I have 2 questions that I've been trying to figure out for quite some time...
For those of you that use Xi-Ying pots in Kung-Fu style... how warm/ cool is your room where the tea is prepared? With the A/C on constantly, I find that my teas are getting cold very quickly. I'm currently using a small pot that holds a bit more than 3 oz., and I'm usually drinking tea alone.
This is a total puzzle to me and I can't seem to find any info on the net. Japanese tea sets usually comes in 2 cups, 5 cups, or 5 cups and a pot. Why 5? I think I've figured out "why not 4??" (the same thing as in Chinese, "4" signifies "death"). But why not 6? And if they don't do 6, isn't 5 cups + 1 pot = 6?
I've been reading up a bit and found out that for Japanese tea ceremony and, please feel free to correct me here, they follow very closely with the 5 elements (gold, wood, water, fire, earth); would that be the reason behind the number of cups?
Do you pour the tea from your zisha teapot into a serving pitcher (gong dao bei)? If so, then, do you pre-heat the pitcher first before pouring tea into it? Some serving pitchers have lids, while others are lid-less. The ones with lids would retain heat better, but the tea would still get cold quickly - like say, within 30 minutes when the temperature in the house is at 18 deg. C.
So you need to sit down, and focus on the tea, drink the tea a little more quickly, and not go about the house doing other things.
5 cups plus one pot does not equal 6. You go by the number of cups, the number of cups meaning the number of people (host and guests). Five or less people sharing tea together is considered appropriate, just the right amount to have pleasant, intimate conversation.
Six or more is too many people. With so many people it would be so noisy, and hard to concentrate on enjoying tea. And besides, it would be extra work for the host, to be boiling so much water for that many guests to make tea with, not to mention preparing snacks and foods for all the guests to eat.
I have no problem with my tea getting cool too fast. Even when I was drinking with my brother in the winter in a room without heat.
You are keeping the lid on the pot, I assume? The reason I ask is because I've seen more than a few people that prefer to take the lid of their pot when letting the tea brew; a strange habit that I've helped a few people correct. If this isn't the problem, please ignore this paragraph.
How are you heating the water? I use an electric kettle like you can find in most tea shops solely for the purpose of heating water for gongfu cha. You really have to keep the water heated to boiling to get the most out of certain wulongs. Get an electric kettle if you don't have one.
And, I agree with nii. You should concentrate your attention on tea drinking when preparing the tea. If you prefer to walk around the house and do things when making tea, you should get yourself one of those quick brewing cup things...not sure how they call them in English. The top part of the cup is a little basket for the tea, and it has a button that you can press on the side that lets the water fall into the cup.
Gongfu tea is something that requires much time and patience.
nop, no problem there... I try to follow procedures written in books.
This might be the reason too. What I have right now is one of those electrical boiler that boils the water, and then stores the water, as it claims, at 98 c. What I really want is one of those non-electric stove-top tea kettles; those are probably not as safe (since I've ruined two great 1L kettles already) but I'm interested to have more control of the water temperatures and to see how that will affect the teas.
I've wrote a reply but somehow I've lost it... so here it goes again =(
I do use a lid-less glass gong dao bei. Will a Zisha one keep the tea warmer?
It usually takes me around 3-5 minutes (or less) to finish one brew, that includs sniffing the tea, drinking it, and then re-filling the cup. So 30 minutes is definitely way too long.
I'm thinking if it's all those actions of pouring the teas, first into the gong dao bei and then to each tiny little zisha cups that's cooling down the tea?
So there is no traditional/ cultural significances that's tied into the order of the 5 cup sets but it's purely based on practicality?
Yes, definitely. You lose a lot of heat using the little glass pitchers. I got myself a small zisha pot to use as my gongdaobei, and it really keeps the heat in much better than using an opened mouthed, glass gongdaobei.
although must be a reason, it won't be easy to find, i'm sure no one will 'remember' it i don't really know why they use 5 in the tea sets, and we use 6 for every kind of set, maybe because 6 is half dozen, so.. why a dozen is a quantity? and why only for eggs? we in spain still buy eggs by dozens and half-dozens...
anyway 5, that is a prime number, is consider in art related to beauty, the phi number, golden number, that express the golden ratio, that tried to find the perfect proportion between a part and the whole, for example, and have been used at least since ancient greek culture
phi=[1+sqr(5)]/2=1.6...
and is present in living things, in their grewing structures, so it can be also related with fractals models... even in our body, you can see many proportions are in this golden ratio, for example nose width and mouth one, i think everyone heard of the pentagon is drawed in the face, also in a golden ratio proportions, the teeths width in the center related the next ones, the total height and the distance between navel, bellybutton and feet, and many others... of course not all of us have this proportions, we must be proportionated to have this proportions ;)
maybe is just because we have 5 fingers in every hand. maybe is the same reason that made aztecs [or other mexican prehispanic culture, don't remember, sorry] to count in base 6, so, they don't have 7,8,9, like us, but 1,2,3,4,5,6,11,12,13,14,15... i think because they can count with their five fingers in one hand, and mark when they reach 6 with a finger in the other hand. maybe some similar reason, basques have 20 numbers to count [french 80 is quatre-vingts, four twenties, an inheritage of this]
and if you realise, five petals flowers are often used in asian arts, isn't it? i don't know is five is also present in language, as we for example have 'dozens' when we want to express 'many, many' [in spanish of course]
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