If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you’ll know that I’m a guy who loves his tea. I recently visited a great tea museum in Macau (FREE!), and when I learned that there was also a tea museum in Hong Kong, how could I pass up paying it a visit?
The Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware is housed inside an 1840s-era colonial-style mansion that once served as the residence of the British colonial commander in Hong Kong. Now, the historic old mansion houses Hong Kong’s museum dedicated to everything tea.
Permanant exhibits on the ground floor of the museum tell about Hong Kong’s important history of tea culture. Exporting Chinese tea to Britain and the rest of the empire was an integral part of Hong Kong’s economy for much of the 18th and 19th centuries, and tea played a huge role in the culture of not only Hong Kong, but England as well. The museum informs visitors about different types of Chinese tea, as well as the culture behind traditional Chinese tea ceremonies.
When we visited in January 2019, the museum was hosting a special exhibit showing the works of local artists and craftsmen who had each created a tea set in their own particular style to represent an issue that was important to the artist. Some of the professional artists had creted really amazing tea sets – some beautiful, and some intentionally ugly to highlight an ugly issue in the world today.
Some of the best (in my opinion) and most evocotive work, however, came from the high school category. The tea pot below, for instance, definitely caught my attention, though I’m not sure I would have much of an appetite to enjoy my tea if it was served from these pots!
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The Flagstaff House Museum is located at 10號 Cotton Tree Dr, Central, Hong Kong (near Admiralty MTR station)
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The museum is open every day except Tuesday from 10:00 – 18:00
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Admission to the Flagstaff Museum in Hong Kong is free
LB convert 