The Last Taste of Last Spring

As tea is starting to be harvested and processed in Japan for 2020, we get to enjoy the last bit of fine tea in my collection from last year. Served in the spring cups and spring saucers that have just been put into service this week, and steeped in (possibly) my favorite pot: a houhin likely from Banko in the 1920s. A beautiful little pot with three little crabs crawling across its surface. This was a short, but very sweet, tea session.

Dancong Peaches, No Cream

A beautiful tea in a beautiful pot. This session was an ode to spring on many levels: An antique yixing pot that is the living incarnation of the spring of 1952; A 2019 spring dancong tea that is the embodiment of fresh fruit; A floral kutani cup; the poem 青山不老緑水長流.