Managed to chance upon something uncommon recently, heartwood from a single old tree (estimated >100 years) of northern malaysia origin. The heartwood was undergoing some serious compaction as the tree was growing, the fibres are crumbly, the ... [Read More...]
Every yixing pot collector probably would have heard of the legend of seasoning yixing pots, that the longer you use it, one day, by just adding hot water to the pot, you can get tea! It is a myth and a huge misconception, partially due to poor ... [Read More...]
Recently I came upon a post from someone on a forum that he had a bad tea day despite having followed the exact same procedures in the preparation, from the water quality, to the boiling, to the pot, to the quantity of tea leaves in weight, same ... [Read More...]
Having had purchased and sampled and studied countless incenses from all sorts of origins over the years, it soon became a personal challenge to create incenses that are both artistically inspired, and olfactorily able to match up to commercially ... [Read More...]
Happy Lunar New Year to all readers! Wishing everyone good health, prosperity, wellbeing and lots of excellent olfactory joys in the Year of the Goat! ... [Read More...]
although KZ is not really on social media, I had created an instagram account just for the fun of it and so that readers/friends can get regular updates on what Kz's up to. you can find kyarazen here at ... [Read More...]
We all know that the dissolved ions in water, i.e. iron, sodium, potassium, chlorides, carbonates etc affect the taste of the water. But apart from the usual chemical composition of water, there's another lesser discussed aspect that also affect ... [Read More...]
I was inspired to write this article when I had the fortune of viewing, and handling a 供春 "Gong Chun" Yixing pot made by Jiang An Qing (1920s). No pictures though, in respect of the owner's preferences. Amongst the opinions of high end Yixing ... [Read More...]