Unorthodox pairing of tea and teaware

[RussianSoul]

I was making matcha this morning and realized that I am whisking it in a Chinese rice bowl. I reflected on this and it occurred to me that my tea / teaware pairings are a bit odd:

I make matcha in a Chinese bowl
Gyokuro in a 3oz spouted gaiwan
Chinese greens and whites in a Tokoname
Assam in an YiXing
Iced sencha in a Mason jar .

I do make some things properly – my oolongs and hot sencha get traditional teaware. But the rest is a cultural jambalaya.

I am wondering - anybody else mixes cultures and traditions in their tea practices? Or am I just weird?

[Victoria]

I do a lot of mixing. whatever works for good brewing.

And then there's my side handled Yixing that thinks it's a kyusu.

[Mary R]

Dude...mixing cultures is what makes America America. I brew most of my Indian teas in a Japanese tetsubin and almost all of my oolongs in a Chinese gaiwan. Probably the only culturally appropriate thing in my cabinet is the kyusu/sencha pairing...

Drawing on many global tea traditions to find a new style that works for you is the tea tao of the US, at least in my opinion.

[britt]

I was making matcha this morning and realized that I am whisking it in a Chinese rice bowl. I reflected on this and it occurred to me that my tea / teaware pairings are a bit odd:

I make matcha in a Chinese bowl
Gyokuro in a 3oz spouted gaiwan
Chinese greens and whites in a Tokoname
Assam in an YiXing
Iced sencha in a Mason jar .

I do make some things properly – my oolongs and hot sencha get traditional teaware. But the rest is a cultural jambalaya.

I am wondering - anybody else mixes cultures and traditions in their tea practices? Or am I just weird?

I don't mix Japanese/Chinese tea and teaware but that doesn't mean you can't. I feel that 1000 years of drinking their respective teas in each country means that Yixings are tailored to benefit Chinese tea and kyusus designed to get the best from Japanese tea. I think there is much merit to this, especially when using unglazed clay tea vessels. However, when using porcelain you've eliminated one very important factor that might otherwise impair cultural crossing of tea and teaware; the absorbing qualities of the clay and any inherent flavor the porous clay teapot has picked up from multiple brewings of other teas.

Quite a few people brew Chinese tea in Japanese teaware, but I don't think any brew sencha in Yixings. Tokaname clay doesn't seem as porous as Yixing clay so is probably okay to use with oolong, etc. Some Japanese vendors recommend Tokaname kyusu for both Japanese and Chinese tea.

[heavydoom]

i don't believe that there are set rules. tea drinking should be about how you feel about the whole thing. how it looks to you. if whatever set up makes you feel relaxed, then your tea will tastes the best. if you feel that you need to have some flowers right next to your tea set up because this makes you feel good, then go for it. a calm and relaxed person makes an amazing tea. if you hurry and make tea in a chaotic environment, then your tea will suffer from this.

i can now totally see why some tea makers have certain set ups where they use a cloth blanket underneath the tea tray, or have a pot with a single stalk of flower....etc.....it sets the mood, the setting, it relaxes you to make that brew of tea with love and care.

[britt]

i don't believe that there are set rules. tea drinking should be about how you feel about the whole thing.

Heavydoom introduces Bruce Lee's Jeet Kune Do theory (freedom from rigid styles/rules in martial arts) to the tea world! I hope you never consider taking tea ceremony classes. From what chamekke has posted, they're extremely rigid. I can actually see the value of discipline in the rigid way and the value of freedom in the other. The best way probably depends on the individual practicioner; some like the measuring spoons, scales, etc. while others prefer only the senses. The former would probably be well suited to tea ceremony, while the rest of us would most likely be expelled after the first class.

[chamekke]

I hope you never consider taking tea ceremony classes. From what chamekke has posted, they're extremely rigid. I can actually see the value of discipline in the rigid way and the value of freedom in the other. The best way probably depends on the individual practicioner; some like the measuring spoons, scales, etc. while others prefer only the senses. The former would probably be well suited to tea ceremony, while the rest of us would most likely be expelled after the first class.

I don't know if I would use the word "rigid", although I can see why it would appear that way to those who only hear about the rules/tradition rather than the parts where personal taste and (gasp!) individuality actually plays a strong role.

In fact, I think that the rules/no-rules dichotomy is something of a false one.

Like all "dou"-s or traditions, you learn the rules thoroughly so that you understand experientially the principles underlying them, and then - you know when it's OK to break the rules. I've met people who don't want to follow any rule, or they'll learn and practice only those aspects that happen to harmonize with their personal conditioning, and that's fine... they just don't receive the full benefits of the discipline.

[heavydoom]

rules are made to be broken.

[Geekgirl]

Like all "dou"-s or traditions, you learn the rules thoroughly so that you understand experientially the principles underlying them, and then - you know when it's OK to break the rules. I've met people who don't want to follow any rule, or they'll learn and practice only those aspects that happen to harmonize with their personal conditioning, and that's fine... they just don't receive the full benefits of the discipline.

I agree. I learned a kata-style shiatsu as part of my professional training. One of the things I was taught was to learn the kata so thoroughly it could be done in an exact specified amount of time, blindfolded. (Seriously. My final exam was the blindfold exam. This particular kata involves climbing up and standing on the table above the recipient for certain portions.) The "rules"- the order and pace of the kata were not supposed to be changed until we knew it completely. Then and only then, could changes be purposeful.

I've had shiatsu from masters of the art, who have changed the series, but their work could nearly put you in a trance, as well as give you an unmatched feeling of Qi at the end of the kata. And I've had others from people who did not know their craft, made changes just because they "preferred it this way," and at the end I felt quite discombobulated.

In my experience, learning the discipline precisely actually frees one up to observe all the little things that otherwise go unnoticed in the distractions that freehanding would present.

[Proinsias]

The annoying irony of having to learn the rules before one can break them with any degree of style.

If only I knew enough about language I could make up a new word which sums it all up nicely.

[chamekke]

Nicely put, Geekgirl. Like you, I've seen masters create art by violating the rules of tea ceremony ... and I've seen people perform tea ceremony in chaotic fashion because they felt like expressing themselves that way. The latter was certainly a form of self-expression (often revealing far more than the person ever realized), but as you say, also very discombobulating for others taking part.

Incidentally, I called dou-s "traditions" when I meant to say "ways" or "paths", as in Aikido, Hanado (another name for ikebana - the way of flowers), Chado and so forth.

D'oh!

P.S. Proinsias, I don't know the name of that particular type of irony, but possibly it might be found somewhere in The Meaning of Liff. It's a bit like an inverse aberystwyth.

[Mary R]

The annoying irony of having to learn the rules before one can break them with any degree of style.

If only I knew enough about language I could make up a new word which sums it all up nicely.

Ironnoy?

[MarshalN]

I think the idea that a teaware from one country is only suited for that country's tea is not a particularly good one, mostly because for much of their history, teas didn't really travel across borders. Japanese didn't drink much Chinese tea until the late 19th/early 20th century, and Chinese certainly didn't drink much sencha from Japan until 20th century either. That, however, does not mean that their teaware is incompatible with each other's teas. In fact, they could be even more compatible -- it just hasn't been tried until very recently.

I brew my darjeelings and assams in a yixing. Nothing's wrong with that, and it makes a great cup. That, in the end, is all that matters.

[devites]

For the most part I like to for the most part follow the traditions, but lately with 3 AP classes so muching f#$king hmwk, I just throw some leaves in a mug with absolutely no measurement of temperature, leaf amount, or time. I just let it steep completely and drink with the leaves in.

[henley]

I am wondering - anybody else mixes cultures and traditions in their tea practices? Or am I just weird?

My teas are definitely culturally confused! Everything (even the shincha) gets steeped in an English style teapot & drank from a girly cup. The final product tastes good & that's what matters most to me.