Tea Bowl (Chawan) with Hare's Fur Pattern LACMA M

Teaware is a broad international spectrum of equipment used in the brewing and consumption of tea. Many components make up that spectrum, and vary greatly based upon the type of tea being prepared, and the

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.T ...

setting in which it is being prepared. This is often referred to as the ''

tea ceremony An East Asian tea ceremony, or ''Chádào'' (), or ''Dado'' ( ko, 다도 (茶道)), is a ceremonially ritualized form of making tea (茶 ''cha'') practiced in East Asia by the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. The tea ceremony (), literally transl ...

,'' and holds much significance in many cultures, particularly in northwestern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and in eastern

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. A complete, cohesive collection of tea ware makes up a tea set.

Components

Alternatives / Others

* Mug, instead of tea cup *

Coffee cup A coffee cup is a container that coffee and espresso-based drinks are served in. Coffee cups are typically made of glazed ceramic, and have a single handle for portability while the beverage is hot. Ceramic construction allows a beverage to be d ...

, instead of tea cup * Chawan, tea bowl from East Asia *

Chaki ''Chaki'' () is a Japanese term that literally means "tea implement". In the vocabulary of Japanese tea ceremony, it broadly means (1) any implement used in the practice of ''chanoyu'', and more narrowly means (2) the caddy for the powdered gr ...

, the caddy for matcha * Japanese tea utensils, used in their tea ceremonies * Tea draining tray, for the Gongfu tea ceremony

Construction

Tea equipment may be constructed of many materials, from

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...

and

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay pa ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, and also

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...

and other woods. Of particular repute are the Yixing clay teapots produced in eastern China, a type of

Yixing ware Yixing clay () is a type of clay from the region near the city of Yixing in Jiangsu Province, China, used in Chinese pottery since the Song dynasty (960–1279) when Yixing clay was first mined around China's Lake Tai. From the 17th century on, ...

. The Brown Betty was original made from red clay found in Britain.

Lu Yu's tea set (陸羽的茶具)

*Crushing block (砧椎) *Brazier (風爐) *Charcoal basket (炭筥) *Charcoal mallet (炭檛) *Fire chopsticks (火筴) *Cauldron (鍑) *Cauldron stand (交床) *Tea tongs (夾) *Paper wallet (紙囊) *Crushing roller (碾) *Sieve box (羅合) *Tea holder (則) *Water vessel (水方) *Water filter bag (漉水囊) *Gourd scooper (瓢) *Bamboo tongs (竹夾) *Salt container (鹺簋) *Boiled water vessel (熟盂) *Bowl (碗) *Bowl basket (畚) *Brush (劄) *Water basin (滌方) *Spent tea basin (滓方) *Tea cloth (巾) *Utensil table (具列) *Utensil basket (都籃)

The twelve tea pieces for the elderly (審安老人的12茶具)

#Brazier (風爐) #Crushing block (砧椎) #Crushing roller (碾) #Stone mill (石磨) #Gourd scooper (瓢) #Sieve box (羅合) #Brush (札) #Bowl basket (畚) #Bowl (碗) #Water vessel (水方) #Tea whisk (茶筅) #Tea cloth (巾) The above tea pieces were also mentioned by Lu Yu in ''

The Classic of Tea ''The Classic of Tea'' or ''Tea Classic'' () is the first known monograph on tea in the world, by Chinese writer Lu Yu between 760 CE and 762 CE, during the Tang dynasty. Lu Yu's original manuscript is lost; the earliest editions available date ...

,'' except for the stone mill (石磨) and tea whisk (茶筅).

Components

Alternatives / Others

Construction

Lu Yu's tea set (陸羽的茶具)

The twelve tea pieces for the elderly (審安老人的12茶具)

See also