Musical Instrument Ebony Tea Utensil Set

The spoon of this whimsical ebony tea utensil set is carved into the shape of a stringed instrument with tuning pegs along the neck. Reminiscent of the shape of a guitar, the ornate vase that holds all the tools is crafted from sloping panels of dark ebony wood and rosewood. The five-piece set includes a spoon, tongs, teacup server, and puer needle with sheath, all made from ebony with gold metal accents, and a yixing pot brush with tiny rhinestones around the neck.

Note: Wood is a natural material that may contain gradations in color. Appearance may vary.

Tea utensils are used for convenient and clean tea service accompanied by beauty and grace. Though there used to be a great variety of different tea tools in the traditional set, now the common utensils used are concentrated into 4-5 pieces which are held inside a vase. This helps you perform a clean tea service, where your hands don’t touch the tea or tea ware. Utensils can be made from many different materials, but the most common are wood and bamboo.

The common five pieces tools are as follows:

1. Cha chi, a Chinese tea spoon with a long shape scoop, convenient for picking up long loose leaf teas.
2. Cha jia, tweezers used for washing cups and removing leaves from the pot without having to use touch them with your fingers.
3. Cha xiao, a long stick with a flat end to help you pour dry tea leaves from a display plate into a cup or pot.
4. Cha lou dou, a tea funnel to place on top of the opening of pots so the leaves won’t spill when you pour them in. These are especially used for yixing clay pots.
5. Cha zhen, a stick with a pointed end to help clean the spout when tea leaves get stuck.

A Brief History of Tea Preparation

The Chinese were the first to gather and use tea as an herbal back to 4,500 years ago. Back then, tea was pickled and used as a vegetable to accompany rice. Tea became popular as a beverage about 1,250 years ago during the Tang Dynasty. With its growing popularity, people began to create utensils to help during tea service. Utensils during the Tang Dynasty were still very simple. Tea was cooked into a large cast iron pot of boiling water. A scoop was used for serving tea and for scooping water into the pot. Metal chopsticks were used to add charcoal to the fire. Tea bowls were used for drinking, and a grinder was used to grind tea into rice size particles to boil. Tea culture became very rich during the Song Dynasty, about 900 years ago. More detailed utensils were invented for an intricate service. This could have included about 20 or more tools. 600 years ago, the Chinese stopped compressing all the tea into cakes and began drinking loose leaf tea. The utensils changed a lot during this period. This was the beginning of infusing tea, rather than boiling the leaves. About 450 years ago, black tea, wulong tea, and white tea were invented. Every region’s utensils changed based upon what tea they made.