For people within striking distance of Seattle, there are still a few more days to to see “Chado: The Way of Tea,” an exhibit of work by Miya Ando at ArtXchange Gallery in Pioneer Square. Sculptor Ando is descended from Japanese sword makers and has embraced her heritage of fine metal-working, along with a large [...]
Sometimes teas seem to come to me thematically, with several examples from a certain category from different sources all ariving in sequence. One example of this is that over the past couple of months I have had at least six different batches of Da Hong Pao, all from different vendors, which is something of an [...]
Last weekend I had the great fortune to find and acquire this perfect and beautiful ceramic pu’er storage vessel. Of course I have no idea whether the talented clay artist who made this piece intended for it to be used to store tea, but it is undeniable that he or she modeled it after traditional [...]
On the Sunday of the inaugural weekend of the Infusions show at SLAB Art in Ballard, a few exceptionally fortunate tea aficionados had the rare opportunity to participate in a round of tea tastings hosted by artists using their own teaware. The arrangement of the show displays all of the teaware pieces exceptionally well, most [...]
Opening this coming Saturday, March 26th, at SLAB Art in Ballard, Infusions will center around an exhibition of teaware by contemporary ceramic artists immersed in the vibrant and growing Pacific Northwest tea culture, and will also feature tea tables made by the woodworking artists at SLAB. On Sunday following the show opening there will be [...]
That thing on the left is an ebony coaster/tray which gets placed underneath a tasting cup/aroma cup set during a Gongfu Cha session. The thing on the right is way too full of fingerprints! I have, on more than one occasion, seen one of those coasters in my peripheral vision and thought it was my [...]
The question posed for this month’s Blog Carnival, sponsored by the Association of Tea Bloggers was: “What is the most uncomfortable place where you prepared tea (work, traveling, in a place without suitable equipment, etc.) and how were you able to overcome the difficulty?” I have had an array of tea-related experiences ranging from exquisite [...]
This is an excellent explanation and demonstration of a Russian samovar. The samovar used is not the most beautiful or traditional, but the information presented is really good. And as a result of watching this film I am now painfully aware that I will never be able to pronounce the word “podstakannik” (подстаканник) correctly. Tomorrow [...]
It’s probably not time yet to start running about in a panic wondering what to buy all of the people that you have to buy stuff for this holiday season, but you should plan ahead if you want to take advantage of the Christmas Range on special now at Canton Tea Co., particularly if you [...]
I bought this white stoneware set from a gentleman on eBay who had had it sitting around for at least a decade and had never used it. I think he said that it had been given to him as a gift while he was working in Japan and he had identified it as Japanese, but [...]
