Friends, and Why We Keep Them

One of the many questions we get whenever we serve tea to new friends is: what is that clay animal next to the kettle? What does it do?

First, we must provide context. Tea pets make the most sense when brewing tea in the traditional Gongfu fashion with a tea tray to pour excess liquids into. Tea pets can be kept completely dry as a decorative part of the experience or as friendly decor, but their unique potential is most apparent when regularly pouring liquid on them as part of the Gongfu tea process.

What is a Tea Pet?

The premise of a tea pet is very simple. Whenever you have tea, your tea pet does too.

When your water has come to temperature and you're rinsing your teaware, so too do you rinse your tea pet.

When "waking up" a tea, your tea pet gets the first taste from the discarded liquid.

When you're finished with your tea and you still have some left over, you gift what remains to your tea pet.

The tannins present in each tea and the amount, temperature, and frequency of the steeps you share causes your companion to develop a visual fingerprint of the story you both share. Over time your tea pet develops a patina and coloring unique to you!

There are several practical and even spiritual reasons to share your tea with a tea pet, but above all else each tea pet is about sharing a journey that grows with each steeping. Or maybe you just think they look cute. That's okay too.

History of Tea Pets

Tea pets are as interesting as they are mysterious. Although they're considered an essential part of the experience for many tea enthusiasts, no one has quite the same reasoning for why they consider tea pets to be part of the process at all.

Tea pets are traditionally made of unglazed Yixing clay (purple sand) and come in all shapes and sizes: turtles, dragons, dogs, tiny buddhas, oxen, lucky pigs, and even as mini teapots! Some of these tea pets are made so that they can determine the relative temperature of the water from the heat pressure it generates, but for the most part a tea pet is just a plain and solid clay totem.

So why do they exist?

Unfortunately there is no clearly recorded history of what tea pets were originally meant for or how they came to be, but what we do know is that they originated in the same Yixing region made famous for its clay artisans and mastery of all things pottery related. We can only surmise that one day an artisan thought to create a loyal companion that he could share his tea with: one that wouldn't mind listening to him talk for hours on end about his trade, or sharing the silence of a quiet morning with the rising sun. And thousands of years later we continue on with the tradition.

Modern Tea Pets

Tea pets are one of the many things we consider most sacred in their original form, but the tides of time have brought many changes to the art form over the years.

Although they are traditionally unfinished (baked as-is) Yixing clay, tea pets can now be found in many materials and finishes both glazed and unglazed. The modern tea pet can be found painted and glazed, as porcelain rather than clay, with multiple materials, with precious materials or stones, or even with temperature sensitive color changing paints.

While these non-traditional tea pets generally can't develop a patina and character like their predecessors, they all have their own novel characteristics, and at the end of the day choosing a tea pet is about picking what you like most!

Finding a Tea Pet

If you've decided you need to get your hands on a lovely companion to share delicious teas with, check out our Tea Pets here!