New teacup and Mao Feng

Yesterday I met with Nomad owner Daniel Kurek who just got some new wood fired pottery from Petr Novak and also from another Czech potter- Jiri Duchek. We had a nice tea session in the teahouse I work at and he showed me some of the new pieces. Of course I had to buy some of them :-D I bought one bigger cup made by Duchek and two smaller ones by Petr Novak (I will present them in next post)

Once again I set up a simple setting outside my flat (I wanted to make tea inside today, but its very cloudy and light was bad). I decided to brew Huang Shan Mao Feng- inexpensive but very nice tea from Long Feng which I bought at Teahouse Zamocka .

The tea cup by Jiri Duchek is a bit bigger than most cups I use, but I really like it and I think I will get used to its bigger volume.  Cup is made from a rought clay with a beautiful white crackled glaze and a simple  decoration- just a few brushstrokes with deep blue cobalt color. As I mentioned before, it was fired in a wood kiln and you may notice darker spots on glaze- I think they were created by fallen pieces of ash. One of the many things I love on this kind of pottery is that when you use it, it gets more and more beautiful. I just cant wait for the moment when the tea fills those cracks in the glaze :-)

 

Im more of a Pu Erh and Roasted oolong drinker, so I dont drink green teas very often, but I like this tea very much. It comes from a private tea garden and its made from semi-wild tea treas. Dry leaves have a bit smoky scent but after you put them into prewarmed gaiwan its gone and leaves release sweet fresh floral aroma. Flavor of infusion is very sweet and harmonic. Aftertaste is flowery, with a hint of peaches and almonds. I used water of about 80-90 degrees Celzius and shorter infusions. Warmer water suits this tea very well.

I really needed this small calm teasession today and the tea chosen helped me with my melancholic mood. I like green teas for such ocassions- it clears your mind but you wont get teadrunk like from Sheng Pu Erh.
Finally I just cant help myself - I have to put just one more photo of my new teacup :-) These little things that I dont really need makes me strangely happy every time :-D