Ya-Ya’s Tea-Board

As I was browsing a book by my dear friend Kim Sang Soo, a famous artist from Korea, I started to contemplate the meaning of art once again. I’ve had this discussion art vs. craft many times in the past with my then teenage stepdaughter and I don’t think I was ever able to properly articulate why I felt some works fell into the art category while I regarded others rather as craft. Leafing through Kim Sang Soo’s book, a thought occurred to me.

Thoughts | No Comments »

Just a quick post to keep you all up-to-date on what’s happening around Ya-Ya. I will be travelling overseas for 5 weeks, starting this weekend. The trip is partly to visit my family in Germany and partly to source some new teas. I’m hoping to be able to offer you some more amazing teas this year.

Note that there won’t be anybody available to send out tea in my absence. So, if you have any urgent tea needs that can’t wait until my return in April, please get in touch with me in the next few days so I can help you before I leave.

In the meantime, enjoy your autumn (which seems to have arrived lately). I will be travelling into the spring!

Teahouse Events | No Comments »

Sometimes, our minds are open enough for powerful experiences. Most of the time, they are not. Tea can help to open our mind - to achieve the Zen mind. It is no coincidence that tea has been used for nearly a millennium to help focus the mind during meditation. It facilitates our access to the spiritual realm. It helps us us to try harder not to try.

I would like to share with you an experience I had today which was inprired by tea.

Thoughts | No Comments »

Matcha, the Japanese green tea used in the traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony chanoyu, is a very special tea in many regards. On one hand, it is made from the highest grade tea leaves that are produced in Japan. On the other hand, it is the only tea that is still, to this day, prepared like all teas were prepared before tea leaves were steeped: it consists of ground tea leaves that are suspended in warm water and then drunk.

know-how | No Comments »

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with product presentation. While nothing can replace tasting a tea before you purchase a reasonable amount or take a teapot into your hands and feel it, this isn’t really anything you can do when purchasing tea and teaware online. If you live in Christchurch, you’re always welcome to swing by and I’m happy to share a cup of tea (or two) with you. But what if you don’t come through Christchurch any time in the foreseeable future? Well, you kind of have to rely on the photos I put up on our website.

Realizing that it’s hard to judge the size of a (usually very small) Yixing teapot, I’ve started including a lighter in my photos recently to give you a better idea of the actual size of the tea pot. This helps to a degree, but it’s difficult to get a good impression of an inherently three-dimensional object like a teapot in a two-dimensional photo. I’ve long thought that presenting things like teapots in 3D would be the bee’s knees!

Well, the time that such a thing is possible isn’t too far off, I think. Below the fold, you will find a few examples of actual teapots that we sell in magnificent 3D. Granted, the models aren’t perfect (yet), but they’re pretty amazing, you have to admit!

Teaware | 2 Comments »