About Jade as a teacup material

[Oni]

Has anybody experience with jade teacups for gong fu cha? Where to buy authentic jade teacups, and what is the effect on the tea.

[prezeus]

I've been in China last summer and found out that buying jade is difficult. It's not easy to differentiate the real jade and fakes. There is a lot of fakes

If you are planning to buy via internet be extra careful. My advice to you...

About using jade for gong fu I cannot help you, I never used it

Greetings from Spain

[theredbaron]

and additionally, jade tea cups are more of a toy than of real practical use. Better stick with porcellain, or Yixing.

[Frisbeehead]

I agree with prezeus about buying jade in person for the most part, but it can be done. You'd have to know you can trust the seller.

As far as online goes, I think it's easier to find real jade online. I've been to multiple stores, including eBay ones, that seem to be legitimate.

Also, concerning jade and tea, check this out:
http://hojotea.com/en/post/
Haven't tried it myself though.

[jayinhk]

That Hojo Tea article is right on. I have two small jade cups I bought in Myanmar; one black, one white. If I could go back in time, I wouldn't have bought them. Jade mining in Myanmar is horrendously dangerous for the miners, destructive to the environment and the ethnic Chinese/military families that control the trade often have the miners hooked on free heroin. The miners also access to communal prostitutes. HIV is rampant and the miners are often only 'paid' in drugs and sex.

Please note there is also a US import ban on Burmese jade.

There are antique jade cups on eBay from time to time--some really beautiful pieces too.

[Psyck]

<...> Also, concerning jade and tea, check this out:
http://hojotea.com/en/post/
<...>

Tea on the rocks!!! that is one cool drink

[wyardley]

I agree with prezeus about buying jade in person for the most part, but it can be done. You'd have to know you can trust the seller.

As far as online goes, I think it's easier to find real jade online. I've been to multiple stores, including eBay ones, that seem to be legitimate.

No experience buying jade in regards to tea. But I do know that, compared to, say, Yixing, it's something that experts can fairly accurately grade. It's also an area where there's a lot of shady stuff going on, so I would be cautious about buying jade without professional appraisal unless you're a real expert.

You can tell some thing from feeling it and looking at it in the light.

Because of the demand in mainland China, buying good quality jade is a pretty expensive proposition these days, I think.

[ethan]

I own a lot of Burmese jade. Recent reports show that the jade mined in the last 2 years has been stockpiled. The top thug in Myanmar & a rich Chinese got together to grab all they could before the election.

That being said, almost all Burmese jade that is something already made, is made from stone that was taken out of quarries before there was such a greedy hurry. So, buying a jade cup should not put blood on your hands.

I think jade being considered precious is silly. If one cares for jade that seems like glass, one might as well look for beautiful glass. For the most part, jade is semi-precious. Like a good tea, jade can offer surprises. A piece can look so different in different light. A cup that is thoroughly heated or chilled does not lose that temperature quickly but offers little else for a drinker. Likewise, a teapot. I sold the teapot that I had used a few times. I still drink from a few small cups a few times a year.

If you keep teaware on view, jade's best attribute is it is nice to view & hold. It makes one feel good.

[jayinhk]

Unfortunately, the issues with jade aren't new...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 70825.html

[ethan]

you are correct Jay. However, when I first went to western Thailand on the Burmese border to buy low-grade star sapphires, I realized how complicated simple transactions can be. Mae Sot used to be teeming w/ dealers & runners hustling on one block. My friend Kevin & I sat eating Khow Soi & drinking ice coffee giving one person after another a chance to show us what he or she had. A purchase of $35 could result in 3 or 4 runners making a dollar or two gratefully before the last runner ran to the owner of the stone(s) to give him the $25 or so that was the dealer's bottom line price. Those runners had no other income & were not going to get another way to make $. (And it is amusing to see how one stone can be given to this man to show who gives it to that man who gives it to his beautiful niece who is too shy who gives it to her friend, and the owner of the shop where we sat -- got a dollar or two commission also).
Another time on the bus to Mae Sot I met a Frenchman who was a true jade "expert". I never learned what he generously tried to teach me about the quality of jade, but I did learn that Mae Sot was at that time 95% outside of jade's mainstream & soon would be totally out of it. That is, the stone that made its way there was not part of big business. Now a successful boycott of the type of jade I have would keep Burmese, who live in Thailand w/o all the papers one should have to be secure, at the mercy (which is missing) of a system that allows them to be employed legally at puny wages in Mae Sot's economic zone or illegally exploited. That boycott would not effect what has been done & may continue to be done (despite the broadcasts about the recent mining tragedy) by military & former military junta members along w/ their super-rich partners from Red China. Those people create the idea of some jade being precious & then deal in it--all in a small sphere of people. Buying jade in amounts of tens or hundreds of dollars, does not put one inside that sphere.
If someone buys a $30 piece from me, he has helped 5 or 6 poor people eat for a couple of days; if he buys a $30,000 piece, he has helped some powerful bullies keep those people living in poverty. (To oversimplify perhaps, but...)

[jayinhk]

I feel any money spent on Burmese jade ends up in the coffers of criminals and leads to exploitation (and death) of the poorest of the poor, so I won't touch it. It's like saying buying a dime bag of coke that has come through the cartels is ok, but buying a kilo makes them rich. I'd rather not contribute to the exploitation at all.

Of course you make a strong argument. Buying your jade does feed some very poor people, but that jade still came at a (bloody) price, and some of that money most likely ends up in some very bad people's hands.

[kyarazen]

I feel any money spent on Burmese jade ends up in the coffers of criminals and leads to exploitation (and death) of the poorest of the poor, so I won't touch it. It's like saying buying a dime bag of coke that has come through the cartels is ok, but buying a kilo makes them rich. I'd rather not contribute to the exploitation at all.

Of course you make a strong argument. Buying your jade does feed some very poor people, but that jade still came at a (bloody) price, and some of that money most likely ends up in some very bad people's hands.

it is a difficult subject. in the very long run and in the very broad sense, many things are linked to exploitation, whether currently ongoing or used to be. unless something goes directly from the source/creater/maker directly into the hands of the final consumer, there will still be a lot of things going on in between

[jayinhk]

True. I can only take a stand when I know what the issues are. Sometimes we just don't know what people have been subjected to along the supply chain.

[ethan]

Fortunately, if I have been on the wrong side of this; it has been for a tiny bit. I've never spent more than hundreds of dollars & have not bought for over a year. However, I do own many pieces of the cheapest jade (dozens but for me that is "many") & w/o income to spare, these pieces often end up being used for gifts. Now I fear that gifts of jade may not be welcome.
No one can move around in this world & not have some of his $ spent go to bad guys. Visa fees support corrupt governments. I buy street food often etc. I like to think my consumption helps poor people.

[jayinhk]

Perhaps the good things you've done for the people of Mae Sot offset the bad karma that comes with bloody jade?

I agree that it is impossible to not have some of our money end up going to the wrong people...we can't use oil products most places in the world without money ending up in Saudi Arabian bank accounts, for example, and rare earth metals in our devices cause tons of destruction when they're mined. I contributed to the Burmese government by visiting and staying at a hotel (where I asked, and was told, that the owners had to occasionally bribe government officials).

I just try to do what I can. Sure, I could do more, and I could be more active, but it's scary to think most people care a lot less than I do!