This is one of my favourite old friends, originally provided by MarshalN while visiting Shanghai. I've since found it for sale on Taobao for $6, and invite you to come and join me in the page for this tea, where I can provide further details.
Speaking of old finds: our teatable.
I really do love our teatable
Lei often remarks how excellent she still finds our teatable. We bought it in 2005, after scouring dozens of teashops in Chengdu, and considering score upon score of teatables.
It gets better with age, if care is taken to wipe it down, and empty its water-tray, after each session
It looks as good today, after daily use for five years, as it does on the day that we bought it. If anything, the continuous daily laquering of pu'ercha residue has left it with an even richer shine that it had at the outset.
It is spacious enough for the most demanding sessions
Over the years, I've had many requests for information concerning this teatable, and have always remarked that it is made by the "Hengfu Tea Company", but that I've not seen it for sale outside China.
However, a recent ramble through the pages of Dragon Teahouse resulted in me stumbling upon our table, for $60, which is very reasonable given that we paid the equivalent of $30, five years ago, in a Mainland Chinese shop.
So, if you're in the market for a teatable, this one comes highly recommended. Discreet, spacious, and yet not too large. It's ab-so-lutely superb.
7 comments:
Actually, I'm wrong - that's a bamboo version of our sandalwood table. The closest sandalwood variety is this one, but there are no side-panels, which have proven to be essential.
Toodlepip,
Hobbes
Hi Hobbes , I sent Gordon at Dragon Tea House an email asking him if the bamboo version of your tea table was available in any other type of wood . He sent me a reply saying that he has it available in wenge wood - 99.99 USD plus 41 USD for shipping to the uk - that works out at 97.38 GBP at today's exchange rate . It's a shame that the exchange rate is so bad at the moment ! If it were better I would definitely go for it . All the best! Simeon . P.s - The recent blast of hot weather here in the uk seems to have woken up the sheng . I've noticed a really active bright and vibrant quality to the ones I have been drinking recently .
Funny. I have the same tea table from Heng Fu, just without the side panels - and in bamboo.
I found at a Chinese store in Copenhagen.
The version without side panels is also available at Dragon Teahouse - it is pretty. That said, a major part of the appeal of our table is its panels - they are fantastic for storing teaware!
Unrelated to tea, but been meaning to ask for a while... where did Lei get that hair stick from? It's very striking. Is it some sort of lacquered petrified wood?
Dear Will,
It's a traditional Chinese hairpin made from, just as you noted, lacquered wood. It's from the popular "Tan Mujiang" stores ("Carpenter Tan") that crop up throughout the major PRC cities. The products are very well-made, but can be quite pricey, even in China. A quick Googlesearch for "Carpenter Tan" indicates that exporters have them for sale, but I wonder if the price might be even higher.
We picked up a few nice examples from some wood-workers near Guilin, too. They're quite popular with traditionally-minded Chinese ladies. :)
One word of caution: the hair needs to be very long in order to be suitable for pinning - typically, the lady needs to be able to sit on her hair in order to use the hair-bunch required for a traditional wooden hairpin.
Toodlepip,
Hobbes
That is crazy Will, I was at a Carpenter Tan store 2 days ago - friends were searching for beads of aromatic woods. If you don't find one in LA, it would be easy but slightly slow going for me to send you some photos and pick one up.
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