Sunday TeaDay 11/08/09 Home TeaSpot?

[Chip]

Welcome everyone to TeaDay. Please drop in and share what is in your cup throughout the day.

Yesterday was a FreeDay TeaDay. You can still vote and discuss in yesterday's topic.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic. Do you have an area in your home that is virtually dedicated to tea preparation and/or enjoyment? Please share with us.

I am looking forward to sharing this TeaDay with everyone. Bottoms up.

[Drax]

I would say mostly so -- the kitchen. I boil the water in an electric kettle near the microwave, and I weigh and brew the tea on a peninsular counter. I do have a tea tray, but I rarely use that except for company.

This morning, going with the Rou Gui again. I was going to move onto another tea yesterday, but I ended up helping a friend transfer and bottle his first batch of home-brewed beer. Fun stuff!

[gingkoseto]

Not really. Most tea is hidden Only the "tough" ones such as a few black teas and some cheap teas are exposed to light and people's view. Most tea and tea ware are stuffed not in a presentable way, but in a space efficient way. I hope someday I will have a big enough house and a small tea room. Someday!

[JBaymore]

In this house, tea gets drunk anywhere we happen to be at any given point in time . There is rarely a cup of tea far from hand. Tea gets mainly made in the kitchen except for doing "formal tea", which gets made in the tearoom. For simply sitting and enjoying, the tearoom also comes into play.

So I voted affirmative.

I'm sort of embarrased by how fortunate I am to have this space. But also kind of proud about how it turned out . Designing and building it was a 31 year dream for me. We completed it recently when we had to re-build the falling-down "ell" section of our very old house (175 year old center chimney colonial) that links the main house with my ceramics studio (in converted barn).

Like any Japanese room, the space can be easily changed for different uses. The kotatsu table (with underside heater) can be removed and a sub-floor unit dropped over the footwell and tatami placed on top to convert it for Chanoyu. With that tatami in place, two futon can be added for a guest bedroom.

The inside of the room with the kotatsu table in place:

BaymoreTearoom2-640x480.jpg (51.76 KiB) Viewed 588 times

The inside of the room with the kotatsu table removed and center tatami in place:

BaymoreTearoom1-640x480.jpg (36.31 KiB) Viewed 588 times

The genkan area directly in front of the tearoom:

BaymoreTearoom4-640x480.jpg (42.28 KiB) Viewed 588 times

best,

....................john

PS: First time uploading pictures here ....... limit of 3 !!!! a couple more in the next posting.

[JBaymore]

continued..........

A closer view of the room with the center tatami in place:

BaymoreTearoom3-640x480.jpg (42.7 KiB) Viewed 588 times

Before it was even completed, a visiting friend from Saitama, Japan, Matsuda Nobuo, performed the first (very informal) Chanoyu in the room:

BaymoreTearoom5-640x480.jpg (32.28 KiB) Viewed 588 times

best,

.................john

[olivierco]

PS: First time uploading pictures here ....... limit of 3 !!!! a couple more in the next posting.

No limit if you use a photobucket (or equivalent) account.

Nice room!

Keemun Mao Feng Imperial this afternoon.

[brad4419]

wow john thats a nice tearoom. Im only dreaming of a tearoom right now. My tea is stored in my closet with my clothes

I make my tea in the kitchen using an electric stove.

bai mu dan this morning

[Victoria]

Wow, John that is a great room! I would love to have something like that one day. You are indeed fortunate!

Tea for me is mostly enjoyed at my desk. I have no real area set aside, except for my teaware shelves. I do enjoy choosing the cup and pot I will use daily, and also showing the cups to visitors.

Glenburn Estate Wiry in my cup this morning from TeaSource. Not as good as their Vintage Wiry from last year, but a nice cuppa.

[Seraphsody]

I don't really have a specific place, I try to make my home feel like a nice place to have tea in. I have Christmas lights on my walls all the time. : D

[JillDragon]

Well I've got an entire cupboard in the kitchen devoted to tea and tea paraphenalia as well as my herbs and herbal remedies.

Right now I just finished a tasting of Den's Zuiko and Yame Fukamushi which was excellent.

[Chip]

Yeah John, thanks for sharing your tearoom with us! Awesome.

The kitchen has become much less of a kitchen, and has a lot of mostly Japanese influenced tea displays that are also very functional as well. At the center of the room is a butcher block table that has been converted to making and serving tea.

It is far, far, far from a Japanese tearoom however. Though there is very cool book from DW, The Contemporary Tearoom by Arata Isozaki, Tadao Ando, and Terunobu Fujimori that is inspirational as well as a few Chado books as well.

The latest addition is a backlit Crane scroll ...

Still, the tearoom is wherever tea is being enjoyed at the moment.

Began the TD with a tasting of Zuiko asamushi from Den's. Highly recommended!

[Teasing]

Wow! That tearoom is impressive. In our house, tea is prepared in the kitchen and we drink it wherever we happen to be.

[DoctorD]

The kitchen for prep, definitely. The tea containers have a cupboard more or less to themselves; most of the pots and such are on open shelves where they can be seen, and occasionally remarked upon by non-teatotal visitors. The drinking goes on any of several places, including at the computer (as is happening right now--Tianmu Yunding in the cup).

[silvermage2000]

A tasting of Den's Matcha Kaze. THANKS! I really enjoyed this, my first Matcha. I would not have had this opportunity had it not been for this forum.

[RachelC]

I have a tea and coffee depot. Well, at least that is what I call it. I have all the tea I can fit there and the equiptment needed to prepare it. I love it. My little piece of heaven.
Den's Miyabi earlier, and looking forward to trying the Organic Matcha shortly! Really enjoying trying Matcha!