I spent a very pleasant few hours in Hong Kong Park today and visited the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware. Really very interesting.  

Flagstaff house itself was the office and residence of the Commander of the British Forces in Hong Kong. The house was built between 1844 and 1846 and is the oldest building in Greek Revival style in Hong Kong.  

It became a Museum, a branch of the Hong Kong Museum of Art in 1984  and is the first specialised museum in the world devoted to the collection, study and display of tea ware.

What is that you may ask. Well China has had a very long history of tea drinking, remarkable teas, and even more remarkable rare ceramics associated with the Chinese tea culture. The museum displays all this in a very professional way, and in a way that makes it easy to understand and enjoy.

Well worth a visit if you are ever in Hong Kong. Oh and do have a late dim sum lunch in the gallery restaurant next door. Delicious and with tea served, very correctly I might add. and just in case you are wondering, no, it is not served with milk, or evaporated milk. It is truely, Chinese style. hhhmmmmmmmmmmmm

I had trouble finding a stamp that really captured the visit but the above is one of a set from Hong Kong issued in 2012 on the theme of  "Hong Kong Delicacies" .

This one was to recognise Egg Tart and Milk Tea ($1.40 stamp) - Egg tart and milk tea are the two signature items of Hong Kong-style tea restaurants. Egg tarts have two main types of outer casing: short crust pastry and puff pastry. An oven-fresh egg tart consists of an outer crispy pastry crust that is filled with egg custard and baked. A perfect complement with an egg tart, milk tea is made of black tea that is strained through a distinctive cloth bag. The tea when further mixed with evaporated milk and sugar is a cup of rich and velvety smooth milk tea.   Very different form the Chinese style served tea I had but the best I could do for a tea stamp at short notice.

And below these 4 stamps from Taiwan, issued in 1989, and showing some traditional tea pots, much like some I saw today.

Have a great weekend. I will be enjoying some Jasmine tea because I bought some. J

Michael

http://www.cddstamps.com/bidstart_store.htm