First new post for a goodly time! I'll be frank, I have no excuses.I thought I'd do a little post on my new Tea cup that I've recently acquired from the good chap Stéphane Erler of Tea Masters. It's a lovely piece of pottery that's endured 7 days of fiery flames of an Anagama (Cave Kiln). It's actually the great work of potter David Louveau. What I Love about the cup is how it's completely unique and original as all the great colour, patterns and glazing is produced naturally by the fire and falling ash.
It's been recommended to me to use with Pu-erh Tea as it will help to mellow the Tea and give it a nice smooth texture. So of course I've given it a go and was very pleased with the results. Pu-erh being quite an earthy flavour anyway seems to fit with this earthenware so much it's like they belong.I can't see myself wanting to drink Pu-erh from anything else now. I'm sure the more I use it the better it will become as it'll take on the Tea's general flavour. Which is why it's best to only use it for one type of Tea, of which I intend to do.
This to me really proves that the vessel you drink your Tea from is pretty much as important to get right as the Tea itself. Careful matching rewards generously.So a big thanks to you Stéphane for making this available to me, and of course thanks and respect to the potter David Louveau. I'll no doubt be back for more!
4 comments:
Thanks for the comment Jason and thanks for the link to another blog. Interesting article on the terroir of a teapot. I'm a firm believer in the whole 'Terroir' thing. Something I've come across in my interest of wines too.
Interesting that the article mentions a Chaozhou teapot as I'm just on the verge of purchasing one from Imen of Tea Habitat. I get my Dan Cong from her and she really encourages people who want to get the best from it to use a Chaozhou teapot.
Why would purchase a beautifully made teacup supposedly fit for only one type of tea? Pure balderdash! Your teapot and technique should be used for taming your tea, sir, not your expensive teacup.
If this teacup has miraculous absorptive or reactive powers, let it be used for medium-to-high fired oolongs, where this shape won't be an issue, as it would be with highly aromatic, lightly oxidized and roasted oolongs.
If iron from the shino glaze is the active agent in the surface of this teacup, think about using it for taming overly astringent green teas.
I totally agree with your comment about using the teapot and technique for 'taming' tea. I'm not relying on the cup to do that.
All I'm saying is that the shape and porosity of your drinking vessel can further improve the tea liquor. In this case this cup lends itself very well to aged sheng or shu Puerh.
I never said that this cup would be good for highly aromatic, lightly oxidized oolongs. Reason being..it wouldn't.
There's nothing miraculous about it though.
Maybe I should also clarify that when I say 'use it for one type of tea', I don't literaly mean that you can 'only' use it for one type of tea, ie Shu Pu-erh. I just mean to try and keep it to the same 'style' of tea, or tea with similar characteristics..Higher roasted types, Earthy types (Aged Sheng and Shu Pu-erh) etc.
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