Tools and Equipment
Below is the main items for gongfu tea, in Taiwan, known there as 老人茶 (Pinyin: Lăorénchá).
- brewing vessel, Yixing teapot, porcelain teapot, or a covered bowl gaiwan.
- tea pitcher (chahai), or any matching size decanting vessel, used to ensure the consistency of the flavor of the tea (Chinese: 公道杯, Pinyin: gōng dào bēi)
- hot water kettle, e.g. an electric kettle
- brewing tray, or a deep, flat bottom porcelain plate to hold spills (spills are not atypical)
- tea towel or tea cloth, usually dark-colored
- tea spoon (tea pick) for clearing the teapot spout, and clearing tea leaves etc.
- tea cups (traditionally 3 cups are used in most instances), matching size
- timer
- strainer, a tea strainer (Chinese: 漏斗, Pinyin: lòu dŏu) sometimes built into the tea pitchers
- tea holder, tea leaf holder for weighing and dispensing, or a wooden tea spoon to measure the amount of tea leaves required (Chinese: 茶匙, Pinyin: chá chí)
- optional: tea basin, bowl as the receptacle for used tea leaves and refuse water
- optional: scale
- optional: kitchen thermometer
- optional: scent cup (snifter cup) used to appreciate the tea's aroma (Chinese: traditional 聞香杯, simplified 闻香杯, Pinyin wén xiāng bēi)
- optional: A pair of tongs called "Jiā" (Chinese: 挾) or "Giab" in both the Chao Zhou and Min Nan dialects.
Read more about this topic: Gongfu Tea Ceremony
Famous quotes containing the words tools and/or equipment:
“The besetting sin of able men is impatience of contradiction and of criticism. Even those who do their best to resist the temptation, yield to it almost unconsciously and become the tools of toadies and flatterers. “Authorities,” “disciples,” and “schools” are the curse of science and do more to interfere with the work of the scientific spirit than all its enemies.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“Biological possibility and desire are not the same as biological need. Women have childbearing equipment. For them to choose not to use the equipment is no more blocking what is instinctive than it is for a man who, muscles or no, chooses not to be a weightlifter.”
—Betty Rollin (b. 1936)