chinese tea tray

[jbu2]

hi,
i am not in to gongfu tea ceremony but i am considering of buying a Chinese tea tray* because i what a tea tray that can handle if i spill some tea without making stain's on it and if i drop the cup the tea wont go all over the place, do you think that this kind of tea tray is suited ?
do you need to clean it after every drop or it's tea stains repellent ?


*specifically this one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chinese-Bamboo- ... 5ae693cf53

[Teaism]

Staining of tea tray is a personal preference. I have old tin tea tray and love the patina of tea stain. At the same time, I clean those bamboo tea tray quite religiously. If you want the stain, you can just leave it, if not clean the stain quickly before they settle in. So it is up to you.

Just to note that inferior bamboo tea tray tend to crack after some time. I prefer those wild bamboo tray from Taiwan but they are hardly available now online. However, you can still get them in Taiwan. Saw a lot of it in Yingge when I was there last year.

Cheers!

[theredbaron]

I have old tin tea tray and love the patina of tea stain.

Nice! They are very difficult to find now. I am always on the lookout at the markets if i can get one.

[jbu2]

So you say that i would better off with a normal cheap tea tray ?

[TomVerlain]

that's pretty nice for $50. It is fairly small though. It does come down to preference. I use a tea tray, but on that tray I have a plate or bowl to handle 90% of the slop. You could probably buy a used cookie tin at goodwill for a dollar that would function the same to keep spills and slop contained . So it is a matter of form, and finances.

[futurebird]

I have this one and I love it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-CHINESE-YIX ... 3ccb4bc0f5


I was much higher quality than I thought it'd be--- also having a drain is very convient.

[Muadeeb]

I got this one, a little less expensive and free shipping to boot!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/230818456796?ru ... 26_rdc%3D1

Whatever you get, make sure that it has a fairly flat surface. Some of the fancier ones have slightly different levels on top, which makes it more difficult to keep the teaware level and to slide things around. My friend has a nice larger table with ornate ridges and the usable space is smaller than my table.

[jbu2]

@TomVerlain
But then what is the point of having it if you need to worry about the spillage ?
Cookie tin if creative but i thought something decorative, maybe the best thing is to go mainstream and but a western one, it's just since i broke down my computer with tea i am looking for preemptive measures.

@futurebird
It's look more suite for a fixed place, i am looking for one that i can use everywere.
@Muadeeb
I considered buying a tray like that but because i use western style tea-ware i am afraid that less then 40cm will be problematic .