5 Most Useful Tea Accessories

The Free Dictionary defines accessories as follows:

ac·ces·so·ry (k-ss-r)

n. pl. ac·ces·so·ries

a. A subordinate or supplementary item; an adjunct.

b. Something nonessential but desirable that contributes to an effect or result.

“Nonessential but desirable that contributes to an effect or result.”

That is probably the best way of describing these 5 items on our list.

While you could continue to brew tea without these 5 items, you probably might not choose to, especially if you’re brewing it the gongfu way- which is best way to enjoy good oolong or Pu-er tea.

Without further preamble, here goes:

1) Tea Tray (or equivalent)

It’s often used a vanity item and can be the most expensive tea thing you own- other than Yixing pots- but that doesn’t mean it has no practical purpose.

The role of tea trays is simple- place the vessels and drinking cups on it so you can brew without worrying about spillage and discard water or tea on it.

If you are using a Yixing pot especially, a tea tray prevents the water that you pour on the pot to warm it from spilling all over the table.

Not surprisingly, unless where it is impractical to use one, this is the most frequently used accessory for lovers of gongfu tea.

2) Cha He (Tea Plate)

This looks like a purely ornamental accoutrement, a plate to hold tea leaves but it is one of my most commonly used items.

Firstly you can measure out tea leaves from the canister or package and hold it in the Cha He. This is preferable to pouring directly into the vessel because steam from the warm vessel (you do warm the vessel before you make tea, right?) might condense on your package and lead to degradation of your teas.

Secondly, you can use it offer your friends who might want to smell or examine the dry leaves (which incidentally is a good idea, see here). Putting in a plate would be preferable to offering the container directly and risk the person handling the leaves with his or her bare hands and pouring it back into the container.

3) Cha Ze (Measuring Spatula)

How do you bring tea leaves from the packet to the Cha He?

Let us examine the alternatives:

i) Tablespoon

Suitable only for small leaves- how many dancong leaves can you put in it, I’m guessing 1-2, which weighs 0.5g (estimate).

Do you have the patience to measure out 20-30 spoons for 1 serving?

Didn’t think so.

ii) Pouring Directly

This is fine if you have no broken bits in your packet. In practice, because of movement in transit, wear and tear from previous times you served the same packet and general clumsiness, broken leaves are common.

Pouring directly from the packet usually means the broken leaves with higher weight-surface area ratio would fall faster.

That usually means your brew is more bitter than normal.

iii) Using your hands

Moisture and grease from your hands will cause the unused leaves to degrade faster.

So by process of elimination, we made a case for the Cha Ze.

4) Filter

A filter is to a gaiwan what butter is to toast.

2 main complaints about the difficulty of using a gaiwan are that

i) It is hard to find an optimum angle to decant the water without letting the leaves seep out

ii) The gaiwan will scald your fingers

Pairing it with a filter makes everything simple, you can happily open a larger angle than normal and allow the water to flow out quickly thereby preventing your fingers from being scalded and not let any leaves through.

5) Cha Jia- Tong

This is one item that does more for the guest than the brewer.

It is used to serve the drinking cup, sounds simple?

Well it’s for hygiene purposes or the perception of hygiene.

When you are serving the small drinking cups for gongfu tea, there is scarcely enough space to hold somewhere that would not scald your fingers nor touch the drinker’s lips.

Hence, using a tong will enable the host to serve his or her guest without the latter feeling squeamish about how clean the host’s fingers are.

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