Tea set – the four precious articles of the teahouse 茶具小考：茶室四宝

所谓的“茶室四宝”，缺一不可。即玉书（石畏）、潮汕炉、孟臣罐、若琛瓯。
None of the so-called “four treasures of the teahouse” can be dispensed with. They are Yushu (Shiwei), Chaoshan Furnace, Mengchen Jar and Ruochen Cup.
玉书（石畏）即烧开水的壶。为赭色薄瓷扁形壶，容水量约为250毫升。水沸时，盖子“卜卜”作声，如唤人泡茶。现代已经很少再用此壶，一般的茶艺馆，多用宜兴出的稍大一些的紫砂壶，多作南瓜形或东坡提梁壶形。
The Yushu (Shiwei) is a kettle for boiling water. It is an ochre flat thin-china kettle, with a fluid capacity of about 250 milliliters. When the water is boiling, the lid of the kettle will make a “pitapat” sound which sounds like a call for people to make tea. This kind of kettle is seldom used these days. Larger, dark-red enameled pottery kettles made in Yixing, usually in the shape of pumpkins or with a horizontal beam like handle, are frequently used in the common tea houses.
潮汕炉是烧开水用的火炉。小巧玲珑，可以调节风量，掌握火力大小，以木炭作燃料。此炉在现代亦使用较少。茶艺馆里常见的有三种烧水用具。一种也是紫砂的小炉子，炉内可放置小小的固体酒精灯，配合大的紫砂壶烧水。一种是可保温电热器，不锈钢壶置电热板上。另一种则是磁感应烧水器，玻璃壶（底部是不锈钢）放在感应盘上。这三种用具，以紫砂炉配紫砂壶最有意境，合乎品茶之道，只是较重而易损坏，不方便携带至远处。
The Chaoshan Furnace is a furnace for boiling water. It is small and exquisite, and the volume of air which it uses can be adjusted to control the intensity of its heat. Charcoal is its source of fuel. This kind of furnace is also not commonly used nowadays. Teahouses have three kinds of commonly used water boilers. The first is a kind of small furnace which is made from purple sand. A small solid alcohol burner can be placed in the furnace. The furnace can be used for boiling water in conjunction with a large dark-red enameled pottery kettle. The second type is the electric heater which can preserve the heat and the stainless steel kettle on the electric hot plate. The other one is the magnetic induction heater with a glass stainless steel bottomed kettle placed on the induction panel. Of these three groups of furnaces and kettles, the furnace made from purple sand with a dark-red enamel pottery kettle has the greatest aesthetic value and is most suited for the purpose of tasting tea. However, they are relatively heavy and are not portable.
孟臣罐即泡茶的茶壶。为宜兴紫砂壶，以小为贵。孟臣即明末清初时的制壶大师惠孟臣，其制作的小壶非常闻名。壶的大小，因人数多少而异，一般是300毫升以下容量的小壶。
The Mengchen Jar is the teapot for brewing tea. It is a Yixing dark-red enameled pot and the smaller it is the better it will be. Mengchen refers to the teapot making master Hui Mengchen of the late Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty. The small teapots made by him are very famous. The size of a teapot corresponds to the number of people it is used to serve. In general, the small teapots with capacity of less than 300ml are commonly used.
若琛瓯即品茶杯。为白瓷翻口小杯，杯小而浅，容水量约10-20毫升。现在常用的饮杯（区别于闻香杯），有两种。一种是白瓷杯，另一种是紫砂杯，内壁贴白瓷。
The Ruochen Cup is a small white porcelain teacup with reverse rim. It is small and shallow with approximately 10-20ml capacity. Presently there are two kinds of frequently used tea tasting cups (differing from the fragrance-smelling cup); one is the white porcelain cup and the other is dark-red enameled cup with a white porcelain interior.
除了这四种必备茶具外，乌龙茶的冲泡中，仍用到其它名目繁多的茶具，简单介绍如下：
Aside from these four tea service essentials, there are a variety of other kinds of tea sets used in the brewing of Oolong tea. The following is a brief introduction:
茶船和茶盘。茶船形状有盘形、碗形，茶壶置于其中，盛热水时供暖壶烫杯之用，又可用于养壶。茶盘则是托茶壶茶杯之用。现在常用的是两者合一的茶盘，即有孔隙的茶盘置于茶船之上。这种茶盘的产生，是因为乌龙茶的冲泡过程较复杂，从开始的烫杯热壶，以及后来每次冲泡均需热水淋壶，双层茶船，可使水流到下层，不致弄脏台面。茶盘的质地不一，常用的有紫砂和竹器。
The tea plate and the tea tray: Tea plates on which the tea pot is placed are in the shape of plates and bowls. When holding hot water, they can be used for warming teapots and cups, as well as maintaining teapots. The tea tray is used for supporting teapots and cups. Commonly used tea trays unite the tea plate and tea tray as one, i.e. by placing the porous tea tray on the tea plate. The tea tray owes its appearance to Oolong tea’s complex brewing process. At first, the cups and teapot shall be warmed. Each time after that the teapot shall be exposed to hot water when one is making Oolong tea. The double-tier tea tray allows for water to flow into the lower layer without staining the table. The textures of tea trays are different and popular ones are commonly made from purple sand and bamboo.
茶海。形状似无柄的敞口茶壶。因乌龙茶的冲泡非常讲究时间，就是几秒十几秒之差，也会使得茶汤质量大大改变。所以即使是将茶汤从壶中倒出的短短十几秒时间，开始出来以及最后出来的茶汤浓淡非常不同。为避免浓淡不均，先把茶汤全部倒至茶海中，然后再分至杯中。同时可沉淀茶渣、茶末。
Chahai (teapot) resembles an open teapot without a handle. The timing employed in making Oolong tea is very important and a difference of just a few seconds will affect the quality of tea water. Therefore, even during the dozen seconds when tea water is being poured from a tea pot, the tea water poured at first and that poured of at the end of the pot vary in tea flavor. In order to avoid the unevenness in gradation of tea flavor, all tea water should be poured into the Chahai and then poured into separate tea cups. In addition, the tea leaves and sediment has the chance to subside.
茶荷。形状多为有引口的半球形，瓷质或竹质，用做盛干茶，供欣赏干茶并投入茶壶之用。好的瓷质茶荷本身就是工艺品，奈何许多茶艺馆略去茶荷不用，甚是可惜。
Tea holders are made of porcelain and bamboo, mostly hemispheric and have a drainage opening. Tea holders are used for holding tea. One can appreciate the tea leaves in the holder before putting them in the tea pot. High-quality porcelain tea holders are arts works unto themselves. However, many tea houses do not use tea holders: this is a great pity.
闻香杯。闻香之用，细长，是乌龙茶特有的茶具，多用于冲泡台湾高香的乌龙时使用。与饮杯配套，质地相同，加一茶托则为一套闻香组杯。
Fragrance-smelling cups are used for smelling the fragrance of a tea. They are long and thin and are specific to Oolong tea brewing. They are commonly used for making Taiwanese Oolong which has an intense fragrance. Matched with the tea tasting cups, fragrance-smelling cups are of the same texture. A fragrance-smelling set of cups is completed with matching saucers.
茶匙。多为竹质，如今亦有黄杨木质，一端弯曲，用来投茶入壶和自壶内掏出茶渣。
Teaspoons are generally made of bamboo and boxwood these days. One end of the teaspoon which is used to add and remove tea leaves from the pot is bent.
此外还有茶盂、茶夹、茶则、茶漏等辅助茶具，品种繁多，泡茶时并非一定使用，这里不再细谈。
There is a great variety of accessories for tea sets including tea jars, tea clips, tea measuring tools and tea funnels; though they are not indispensable to the tea brewing process, so their details have not been included here.