Initial Position
“Kung Fu Cha Dao”, the skillful way of tea preparation, is a complex procedure that requires a lot of knowledge and years of experience of a tea master on one hand. On the other hand it involves a considerable amount of tools and equipment.
The aim of our research was to investigate how the knowledge of the tea master – in particular knowledge regarding steeping time – is being incorporated into products. When there is no tea master, how can products communicate steeping time? And how do products communicate the value of the time spent while drinking tea? Is there a way to appreciate the time while drinking tea through a product? And is tea drinking most of all about spending time?
Another focus was put on how the range of tea tools and equipment changed/decreased over recent decades. To give one example: whereas nowadays a tea ceremony requires only four pieces of tea tools (tong, spoon, needle, funnel) there were still 21 pieces used about hundred years ago.
initial questions:
1_How is the factor time – that is spent on tea consumption – reflected in products, regarding material, size, and value? E.g. how do products deal with steeping time?
2_How did tea equipment (ceramics, tools, furniture) evolve during the past 50 years – regarding function, shape and material?
Desk Research
Becoming familiar with the Taiwanese way to prepare tea and the respective equipment such as tea pots and cups, smell cups, tea boat, tea tools. There is a huge variety of tea pots and a lot of modern tea equipment that deals with steeping time, there are tea pots shaped as sand glasses or even clocks which are integrated in the tea pots.
The aim of the desk research was to define questions that would help to undertake the following step; getting us started on site in Taiwan.
Field Research
The field research covered three different categories concerning tea equipment – handcraft, contemporary design and equipment used during a tea ceremony in a private context – and was undertaken by our bicultural team during the first week.
The first phase was dedicaded to broad research. A trip to Yingge, a town a 30-minute train ride southwest of Taipei City, know as the pottery center of Taiwan, demonstrated the diversity of products related to tea. This place has several hundred pottery manufacturers whose products are sold in numerous shops string along Yingge Old Street. Another landmark concerning Taiwanese ceramics in this small town is the Yingge Ceramics Museum, which not only exhibits historical tea pots but also displayed the “4th Taiwan Golden Tea Pot Prize” with a big variety of handcrafted tea pots.
A contrary approach to the mass display of products in Yingge’s ceramics street can be experienced in “The One Concept Store” in Taipei City: Exquisite items designed for daily life – among them tea sets.
At “Chun Shui Tang Tea House”, that is said to be the inventor of bubble milk tea, this Taiwanese drink – by now also popular in Europe – is served in glasses instead of the common plastic cups.
The next step was to explore deep: We got invited by Mr. Shawn Chien, a private man with a passion for tea, who talked about his experience concerning tea preparation, choosing products and demonstrated a tea ceremony the way it is performed in a private setting.
methods:
photo observation
field observation
interview
Our most relevant findings based on the research phase were that the main focus during tea preparation and consumption is put on the social aspects; spending time with each other and talking about everything and anything. The tea equipment plays a secondary role, even though the level of importance attached to equipment depends on the host and the setting.
Second, the determination of steeping time is based either on experience (tea master) or figured out during a process of “try and error” (for someone that is still learning about preparation of tea).
Concerning the equipment needed for a tea ceremony the most important item in terms of quality and design is the tea pot. Second in line are tea cups. In general the single items are rarely treated as components of an actual set.
Based on above findings we verified and consequentially redefined our initial questions:
1_How does tea equipment reflect the different scenarios of drinking tea?
2_How to engage a young target through products?
