What attracts a tea lover like this Darjeeling tea drinker and addict is those things associated, however remotely, with tea.
I couldn’t help but let you take a peek into an exhibition by the IndianMuseum, Kolkata, under the ministry of Culture, Government of India, the Buddhist Art and Crafts of South Asia had put up an exhibition at the Durbar hall, Raj Bhavan, Darjeeling. (5th October to 11th October 2012)
This is a huge tea pot made from copper about one and a half feet tall. It could easily hold about three litres of tea. Butter tea! I guess. Butter teas in Darjeeling are still consumed which is made from tea cakes with generous amounts of milk and butter.
(How to make one? That’ll follow in my upcoming posts.)
The information read: “It’s the nineteenth century tea pot from Tibet, made of copper decorated with auspicious Buddhist symbols and the handle in the shape of the face of a lion which was used for ritualistic use.”
Teas in the nineteenth century!
The handle and the spout is intricately designed in the shape of a lion. This empty pot alone would weigh a few kilos, not an easy means to lift with a single hand. Imagine holding this pot with some 3 litres of best teas of Darjeeling . (Strong hands required)
This is a picture of a Jug with a dragon handle from the 17th century. It’s made from copper and was used for ritualistic purpose as well. This just made me ponder what would I had steeped if I had such huge tea pots at my disposal.
Lets see. This tea pot would hold anything between 2 to 3 litres of water. Since the pot is made of copper, and though I don’t have any experience of brewing any tea in a copper vessel, I’d have risked experimenting with my muscatel from Castleton second flush 2012 Darjeeling tea.
Reason, just assuming the coppery taste would be over powered by the strong muscatel that this particular Darjeeling tea has.
Given an opportunity, what would you have brewed?
Happy sipping
This is Niranjan Naulakha
DarjeelingTea Boutique
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