Teapots with overhead handle

I like teapots with overhead handle. This is because such teapots give you a more secure grip, like holding a conventional kettle. Holding the teapot from the top also requires less strength and one can see the flow of tea from the sprout uninterrupted. On the other hand, a side handle gives rise to a bigger bending moment, you need a stronger grip from the fingers of your palm. One problem arises when one needs to discard used tea leaves from the teapot. When you take out the lip, make sure not to knock the lid against the side of the handle to avoid damaging the teapot. Other then this, overhead-handle teapots are a great utensils to brew tea.

It was said that such teapots was the design of a famous poet Su Tongpo who lived during the Song dynasty era with the famous Tongpo overhead handle pot.

Over the years, I have collected a few teapots with overhead handle. They come with different shapes and sizes. Some come with a metal handle made of brass and both the rim and base are cladded with metal. The whole teapot is polished to a very glossy shine.

In other designs the handle and the teapot body are of the same clay material. Such teapots are not ideal for export as the handles usually break during transit. Hence not many potters like to make such teapots.

This elegant design is cute and lovely

A design from sections of a bamboo

A globular design created by an old master

Made in the late Qing dynasty

Polihsed teapot more than a hundred years old

Famous teapot of the republic era

A pear-shape pot 

Lotus leave design

The most expensive of the overhead-handle teapot is the one designed and made by Gu Zingzhou. It forms the center of a teapot set consisting an overhead-handle teapot with 5 cups.This eleven-piece teapot set was auctioned for over 17 million RMB in early 2000s.

Gu Zingzhou's creation

Vintage puerh in the news

In 2011, the Taiwan Changhua District Prosecutors investigated the family of 2 wealthy brothers concerning a sum of over 20 millions Taiwanese dollars. It was suspected that the sum of money was used in political donation. As many as 30 members of the family were interviewed in the investigation to find out where the money had gone to.

Prosecutors investigate mystery involving 20 millions in Taiwan

Later it was found that the sum of 20 millions was actually spent in the purchase of 2 bundles (each bundle contains 7 cakes) of 100 year-old puerh tea cakes. This was revealed by the agent who bought the tea from a merchant in Hong Kong. The agent in total bought 8 bundles of the 100-year puerh tea from the Hong Kong merchant. The tea was from a famous brand known as Longma TongQin Hao, a brand renown in the late Qin dynasty more than 100 years ago. 20 millions for 2 bundles was then the prevailing market price for such a tea. The wealthy Taiwanese brothers were fans of antigue puerh tea  and would pay anything for fine antigue puerh tea. It was told that they actually commissioned a friend to purchase the tea through this agent.

20 millions spent in 2 bundles of tea 

Longma TongQin puerh tea

Over the years, the agent sold some of the precious tea to his wealthy clients. He said now there are only 3 bundles left in the world and each bundle is now worth a hefty 50 millions Taiwanese dollars.

Antique puerh worths millions in RMB

The rich and famous people in the world indulge in extravagant things of which antigue puerh becomes their favourite choice of beverage. They all have a sizable collection of fine and aged puerh tea. As the agent commented, these super rich have assets of billions, what is the cost of million-dollar puerh to them.

Due to its scarcity, the price of 100 year-old puerh almost reached a level that even if you have the cash, you may not be able to find the supply. For instance, the red label puerh tea cake is selling at 700000 RMB in China and one bundle can cost as much as 5 million RMB.

Red label puerh cake produced in 1950

This bundle of tea is worth 50 millions in Taiwan

Recently, the agent brought one bundle of the 100 year-old LongMa TongQin puerh tea to to a tea-house in China. He opened up the bundle in front of his guests including some journalists.

Due to many years of storage, one can see that tea cakes had actually got fatter. they were not so tightly packed as the many years of storage caused the tea to be rather loose.

 He carefully prised opened some tea and brewed the 100 year-old tea in a Yixing pot. He was even seen joking with his guests that this brew of puerh tea costed him 200000 RMB. A journalist then commented that his cup of puerh tea worked out to be 2000 RMB per cup. Incredible, isn't it.

200000 RMB for a brew

Each cup can cost as much as 2000 RMB

It was said that once you have tasted the 100 year-old puerh tea, you can never forget the rich and tremendous feeling that such a tea gave you. Obviously, you need to have connection before you can even have a chance to try out this fabulous tea.

Puerh from Iceland

There is a puerh tea with a brand known as Iceland. It had even won a gold award for being the best tea of the year in China. The brand name in Chinese PingTau literally means Iceland. You may be puzzled that an European country can in fact produce puerh tea. A foreign puerh tea that won a gold medal in the land of Chinese tea.

Award winning PingTau (Iceland) puerh tea

Not to alarm, This puerh tea is 100% puerh tea from China.

Puerh tea by definition, is the only tea that is produced in the Province of Yunnan in China. No other country in the world can produce puerh tea.

PingTau is just the name of a village in the Province of Yunnan. Hence the puerh tea from the village bears the brand name PingTau or Iceland.

The wild tea trees in this village have produced puerh tea of such high quality that won the tea the gold award. If you have deep pocket, this is the tea to buy. It can be very expensive as in 2014, the raw unprocessed tea (freshly picked from trees) was reported to be selling at fifteen thousands RMB per kilogram.

I have some puerh tea cakes from the PingTau region of Yunnan. They were green puerhcakes produced in 2013. I saw the tea in a tea shop and asked for some sample to try out. After tasting it at home, I like its fragrance and taste. It may not be the award winning brand, but the tea is good and the price is reasonable. I decided to stock up some quantity of this brand of PingTau for personal consumption.

My very own PingTau puerh tea

Although the tea is still relatively young, I was surprise that the taste is not harsh at all at this age. The after-taste is also good and very memorable. After drinking the first cup, you feel like wanting to drink some more. Maybe this is the tea with great potential in the years to come.