Teapot

Dec 8, 2004

In 1996, I made my way to the Wabi Shop, a tea shop in Cleveland’s Little Italy, where the shakuhachi flute-playing owner, a guy named Daniel Mantey, sat me down for a tea ceremony with a Taiwanese white tea. On my way out, I bought a tiny Yixing clay teapot.

For years I’ve cherished this teapot, no bigger than a large thimble. I make green tea in it, and when I sip the gentle water, I can close my eyes and feel as if I’m skipping through a bamboo forest like the characters in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Alas. I came home to find there’d been an accident.

So now I’m on a quest to replace my companion teapot. The Wabi Shop closed not long after I bought my teapot, and from what I can tell, Mantey is living in Japan. There are plenty of websites selling Yixing teapots, but I’ll need to scour the sites for one that looks like mine. Let me know if you see something similar in your local tea shop, please.

Many years later, I learn the name of this style is Xi Shi Yixing teapot.

Anton Zuiker ☄