Tea Tools for Gongfu Tea

Gongfu tea art lies quite far from a strict set of operational requirements. But it does have a set of very common tools that are used during the ceremony; some of which are crucial to the tea infusion and others which serve more with illustrating a certain precision and finesse. Here's the whole list, much of it available here at Yishan Teashop (listed in order of size):

Tea board
Useful for keeping the tea making area clean and and presentable, in addition to making minor spills less of a concern during the tea ceremony

Water bowl
This is where spent leaves or excess water can be easily dumped to, keeping each item - waste included - in their own special place, and always with easy access

Tea steeping vessel
Usually a Yixing Purple-clay pot, but often also a Gaiwan, or lidded cup. Many green and white teas will use a normal tall and thin glass

Gong Dao Bei (pitcher)
This pitcher is usually made of glass so that the tea liquid color can be appreciated. The vessel's primary use is for decanting the tea from original Yixing pot or Gaiwan. It is from this pitcher that the individual cups are poured.

Tea leaves dish
When the correct portion of leaves is set aside they are placed in this dish for showing the leaves to all the guests prior to the steeping taking place.

Wen Xiang Bei (fragrance cups)
These cups are tall and thin. The idea is that the tea is first poured in here, then through the magic of inverted cupping and basic fluid dynamics the tea is released into the tasting cups, at which point the fragrance can be really well-sampled from the now empty Wen Xiang Bei. This is a common concept, where the aroma is particularly present in a vessel once the tea is poured out. Try it with the lid of the Gaiwan or the empty Gong Dao Bei!

Tea cup
Cups for tasting the tea, clearly.

Teacup coasters
Self-explanatory coasters for keeping the table surface free of any hard from hot liquids.

Tea filter
Used in conjunction with the Gong Dao Bei to pour the ready-to-drink tea out of the steeping vessel without losing the leaves

Teacup pincers
For handling the small tasting cups without the use of less elegant dirty fingers

Tea scoop
Useful for moving the right amount of dry tea leaves into the steeping vessel

Tea pick
This only sees much use towards the end of a ceremony when the tea maker wishes to clean the Yixing pot's spout. Though, a pot that is clogged prematurely can certainly take advantage of this tea tool

Tea brush
One of the stranger core pieces of the tea utensils, it's purpose is to keep things clean and to help delicately move stray leaves.

Tea towel
This again falls in line with keeping the whole process tidy. Spilled water is less tidy, so the towel is often used before pouring each cup or each round of cups by gently swiping the surface of the Gong Dao Bei again the stationary towel.