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This is a blog / space where I will post the details of my wine and tea sipping sessions. On this site, I may also share the experiences, skills and expertise relating to wine tasting and the art of tea making. Contributors are welcome to comment and add to this....as we are all still learning.
2 comments:
Painstakingly, I have been advised that its not a cheap lesson. Even with proper guidance, one has to pay to learn....the money normally goes to the owners of the establishments that sell teapots and tea leaves.
However, as long as it does not hurt your wallet and self-esteem, one is still willing to pay to learn the hard way.
However, I do hope that for those who wish to embark into this new found adventure, that our honorary member of the Art of Making Tea, Mr CK Thum will be kind enough to furnish us with some simple guides to help us not make those foolish mistakes. Here, Thum....I have already done the introduction for you....let us all welcome his comments and guidance.
Painstaking, in deed.
Making Chinese tea, in this case, puer tea, can be as easy as pouring boiling water over any container with the tea leaf, or using a purple clay teapot.
The history of purple clay teapot can be traced back to the late Ming dynasty, when the first true purple clay teapot was hand made by a young servant of an elite scholar by moulding purple clay. Since then, the art of purple clay teapot making has become a specialised field.
Specifically, only clay excavated from Yixing in Jiangsu province in china can be called purple clay, and teapot made using the purple clay be called the purple clay teapot. The purple clay is porous yet water proof, a property that no other clay has, slow to conduct heat yet able to withstand very high temperature, thus making it best for brewing tea.
In contrary to the word purple clay, the clay actually comes in a few colours, namely purple, red and yellow, being unique to each of the specific clay mine. However, there are currently purple clay teapot with all sort of colours, even green, which are produced by mixing specific mineral compound with the clay. There are currently some health concerns to using such teapot for brewing tea.
A typical purple clay teapot can cost you from as low as RM50 to as astronomically high as RM50,000 The price of the teapot is often determined by the purity and type of the purple clay, the quantity made and available in the market and the reputation of the teapot maker.
So, buying a tea set, is easy yet complicated.
My first advice is to buy only from reputable and established tea house. Do not believe some Chinese selling stuff from the road side stall telling you that the teapot with a layer of black oil in his hand is an antique teapot a few hundred years old with a layer of tea oil on its surface. It is most likely shoe shine.
Secondly, stick to the basic colours. For those who are buying their first set, go get the purple one. It is the most versatile amongst the purple clay, suitable for brewing almost all kind of teas.
Thirdly, do not buy those with intricate design, or odd shape. Get a teapot that resemble a teapot. Those with intricate design, shape and size will normally take more effort to make, thus with a very stiff price tag, and a lot of time, such teapots are more suitable for display rather than for brewing tea.
So, that is the first part of my contribution to purchase your 1st tea set. I will add on more soon.
Welcome to the world of Making and appreciating Chinese tea.
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