We made our second trip to the Royal Orchid Tea Museum, currently under a serious program of improvements.
The event carried a water theme - an exhibition of Shui Pin Yixing teapots from Ming to modern, and, a sampling of several Shui Xian teas.
I offered two pots of my own - 1970s hong ni and 1930s zi ni. Kai suggested my elder pot was originally made for export to Japan.
To break up several rounds of Shui Xian, we also enjoyed a special puerh from old trees. The bundle of leaves was so large that we had to cut it in half to fit in the widest gaiwan we could find.
I was allowed to experiment with a Japanese silver kettle - one of the most stunning pieces of teaware in the collection. The freshly boiled water really punched up some 90s puerh I was brewing, but did little for my pot of Shui Xian, already gone flat after many brews.