Portable Tea Set

 With the end of the rainy season I decided to buy a portable teaset so my wife and I could enjoy tea in the parks that can be found in and around Busan. You can see it in the picture as I demonstrate its level of 'portability'.
This kind of teaset was common to medieval Japan and China and it holds everything except the hot water. When we go for a tea picnic we bring the water in a thermos.
For a good pot of tea the water should be 70-80C and never 90 so a thermos is excellent for this.
The box itself is called a 차탁Chatak or teaboard. (At the bottom of this article I'll have all the shopping information for you).

As you can see here once you remove the lid you can see that it holds the teapot, teabowl and 4 cups on the first level of the teaset. The lid and the frame can both be removed to be used as a small serving table. Great for picnics when you're sitting on a rock in a park and need a flatter space.

As you can see here the bottom level is where you can put your tea. I use small tupperware I got at the 'dollar store' 1000 won mart to hold the tea. It is large enough for a small box of tea. 지혜선/JiHyeSun Teashop sells several teas in small boxes that will fit. As you can see, the teabowl, teapot and cups come wrapped in cloth dust wrappers. I bought these cloth wrappers for 3000-4000 won each at 고물들의 미팅/GoMulDulUi Meeting but you can also get them at a small shop called

이은수도예공방 (Lee Eun Soo DoYeaKongBang). Mentioned later in this article.

As you can see here the lid for the bottom level has a several slits cut into it. This is what makes a chatak: it has a bottom level beneath the grating to catch the water that might be spilled when pouring. Teaboards can come looking like tables and some are just like flat boards. Most have a bottom tray to catch the spill. There are others that are like flat boards with edges to keep the tea on the board. On these ones the tea runs downhill to one end of the board where it disappears down a tube and into a refuse bowl. These ones tend to be rather ornate and expensive.  GoMulDulUi Meeting specializes in teaboards although you can find some at other stores and teahouses as well.

Some Zen or Daoist schools of tea advise that when pouring the tea it should be spilled. There's one teahouse & Teashop in Nampo where the owner loves pouring her tea all over. It is actually quite fun watching her so excitedly playing with her tea. Personally I find that a watery mess and aim to pour all in the cup although it is fun spilling tea for the guests. After all, what is a teaboard for, right? 

GoMulDulUi Meeting (pictured here) specializes in Teaboards. Just ask the staff to see their many  차탁ChaTak. They have many on the first floor and alot more on the 2nd floor. They are THE place for portable teasets.
Directions to there shop can be found on my previous post tea tour part one (repost).



이은수 (Lee Eun Soo)'s tea and pottery shop can is near to GolMulDulUi's Meeting. Lee Eun Soo's shop is a great place to find all kinds of floral teas as well as the traditional Pu'er. I reviewed this shop in my  tea tour part 2 real live horses posting. Later I'll do a report on the Chinese tea thermos which in my opinion is the best way to have Pu'er tea.  Till next time, stay steeped.

Tea Tour Part One (Repost)

Apologies for the lack of pictures in the tea tour post. Here it is recast below. Tomorrow I'm off to Kyungsungdae's Tea House named "Sicily" which has for many years been turning PKNUs professors into true Sicilians. I shall also be looking for a teashop rumored to be located on the street behind K'dae's Century building. Stay tuned and hence without further ado...Tea Tour Part 1.2:

For those searching for teashops and tea houses look no farther. There's lots to cover so be patient, I aim to cover 'em all starting with Nampodong. Over the course of my 8 years here I have seen teashops and houses come and go. As to date in Nampo I my count is 2 teahouses 5 teashops.

Here are a few I dropped by earlier today.

 When you take the subway to Nampodong take exit 5. As soon as you reach the top of the stairs you'll find yourself in teacountry where the hunting is good. Right at the top of the stairs theres a small teasupply shop pictured here. A basic shop with cups a plenty.

  Here you can see exit 5 and the GSMart that is located nearby. Walk over to the GS and take that street on the left. Right where that white car in the picture is, yep, that street.

Next you'll see what's pictured below. This is the side street. The teashop is above the pharmacy (약) eeeeew Yagk: that's Korean for medicine. The teahouse is called 다래헌 or DaLaeHun. They serve a fine Boeycha there. I have yet to sample the rest of their menu.

 If you turn right at the pharmacy and go straight to the next intersection and turn left you'll find one of the best teashops in Busan.  지혜선 (JiHyeSun)named presumably after the owner, has a decent range of teas. Plenty of Oolongs and the Pu'er teas there are right from china all wrapped in bamboo ranging from 20,000won to 300,000won.
The street its on runs parallel with the GSmart side street.  
(They also have alot of teapots of the Chinese and Korean variety along with teabowls for Japanese green powder tea).

This next teashop is called 고물들의 미팅 or used stuffs meeting (GoMulDulUi Meeting.... sounds better in the Korean). It is an antique store with most of its stuff coming from China.

 To get there you need to get to Nampo's

Art Street

. Its the street with the underground art shops that isn't connected to the subway line. (why they haven't connected them I don't know *hmph*). Suffice, The easy way to get to the street is to go to

PIFF street

(the one with the 3 movie theaters) and walk to the StarBucks. When you turn the corner @the starbucks there's a Hagendaz. That's how you know your on the right track and street.
Go straight until you see your first children's toy shop (pictured upper left). There's 2 toy shops on that street. The little side street next to the toy shop is the one you want.
Right next to the toy shop is the antique store. I will post details regarding their portable teasets later. Do stay tuned to channel T, where like OPS bakery "Tastiness is transmitted" and transmission ends upon consumption.

GoMulDulEui Meeting has alot of inexpensive tea items and is one of the best places to go for a first time shopper. Many of the other places have either expensive teas or parts of tea sets to add to ones collection.

                                                                                                    

On the first floor they have teapots and various teas; mostly the cheap everyday kind of teas Pu'er and Japanese green tea powder both usually go for 20,000won. Lower end tea but stored well in metal containers and that's about the average price for Japanese green tea. They also have many imported Chinese items that are great as gifts to send home.

The real gems are located on the second floor where they have tea boards (more on that later), and even portable tea sets that you can bring hiking or camping.