Tea mat (chaxi cloth)
A cloth or woven mat laid under the vessels to define a brewing surface, used in place of a draining tray. It is the visible half of what is usually called dry-table brewing: no water is poured onto the table at all, waste goes into a bowl, and the setup is a cloth rather than a plumbed slab of wood.
Identity
- Category
- Accessory
- Native name
- 茶席
- Romanised
- cha xi, chaxi
- Also called
- tea cloth mat, dry table cloth, brewing mat
- Material
- Linen, cotton, ramie, felt or woven bamboo
- Skill level
- Beginner
Porosity
Not porous. It contributes nothing of its own to the liquor, so it can be moved between teas freely and washed with detergent without consequence.
Where it comes from
Chinese and Taiwanese contemporary practice. Chaxi names the whole arrangement of a tea setting rather than the cloth alone, and the modern dry-table style is a recent development rather than an old form.
Named here rather than presented as generic equipment. The object belongs to a practice, and TeaHQ describes it from the outside.
If you do not own one
A tea towel. The mat has no brewing function whatsoever — it stops rings on the table and gives the eye somewhere to stop, and that is the whole of it.
This one is not marked essential. The tea can be made without it.
Brewing methods it is used for
- Gongfu brewing (gaiwan) — A high-leaf, low-volume, many-infusions approach: a great deal of leaf in a small vessel, steeped for seconds at a time and poured off completely, repeatedly.
- Gongfu brewing (Yixing pot) — The same short-steep, high-leaf approach as gaiwan gongfu, carried out in a small unglazed clay pot that seasons over time and is dedicated to one tea.
Care and maintenance
Wash without fabric softener, which transfers to vessels. Expect permanent tannin marks; a mat that is not stained is a mat that has not been used.
Other accessorys
- Alcohol burner
- Cha dao utensil set
- Cha he (tea presentation vessel)
- Charcoal brazier (fenglu)
- Cup stand (chatuo)
- Electric ceramic tea stove
- Futaoki (lid and ladle rest)
- Hishaku (bamboo water ladle)
- Induction plate
- Kensui (waste water vessel)
- Kusenaoshi (whisk stand)
- Mortar and pestle
- Podstakannik (glass holder)
- Ro and furo (hearth and brazier)
- Ryoro (senchado charcoal stove)
- Stone tea mill
- Tea boat
- Tea cloth
- Tea cosy
- Tea pet
- Tea pick (cha dao)
- Tea tongs
- Tea tray (cha pan)
- Teapot warmer
- Waste water bowl (jianshui)
- Water cooling bowl (sukwoo)
- Water filter jug
- Yuzamashi (water cooler)
Sources
This page is TeaHQ synthesis. No external source stands behind the description, the material or the account of how the object is cared for. Where the record names a tradition, that attribution is TeaHQ’s own reading of common practice rather than a citation.
TeaHQ names no maker, brand or shop and has nothing to sell. Nothing on this page should be read as advice to buy the object — the substitute note above exists because owning it is usually optional.