Collecting
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Contents |
Overview
Collecting has long been an important facet of tea culture. Some collect items such as teaware or collectible teas such as pu'ehr and aged oolong. Others collect intangible experiences, such as tea tastings and visiting locations such as tea rooms, conventions, and other facilities.
Collecting Tangibles
Teaware
Collecting teaware fulfills functional needs, such as the ability to enjoy a wider range of teas and styles of brewing, but can also take on a sense of art collection.
Functional Collection
Different varieties of tea lend themselves to different methods of preparation.
Also, different preparation methods that are suitable to the same variety of tea may produce a beverage with somewhat different characteristics, such as flavor and aroma.
An avid tea drinker may very quickly wind up collecting such items as gaiwans, kyūsus, Yixing pots, English style porcelain pot, etc. for use with different teas or occasions.
Artisanal Collection
Some items are collected largely or entirely for aesthetic or other other non-utilitarian purposes.
Popular collectibles include unglazed Tokoname teapots, English tea sets, and Yixing pots, among numerous others.
Tea
Temporary and Long-Term Collections
Because most tea depreciates in value and flavor over spans ranging from months to a few years, most teas do not remain in personal collections for long-term storage. These collections tend to exist primarily for the ready availability of one's favorite teas, and change in nature as tea is consumed and replaced.
Other teas (notably Puerh and some Oolong), however, are particularly well-suited to long-term storage and may actually increase in value over years and decades. The primary reasons for this are that available quantities of such tea decreases over time through consumption and a tendency of these teas to evolve in complex ways over time in a manner similar to some cheeses, wines, and liquors. Although the primary purpose of such collections is for ultimate consumption, some collections serve at least in part as speculative financial investments.
Shopping for Collectible Teas
Since tea collection can represent a meaningful personal expense, people naturally try to minimize losses due to unfortunate decisions. Not every tea will suit one's palate as well as others, or appreciate in value.
Commonly, a tea collector obtains samples of prospective collectible teas and/or attends tea tastings before purchasing larger quantities of the tea. This process is essentially the same whether one is collecting or long-term or short-term storage.
Of roughly equal importance is the process of soliciting advice from knowledgeable sources such as blogs, reviews, and friendly individuals.
Collecting Intangibles
Tastings
Many drinkers of teas ranging between good and premium simply enjoy tasting a wide variety of teas for reasons including, but not limited to, shopping savvy, aesthetic pleasure, and bragging rights.
Visiting Locations
Some tea aficionados visit countries such as China to see where tea is grown and processed, as well as visiting tea conventions, tea rooms, etc.
