Hojicha

Pot of tea!

So, in addition to all the ceramics/pottery for sale and the art installations, at 1001 Pots there was a little cafe/tea house area set up where you could grab tea or coffee and an assortment of locally baked goods. Ironically, it might be the only thing I didn’t take photos of.

I spent a few hours at 1001 Pots and in the middle of that excursion I took a tea break because I was exhausted and needed to sit and drink some caffeine. The set up was very, very cool. Basically, depending on what you ordered, you’d get to select a piece of pottery to drink from – all of which had been made by the different exhibiting artists. There was a STUNNING mix of mugs, yunomi cups, teapots, and matcha bowls.

I went for a pot of hojicha, and I ended up picking out a really nice teapot with a rich, glossy jade green glaze and a smaller yunomi cup with a hagi glaze over a red clay base. Both pieces were so stunning! I thought it was also very cool all the teas were from CHA YI Teahouse, which is a tea company from rural Quebec. Not Val David (where 1001 Pots is), but fairly close by. Mostly they were serving Japanese teas with a strong emphasis on matcha, but there were a few Chinese teas scattered on the menu too.

I went with my tried and true hojicha and even though I hadn’t specifically had the one from CHA YI before it was exactly the grounding moment I needed during this day trip. Very cozy, golden roast with lots of notes of toasted grains and dark honeys. I think it was perfect for the day, and in particular it felt verrrryyyy well matched with the stunning yunomi cup I was drinking it from. Just very atmospheric!