How to Use Tea Utensils

Hello everyone! Today we are going to talk about tea ceremony utensils. I've been getting some inquiries about how to use each one of the tools that we perform tea ceremony or simply just making tea. So today I want to talk about three things, the materials, the types of utensil that you will come across as well as the usage of it. So the materials that you will come across, sometimes wood is a very popular one, wood, rosewood, different types of wood sometimes. Rosewood is one of the very popular wood utensils. And then definitely bamboo. Now bamboo, this one is called golden bamboo, very popular, you can find it very easily to be found rather. And another one that I personally like is an aged bamboo. Now what's the difference? Aged bamboo actually has a richer oil in the material because it's been in the soil for a much longer period of time and they're very nice to touch and they are generally darker in color. Another one is copper. This one is a copper or brass and they are a little bit heavier. It's good on the table, they don't tip and but they're not super easy to find because mostly are wood and bamboo. Now what can you find in a set of utensils or what are popular? Now scoop, tongs, now scoops are like this or like this, different shape. Now why are scoops important? Scoops can be a measuring spoon for each time you make tea. Instead of weigh it on a scale, you can actually simply use a scoop and if you make the tea often enough, this can be your simple measuring spoon. Another tool is called tongs that we use very often. Now this is a wooden tongs. We also have bamboo of course. Now tongs, people use it to pick up things like the cups for example like so when you serve. So this is also a very useful tool. Sometimes people use to pick up teapot lids and things that are hot and also when you are doing a tea ceremony, you're serving your guests, you simply don't really want to grab onto your cup right. So those tongs are used for that. Now you'll find another tool in your utensil kit would be a spatula. A spatula is when we use to put teas in our pot. You definitely don't want to use your hand. You want to use something, a tool that helps it to push it in. Remember when we're performing tea, part of it is the presentation. So you want to push that using that to push. Another function for this spatula is sometimes it comes in this shape, sometimes it comes in shapes like this. Another function for that is when you are using a tea canister, a tea canister at the bottom, there's little bits and pieces of tea leaf we call fannings. This will help it to pick out the fannings when you need it. Instead, a big scoop will not allow you to do that because it's too large right. So this one for smaller leaf, this is a very useful piece. Next to that, here is the pick. What is a pick for? The pick is for when you're using a teapot, sometimes leaves get caught inside the spout. So this piece will allow you to help it to remove it. You don't use it all the time, but when you need it, this is a lifesaver. Okay, and other tools that you will find is a funnel. This piece is when you are making premium tea, you really don't want it to be on your tray. You want it to all land in your teapot. So this actually helps it to enlarge the opening of your teapot. Another, probably you might not use it every time, but it's super useful when you need it. Okay, what else can you find in utensils? A brush. Now brush, this is a soft brush. It can be made with different types of hair. This one, what's useful for if you are into seasoning your teapot, your terracotta teapot, this is a useful tool. What it allows it is when you pour tea onto the teapot, this actually helps it to spread the oil around your teapot very evenly. So when you're seasoning, you are not, to ensure that it doesn't get spotty. So when you spread the oil evenly. So this one, another piece of tool that you'll find in your set, or you can get separately, is a pour knife. Now pour knife is super useful to take apart tea cakes. And generally, I like the tips a little bit, a little bit like a flatter tip because it helps it to push in and then wiggle. So it comes in different shapes. This is separately, it's not in the kit or set, but this one is. Another essential piece, tea towel. You'll find another life saver because sometimes when you pour, each time when you pour, you want to have a tea towel. Let's see, I have one open here. So a tea towel, each time before you pour, you can actually wipe that off and before you pour, right? So tea towel is also very important. Now, some people say, can I just grab a tea towel off my kitchen and use? The answer is I prefer not because tea towel should only be absorbed tea oil in it and nothing else. It shouldn't be having that you wipe off your kitchen and then use it in your tea tray. That's not recommended. Okay, other tools that you would come across. One of my favorites is a cup scoop. Now cup scoop, particularly useful nowadays because a lot of people would use tongs to pick up cups, but now you can do that in the first cup of tea because your guests haven't used it. So we use this to pick up and serve your tea, fine. But afterward, if your guests put back their cup onto the tray, next time you want to serve, you don't want to be using tongs because it's been used, right? The cup. So you want to use a cup scoop and then you want to place it there. So you're not touching their cup and that's not immersed into their cup either. So that's very, very useful and safe to use. And they come in different size. As you know, you might be served using different cup size and so the smaller cup, this one is not going to work. And so they have for use in different size cups. What else is there? Hey, scale. If you're looking for precision tea brewing, tea scale is very useful. So they come in different types of tea scale. Just pick the one that you like. This one is very simple. It measures well. And the newest model, if you wanted to check it out, this one is my recent favorite. It's just because it looks very beautiful. And this one, you can weigh the tea right here and then this helps. And then it comes in with a scoop that you can use it to dispense the tea into your teapot. And this one is, and it comes in different colors too. So I love it. It's very, very useful. So as you see, many tools come with different materials. Choose the one that is suitable for your setting and what you're using it for. Some people, if you prefer more organic, bamboo is a good choice. And some people like it more wood and porcelain, you know, there's many different materials. Just choose the one that is suitable for your setups at home. And just keep, and another pointers that I have is you don't need to buy everything at once. Buy it as you go. Like I said, just get the minimum to start off if you're just starting your tea making and ceremony and keep trying and you'll perfect it. Have fun. Thank you for watching. If you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a comment below. For more tea content, like, subscribe and share. Cheers.