Tea brings joy to oneself and honors others.

Those who love tea often have an extreme pursuit of the ideal setting for drinking it. The Ming dynasty's “Secret Collection of Xu Wenchang” describes the most ideal setting for Tea drinking: a refined abode, a cloud-filled forest, a bamboo stove, recluses and refined scholars, sitting alone on a cold night.

The literati's obsession with tea is not solely about the tea itself, but also the pursuit of a pure, profound, and ethereal state of mind.

A tea setting centers around tea.

With tea wares as the main element, in a specific form of teahouse space, combined with other artistic forms, it creates a complete tea ceremony art ensemble with an independent theme.

The tea setting has evolved over centuries from the initial creation of a “tea ware combination” by Lu Yu, and has been perfected through the generations.

The arrangement of a tea setting should neither deviate from tradition nor ignore modern behavioral norms.

A “tea setting” is both a platform for tea artists to express their imagination and a space to convey their lifestyle and mental state.

From this point onwards, tea ceremonies gain more ritualistic and aesthetic significance.

A tea setting is not about artificial “placement,” but rather meticulous “arrangement,” akin to how ancient Chinese traditional painting compositions are referred to as “setting up formations and arranging forces.”

The placement of tea wares and the selection of flower vases should evoke poetic imagery and be pleasing to the eye and soul.

For flower vases in a tea setting, classic, simple, and small designs are preferred.

The phrase inscribed by the elder Qu Yuan, “Endure hardship and cold, live in simplicity, mingle with clear springs, and companion with white stones,” describes the calamus, which Jin Nong praised as “not blooming unless it finds a true friend.” In recent years, it has been rediscovered and placed on scholars' desks, also gaining popularity among tea lovers.

There are many varieties of calamus, and those used for pot cultivation are special, smaller varieties.

In the Ming dynasty's “Spectra of Flowers” by Wang Xiangjin, it is written: “Nourished with sand and stone, the more pruned, the finer it grows, standing four or five inches tall with leaves like velvet grass; this is also known as stone calamus. There is another variety with roots two or three fen long and leaves one inch long, placed on tables for elegant appreciation, known as money calamus.”

“Spectra of Flowers” records different varieties such as mud calamus, water calamus, stone calamus, etc., with tiger whiskers further divided into varieties from Quanzhou and Suzhou, as well as dragon money calamus, fragrant sprout, sword spine, money cow, top platform calamus, and so forth.

Some varieties have already been lost, while the more common ones today are “tiger whiskers” and “money.” Additionally, there are many wild stone calamuses found in various regions.

Drinking Tea and admiring calamus are both joys in life that help people withdraw from the frivolousness of daily life and find pure and genuine peace for the soul.

As the saying goes: A kettle of tea to pass the day, idle moments spent only admiring flowers.