![]() ![]() All the members of the Chinese zodiac are present. The sizes range from thumbnail to human head size. Hundreds of sizes and shapes packed onto shelves floor to ceiling. We visited stores entirely devoted to tea pets. This new art form comes with some crazy price tags. Individual tea pets are often made with rare clay, exquisitely sculpted into large shapes. Ten years ago tea pets were just simple lumps of clay shaped like an animal and sold for pennies. That is a problem that many potters are seeking to remedy. With the recent economic boom in China there is an abundance of disposable income looking for a new home. Tea pets are big business in China these days. Tea pets are as commonplace as cigarettes in Chinese tea shops.Įven if tea pets have traditionally held a trifling position in the history of Chinese tea, that has certainly changed. Sometimes these would be sold with the teapot whose clay they shared.Ģ little buddhas grace this stone tea table. Yet all recounted a similar story: traditional potters would take the leftover clay scraps at the end of the day and make cute animals for fun. Most admitted that they knew little about their history. We asked everyone about the history of tea pets. Most common were frogs, pigs, pixiu (baby dragons), and buddhas in that order. Others were large, ornate, and complex works of art. Some were small, plain, and simple animals. Nearly every single tea shop we went to in China had tea pets sitting proudly on their gongfu tea tables. I think they’re a fun addition to your tea rituals. I don’t find tea pets to be a trifling matter or insignificant. There is a Chinese idiom that may describe this mindset: ”trifling destroys the will” ( 玩物丧志 wán wù sàng zhì ). Wikipedia suggests that there is little mention of tea pets in recorded history because they are an insignificant detail. ![]() That’s certainly possible, but it is hard to find information on the history. Wikipedia says that tea pets have been a part of Chinese tea drinking culture since the Yuan Dynasty (13th century). Most often the shape of animals popular in Chinese culture. Tea pets are simply little bits of clay sculpted into forms. If you’ve never heard of tea pets I should explain. Over the months since then a few more tea pets have volunteered to join us on our journey. We named him “Xiǎo Yóu Dù” (shao yo dew - 小油肚) which means “little fat belly”. This adorable little piggy was our first tea pet. It was there that we met our first companion. ![]() While in the area we visited The Chinese Tea Shop. Last fall we went to the Vancouver Tea Festival. I have written at length about my journey with puerh, but I have rarely mentioned our thirsty companions. I experienced brewing tea gongfu style, drank my first puerh, and met my first tea pet all in the same afternoon. That day late last Spring was certainly momentous. I woke a passionate coffee man and went to bed with the ancient magic of puerh coursing through my veins. Waking that morning I innocently plodded right into a new world, and a new life for myself. Pouring it over his head I shared some of my puerh momentarily sating his never ending thirst. This frog was a tea pet, and he was thirsty. Whatever words he would have spoken were obscured by the large coin held tightly in his mouth. What did he want? Those soulful eyes unsuccessful in hiding deep desire. My only companion a fat frog made out of clay who persistently stared up at me. I was in deep appreciation of the thick black brew at my fingertips and was inwardly reflecting on how I had arrived at this place and time. Quietly I sat in the dark back corner of Hidden Peak Teahouse in downtown Santa Cruz. ![]()
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