Had the final touches put on a custom Jianshui pot we picked up for a certain tea-loving dad this week. Since zitao shrinks up to 20% during firing, making the lids fit perfectly is near impossible, thus some sanding is in order before taking the pot home. Happy fathers' day! #happyfathersday #custom #teapot #teaware #zitao #purpleclay #tea #茶 #차 #trà #ชา #té #thee #tee #thé #teh #чай #čaj

A photo posted by Bitterleaf (@bitterleafteas) on Jun 19, 2016 at 8:08am PDT

Putting the final touches on a pot we had made for dad (Happy fathers’ day!). Since zitao pots shrink up to 20% during firing, it’s often necessary to file down the inside of the lid/lid seat in order to ensure a good fit. This is done using a fine glass powder applied to the lid, then pressed into the pot and ground.

Just letting some of our new Jianshui purple clay hu chengs (pot supports) out to run and play. #tea

A photo posted by Bitterleaf (@bitterleafteas) on Jun 20, 2016 at 11:40am PDT

We carried a zitao hu cheng (pot support) that sold very quick. This time around we picked up a few more, all with slight variations. These are a great alternative to a full tea table/tea tray as they allow you to still shower your pot, but take considerably less space.

More new glass gong dao beis coming soon for all you teaware heads. Dual #tea pour performed by a trained professional, please do not attempt at home.

A photo posted by Bitterleaf (@bitterleafteas) on Jun 21, 2016 at 11:22am PDT

Just playing with 2 new glass gong dao beis. One rough, one smooth.

Breaking into some of the good stuff today, 2006 Ban Zhang #rawpuer #tea. Hoping we can find inspiration in this cup and pick name that's fit for a king (of puer) before we release it later this summer.

A photo posted by Bitterleaf (@bitterleafteas) on Jun 22, 2016 at 11:55am PDT

A glimpse of a new tea we will be putting out later this year. This is 2006 Ban Zhang that has spent its life here. With just under 1 Jian on hand, this cake is #511 out of 1600 cakes pressed.

New zitao teaware is up in the store! We picked up as much as we could, but quantities are still quite limited. There's a few new pieces this time around, including 2 new style of gong dao beis from a test batch, one of a kind cups, pot supports, tea jars and more. We also restocked some old favourites, like our Warrior gaiwan and Hawk gong dao bei, because your #tea deserves only the best.

A photo posted by Bitterleaf (@bitterleafteas) on Jun 23, 2016 at 10:52am PDT

New zitao teaware! We felt a bit bad listing so many new pieces and only having a few of each on hand, but hey, it’s a dog eat dog world when it comes to teaware. You need to be quick!

Giving some newly arrived blue ceramic tea pets a bath after arriving with some "storage" to them. These tea pets are antique pieces originally from the Jing De Zhen sculpture and ceramic factory. They were made in the 70s – 80s for export, but have been forgotten until now. Each horse is hand made and fired twice, with a glaze that will crackle with continued #tea showers.

A photo posted by Bitterleaf (@bitterleafteas) on Jun 24, 2016 at 12:39pm PDT

Up close with some of our new Smurf blue antique ceramic horse tea pets. This is a "full set" of what we could get, showing each of their poses. As antiques, these pieces are limited, with no possibility to restock. We've already tamed our own, but we'll try to make these available soon enough. These tea pets are originally from the Jing De Zhen sculpture and ceramic factory. They were made in the 70s – 80s for export, but have since been forgotten until now. Each horse is hand made and fired twice, with a glaze that will crackle with continued #tea showers.

A photo posted by Bitterleaf (@bitterleafteas) on Jun 24, 2016 at 12:50pm PDT

We broke away from our trend of 1 post a day and went for a whopping 2 pictures! Talk about going wild… that’s just because we were so excited about these blue ceramic horses from Jing De Zhen. Each one is an antique piece from the 70s/80s. There are 8 total poses available, however some are hard to come across. We have only a few full sets, which are more expensive than the sum of their parts. We think these are some of the most fantastic tea pets we’ve ever seen though, and can’t wait to share!

In an alternate reality, Bitterleaf would exist in the form of a coffee company, and our IG feed would look like this (not so different, really). With these Bao Shan beans and Jianshui coffee mug, we'd still be keeping it Yunnan. While we appreciate good coffee, we think we'll stick to #tea for now. That doesn't stop us from sending fresh beans and fresh tea/coffeeware back to family in Canada though.

A photo posted by Bitterleaf (@bitterleafteas) on Jun 25, 2016 at 11:47am PDT

One of our unexpected finds when we picked up our zitao was this coffee mug. This endedup being a gift for our sister in law… time will tell whether she will use it for coffee or tea. It would be interesting to see if coffee has the same kind of beneficial interaction with Jinashui zitao as tea does. As for coffee, we’re not absolute about anything, so we still enjoy a good cup of coffee, but don’t expect to see us change our name to Bitterbeans any time too soon.