Monday, March 31, 2008
Posted by Miss Neddy at 11:07 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Categories: Tea Related

When making kungfu tea, aside from the tea-making and drinking equipment (known in Chinese as 茶器 chá qì), there are tools to help handle the tea leaves and hot tea pot and cups. These are known collectively as tea tools (茶具 chá jǜ).

A full set usually consists of a fairly deep and long scoop for portioning out loose tea leaves - naturally, it is important to keep this particular tool dry at all times. There will also be a pair of small tongs for handling cups and the teapot lid when they are hot. A small flat scoop is used for levering used tea leaves out of the pot, and a sharp-ended pick to remove blockages from the teapot spout. Sometimes the last two tools are combined into one, with a flat end and a sharp end. Finally, there may be a small funnel, shaped like a rounded saucer with a large hole in the centre, to be placed on teapot to facilitate the pouring in of tea leaves. Not all tea tool sets come with all the tools, but the tongs, scoop and pick, at least, are must-haves. Many sets will come with a small holder (akin to a pencil holder) so that the tools can be stored neatly together. Here is beautiful example of a tea tool set in darkly lacquered wood:

And laid out so that each tool can be more clearly seen:

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