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Let's face the truth – it's impossible to make a good cup of tea without a proper teaware. Although strainers are extremely easy to use, they are not appropriate for all types of loose leaf tea. Smaller leaves like rooibos or mecha will be impossible to brew using a regular strainer. On the other hand, teas like Buddha Hand won't have enough space to fully unfurl. Cup infusers are a perfect way to keep it all simple and tidy, but if you are really getting into tea, you might want to start building your own teaware collection. So, where to find good teaware?

(Source: Tea Chronicles ©)

Where to find good teaware?

There are a few places where you might want to look. The best option would be - of course –to visit China or Japan and search in local tea and teaware shops. Unfortunately, buying a ticket to go teaware hunting is not always possible. We would suggest the following.

eBay

It might not be the best place to find good tea, but eBay can be a good place to find good teaware - if you know how to search. Products marked as antique or used will rarely be functional or clean enough for brewing tea, but can be perfect as home decorations. Tea cups, on the other hand, will mostly be perfectly safe. Most Japanese chawans we found on eBay had a bad smell. But, if you are buying clearly new products, you can find them at very reasonable prices – for less than what you would pay in a regular western tea store. Try to keep away from tetsubins and zisha teapots – if extremely cheap, they are mostly unauthentic.

Tao Bao

Tao Bao is a great source for buying Chinese teaware. Prices on Tao Bao will be at least 50% cheaper, and sometimes even up to 90%, for the same piece of teaware found on eBay. Although Tao Bao is in Chinese only and there is no international version, there are many Tao Bao agent sites that make it possible to buy good and unique teaware.

Rakuten

Japanese version of Tao Bao is a good option for buying Japanese teaware. Rakuten has an English version and you can buy many product using PayPal.

Etsy

Etsy is a good source of handmade and used teaware. Although most of them will be made by western artists, most of the pieces will be quite unique and beautiful. Products on Etsy are generally not extremely cheap, but you will be getting a nice piece of teaware that is not produced for mass market.

Tea Festivals

Visiting a tea festival is not only fun, but a great opportunity to grab a good deal on good teaware. If you are able to visit those in China, even better - it will feel like being in a teaware heaven. Besides, the big plus of visiting a tea festival abroad is that you will be surrounded by enormous amounts of tea.

Specialized tea and tea ware shops from China and Japan

There are a couple of high quality online shops selling teaware directly from China, Japan and Taiwan. The only problem might be the shipping cost – usually much higher then buying from western shops. However, keep in mind that the assortment is much better and prices are lower as the supply chain is shorter.