Sourced from a small family workshop in Fujian’s bamboo country
Michael Zhan found these during a spring sourcing trip through the hills behind Fuding — better known for white tea, but also home to a three-generation bamboo craft lineage. The workshop, tucked in a valley where raw culms are split and shaped entirely by hand, produces less than 200 of these funnel‑and‑scoop pairs a month. Each piece is cut from the same 6‑cm‑diameter moso section, ensuring a matched grain and colour. The scoop’s gentle curve mirrors the angle of a tea caddy’s neck, while the funnel’s lip was refined through half a dozen prototypes before it sat flush on every gaiwan we tested. Michael spent two days on-site, discussing finish durability, wax migration in humid environments (solved by switching to cold‑pressed camellia wax), and the tiny brass pin that prevents the scoop from rolling. The result is a tool that does exactly one thing — move leaves without spilling — and does it with the kind of quiet precision that serious gongfu practice demands.