Let me show you my “tea table”, or rather a small but functional side table equipped with a gong fu tea tray and tea kettle. I’m a minimalist. Also, living in a small apartment turned me into one. I cannot complain, though. Neither can my tea pet.

What is a tea pet?

A tea pet is a tea lover’s lucky charm and a low-maintenance tea companion that sits on your gong fu tea tray. A tea pet only needs tea but will be more than happy with the water used to rinse tea leaves before steeping (you would discard it anyway). Traditionally, tea pets are made of clay. Some change color, some squirt water and they are usually animals or Chinese zodiac signs or mythological creatures. They were very likely invented to re-purpose the scraps of clay left from the production of tea pots and then were sold alongside them. My tea pet is a squirrel (can you guess why?). Since I have re-purposed a little figurine I got as a present as a tea pet, I don’t really pour tea on it, I’m not sure that’s a good idea…

Years ago, when I was living and studying in Vienna, Austria, my German language skills needed improvement. One day, I was talking to my boyfriend (now husband) and was telling him how surprised I was because I had seen a squirrel right in my back yard. Vienna is full of beautiful parks and it’s not rare to encounter wildlife. But European squirrels are very different from their American cousins. They are shy and won’t approach humans hoping to get food. I was really surprised to see one. Unfortunately, my sentence didn’t come out right. I had confused two words in German, the word for squirrel and the word for unicorn. I basically told him I had seen a little unicorn in my back yard. He must have wondered on what drugs I was! This is how the squirrel has become my spirit animal. I wonder what happened to the unicorn …