All these have gone through changes over the centuries in an effort to make the tea drinking experience truly remarkable.
Tea drinking not only has medicinal advantages, but more importantly, as many tea drinkers will tell you, they enjoy drinking tea for the spiritual benefits they achieve. Typically, a serene and content feeling overwhelms you after sipping an aromatic and flavorful cup of tea. Your eyes are also delighted to look at the different artistic and visually stimulating Chinese tea sets.
Chinese tea sets are not all about practicality and functionality; they are also about style and artistry. China is known for high quality earthen wares and ceramics, and what better examples of this mastery of the arts than the Chinese tea pots you see in almost every home, not only in China but all across the world.
There are six main types of Chinese tea sets which are categorized according the materials used in their manufacture. It is also important to note that a certain tea set can be used for a specific type of tea since their properties complement each other, thus giving you the most out of your brewed tea.
1. Fictile Tea Set
As a tea aficionado, you’ve most likely heard of the province of Yixing in China and the superior quality of wares it produces. It may even be safe to say that as someone who loves to drink tea, you own a simple yet elegant Yixing tea set, maybe even two of the high quality Chinese tea sets made of purple clay. Such a set is able to contain water without seepage as well as have the ability to retain the flavor of the tea, which makes it a must-have for anyone’s tea set collection.
2. Porcelain Tea Set
This Chinese tea set category is further classified into three types: white porcelain tea sets, celadon tea sets, and black porcelain tea sets. The most famous producers of white porcelain tea sets is the province of Jingdezhen whose popularity goes back to the Yuan dynasty. Celadon tea sets, on the other hand, attained popularity during the Song dynasty. The black porcelain tea sets are most distinguished by their ability to retain heat due to their thick base.
3. Lacquer Tea Sets
This type of Chinese tea sets was used in the Qing dynasty. Some of the most common lacquer sets are carved and paint, archaized porcelain, shining treasure sands, glazed spun gold, and silver-embedded. They become more colorful as new manufacturing techniques were developed.
4. Glass Tea Sets
Glass tea sets make drinking tea visually gratifying experience. You can watch the subtle changes in the tea leaves as well as in the color of the water. Chinese tea sets made of glass is a product of the modern times and though one can have a good view of your brewing tea, there are some disadvantages in using this type of tea set since they are fragile and are less likely to retain heat.
5. Metal Tea Set
Tin is usually the metal used in this type of Chinese tea pots. They provide an airtight container for your tea; protect it from light, moisture, unnecessary oxidation, and peculiar smell. This makes a very good tea storage vessel. It was during the Tang dynasty that the use of tin pots became popular since the imperial family was using it in drinking their tea.
6. Bamboo and Wooden Tea Sets
In the early days of drinking tea, people generally use bamboo or wood to make tea sets since they are inexpensive but of superior quality. Today, however, these Chinese tea sets are not used as often as they used to but are more commonly used in storing tea. Tea pots made of boxwood and reed-bamboo are favored for this purpose.
There have been other materials used in making tea sets in the course of Chinese history, among these are sets made of jade, crystal and agate. Nonetheless, they made little impact in the evolution of Chinese tea sets mainly because they are pricey, difficult to craft, and of little practical value. More often than not, they are trophies used to show off their owners’ affluence.
Chinese tea pots are indeed not what they were during the early days of tea drinking but the development of the many different types of tea sets all through history have been truly remarkable indeed. The simple tea set on your table right now has a lot of history behind it.
