Although it's for any kind of tea, I've found that it serves particular well for puerh... which is lucky, as puerh is best enjoyed amongst friends!
Breakfast pot
This is a fine, solid piece of stoneware, given to me by my parents for Christmas in 2007. It's by Scottish potter Fergus Stewart, who lives locally to them. It's wood fired and salt glazed, which gives it that interesting finish.
This is certainly not a delicate pot! It's thick walled, being cast around a mould, which gives it excellent heat retention. I use it for Nilgiri, which I have with breakfast every morning.
The Book of Tea
The Book of Tea
Amazon Price: $10.45 (as of 12/23/2009)
What twitter's saying about teapots
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- 5357311
- Christmas buffet at the chocolate teapot factory today. I will have to exempt myself as I forgot to do any baking.
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- MzKisha23
- #factsaboutme would rather climb a tree den play wit a teapot nd dolls...ewwww...
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- kelnaughton
- http://twitpic.com/urfvq - ceramics final...my teapot/thing
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- hellonheelz
- @Underdad And a nice jewel-encrusted teapot to boil Evian water.
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- moonflowerstarf
- HOMEDAZE: A Teapot, a cup, and a tree! http://bit.ly/5ltJvF
Guestbook
Thanks for reading my lens. Please let me know what you think!
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- sparklenz sparklenz Dec 15, 2009 @ 10:46 pm
- Fantastic teapots! My partner is half Kiwi, half Yorkshireman and not surprisingly drinks an astounding amount of good strong tea. We have many teapots, though none as good as the ones here (though we do have one that looks very Bernard Leach-y...) A guy who makes amazing Japanese inspired teapots here in NZ is Chris Weaver (http://www.chrisweaver.co.nz/). We can't afford one of his yet but maybe one day! Thanks for your lens :-)
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- Tipi Tipi Dec 4, 2009 @ 10:11 am
- Thank you for sharing your nice collection of teapots. This is a nice lens, I really do like it. I'm like Ramkitten, not a big tea drinker, but I have family and friends that are, so I do make tea often and enjoy to use my one teapot. ~ Blessed by a Squid Angel!
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- Ramkitten Ramkitten Nov 24, 2009 @ 5:06 pm
- What a nice collection. Great idea for a lens! I'm not a big tea-drinker, but I love the whole culture, I guess you'd say, behind it.
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- cyberpunkdreams cyberpunkdreams Nov 24, 2009 @ 5:11 pm
- Thanks, I'm glad you like it!
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- BigGirlBlue BigGirlBlue Sep 12, 2009 @ 1:27 am
- I think more people drink tea now than they ever did. I have a tea cup collection started by my grandmother and added to by my MIL. I'd like to get a display unit for them one day. Nice lens.
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by cyberpunkdreams
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