How important is your teaware collection and what does it bring to your tea sessions?

I have some Jingdezhen porcelain – gaiwan, two cups – and a Ru Kiln cup from Verdant. They are the finest teaware I own. Using them makes my gongfu sessions feel more special, they’re as much a part of experiencing tea as the tea itself. Much aesthetic.

I also have a shudei kyusu for my Japanese greens. Wouldn’t brew them any other way!

I think teaware is really important and my taste in teaware has changed with changes in my tastes for tea. I used to strictly brew tea western-style, and then I discovered gongfu brewing when I got into puerh. I still enjoy western, but have found that I use my in-cup infusers more than any teapot I have acquired. Also, I seem to like 12 oz. mugs better than 16 oz. mugs as I think I’m better at estimating the amount of leaf for that size and get a better cup of tea.

For gongfu, I’m still acquiring teaware. I just got a beautiful tray for Christmas, and I now have essentially two easy gaiwans for brewing, I still don’t have a sharing pitcher, but use one of my Pyrex measuring cups! Beautiful tiny cups are now where I might get into trouble, as drinking out of beautiful cups really makes the experience for me. I have some that I recently got from YS and it’s like drinking from a beautiful painting. It makes the experience so amazing! I’d also like to get a yixing in the future, probably for Shou.

It used to not be that important to me but then I found Yixing pots and it kinda took off from there. I recently started to loe a collection called Franz that has beautiful teaware. Just type it in to google and … well you might start drooling.