The minimum that works
A beginner needs very little, and almost none of it needs to be bought as a set.
One kettle, one brewing vessel and one cup will make every tea in this guide.
Everything beyond that is convenience rather than necessity.
The usual mistake is buying a large boxed set before knowing what is in it.
Those sets look complete and they usually contain several items that go unused.
A better approach is to buy three things, use them for a month, and then add.
The three are a way to heat water, a vessel to brew in, and a cup to drink from.
A fourth item, a scale, is cheap and it removes the guesswork from how much leaf.
One that reads to 0.1 g costs very little and it lasts for years.
A fifth, a timer, is free if there is a phone nearby.
That is the real minimum, and it fits in a cupboard.
Any money left over is better spent on more tea rather than on more gear.
The leaf is the variable that changes the cup, and the gear mostly does not.
Start small, and buy the second piece only when the first one annoys you.
Vessels
The brewing vessel is the one choice that matters, and there are three sensible options.
A gaiwan（盖碗）is a lidded bowl of 100 to 120 ml, and it is the most flexible.
It suits every category, it shows the leaf, and it is easy to clean.
It is also cheap, which matters when the first one gets broken.
A small porcelain pot of the same size does the same job and keeps heat slightly better.
It hides the leaf, which is a real loss with a green or a white tea.
A glass or a mug is the Western option, and it works for one long steep.
A mug of 300 ml wants about 4 g of leaf and a steep of 2 to 3 minutes.
It is the easiest way to start, and it is also the least informative.
Anyone brewing leaf several times should move to a gaiwan fairly quickly.
A pitcher, sometimes called a Chahai（茶海）, is the fourth vessel worth having.
It lets the whole brew be poured off at once, which stops the steep.
Without one, leaf sitting in hot water is the usual cause of a bitter later cup.
Add a strainer only if the leaf is broken, since whole leaf does not need one.
Heating and measuring
Heating water is the part people overthink, and a kettle is a kettle.
A variable temperature kettle is pleasant, and it is also the only luxury worth buying.
It holds a set temperature, which removes the waiting and the guessing.
A plain kettle that reaches a full boil is enough for every tea here.
Cool the water by waiting, or by pouring it into a cold vessel first.
Green leaf wants water near 80 °C, and a boiled 100 °C will scald it.
A thermometer costs very little and it does the same job as the expensive kettle.
Measuring leaf by weight is the second habit worth forming early.
Volume measures of leaf vary by grade, and a scale removes that problem.
A small scoop of about 5 g is a workable substitute for a scale.
A first steep of 30 seconds is a fair starting point with a gaiwan.
Water quality matters more than most of the rest of this list.
Very hard water makes a dull cup, and a cheap filter jug fixes it.
Reboiled water tastes flat, so start with fresh cold water each time.
None of this is expensive, and all of it changes the cup more than a new pot would.
What to skip when starting
The things to skip are mostly the things sold as part of a set.
A full gongfu tray with a drain is useful later, and pointless at the start.
Six matching cups are not needed when one or two will do.
Aroma cups, or narrow tall cups for smelling, are pleasant and entirely optional.
Tea pets, tongs and decorative tools are ornaments rather than equipment.
A tea knife is needed only once compressed cakes enter the cupboard.
A timer app is free, and a dedicated timer is a nice object rather than a tool.
An expensive Yixing（宜兴）pot is the last thing to buy, not the first.
It suits one category of tea, and using it wrongly is easy.
Buy it after a year of brewing, when the preference is already clear.
The same goes for a large ceremony set, which is mostly for show.
Spend the money on more leaf, and on a second gaiwan as a spare.
That is the whole list, and it is shorter than any set on sale.