The taste of fall, wild raw puerh at the Story House

A quarterly tea event at the Taipei Story House, the tea association Cha Ren Ya Xin created by Teaparker performed 3 Cha Xi (tea plays) on the subject of puerh, the taste of fall. As always, the event started with a speech by Teaparker on the subject. He insisted that drinking Chinese tea is more than just quenching your thirst. Tea is also a cultural heritage of the Chinese and it can open many doors to China's rich history. This beverage can be a link to the past and motivate us to learn about the different dynasties, the different pottery styles, the different techniques to prepare tea...

And the great thing about all this knowledge is that it then enables us to prepare our tea in a more artistic way. Each Cha Xi, tea play (like a stage performance) is like a picture. We compose it with our tea accessories and try to match forms, colors and tea. For my display,, for instance, I used:
- a modern silver teapot (which works well for young, green puerhs and Oolongs),
- modern lungchuan cups. Their green color is a good fit for young raw puerh,
- a Dragon tetsubin heated by coal on a early Chunghua Republic Nilu,
- a (beautiful!) Jun ware bowl to collect spent water,
- and (also beautiful) a tea cloth made by my mother (thanks mom!)
Here you can see my setup from the other side:
Here another setup with a silver teapot and a silver kettle for even purer puerh (try to say it loud!)
This third setup is similar to mine: a tetsubin on a old Nilu, a silver teapot and modern lungchuan cups.

It may seem like putting a lot of effort to make a several cups of tea. But tea has its own magic: the more efforts and concentration you make, the more interesting and fulfilling it becomes. This afternoon was no exception.