Melinda, there's a disconnect here. Is the 5 oz. a typo? Yixing cups are usually 1 to 2 oz. I'd think a 5 oz. cup wouldn't get that terribly hot because of the large surface area.
I could understand the little 1-oz. cups getting pretty hot, and for cups that small, the yixing tongs are perfect for dealing with the rinsing process.
If your cups are 5 oz., how big must your pot be?
BTW when I'm doing casual just-for-me gungfu, I often use a 7 oz. pot and a single 6 oz. cup, and do several steeps. If I were having guests, I'd use the proper practice and small cups.
Cha-in-ka (ch is like ch in Italian chao), emphasis on the second syllable ("in") - Cha'inka. Cha -in -ki (multiple cha -in-ka) Chai - nyj stol ("y" here is for russian letter and sound that does not exist in English, but does exist in Chinese - "e" like Chinese for goose. You can imitate it by pronouncing long letter "o" and in process move your lower jaw forward. This time the emphasisi is on teh first syllable - 'Chai-nyj. Stol is easy - like "Stoli" (Stolichnaja (the capital city) Vodka" without "i" - comes from the same ancient root - stol = table - the city inside the principality where the Kniaz (prince) was "sitting" at his "table" - his headquarters.
5 oz cups? That is a gong fu for the giants! I use 4 oz yixing teapot and 3/4 oz cups when I do it for on-two people. 6 oz yixing chahu and same cups for 4-6 people. Second - that "pourng the water out into the sink" does not sound right at all. Everything is done on the table, there should not be any trips to the kitchen sink. When I have 2 people I use bamboo tongs to take two cps at a time (3/4 oz cups) and put them into hot water and take them out. When I serve 4 - i use two pair of bamboo tongs and do it with 4 cups at the same time. In and out - no sink, no hassle. But certainly one cannot do that with
5 oz mugs.
Given the fact that Melinda put the word sink in quotes, I believe she was referring to the bowl into which the water is dumped, not to the plumbing fixture.
No, no typo...hmm, I didn't realize my pot was so much larger than what others seem to use. The website I bought it from says it holds "over 10 ounces" but I haven't actually measured it. So I'm guessing it's around 10-11 ounces. I use it when I'm pouring for myself or myself and my husband. I suppose we're really guzzling down the tea then..;) Actually, I can't remember seeing pots that are much smaller than 10 ounces on this particular site, and many that are much larger (which I know is not the direction I want to go if I want to do gong fu in the way I've learned). I will have to look though to be sure. When looking at pots sizes like 10 ounces don't jump out at me but sizes like 24 ounces (actually anything bigger than about 12) does make me notice.
Also, a comment on the posts that are not yet on Google groups but which I can read from my newsreader...you are quite right Derek, I was using "sink" in a more gong fu sense. I do not run back and forth to the kitchen sink, lol. Presently I am using a regular baking pan (I am guessing it's around 11 by 17 or some such, with a depth of around 3 inches) for my yiking sink because it's what I have to hand and it's free which is a consideration at the moment.
Some of my slip-cast Yixing-type pots have hollow handles that communicate with the body volume. Thin clay conducts heat very quickly. So when filled with hot water, the handles can be too hot to tough comfortably.
Maybe, it's not a yixing pot, and not even a traditional unglazed clay pot (like those from Taiwan). I have a number of pots, and the difference between the yixing and others is the yixing don't get so hot. I have a glass and a glazed ceramic mini-pots, they definitely stay much hotter when you try to gong-fu them. But not to the point of getting hurt if I'm careful.
You are not supposed to touch the pot's body (for any pot), just the handle and in certain cases the lid-button that is an added piece especially designed to stay "less hot". The cups have also a thinner part at the extremity, that part also stays cooler so you can catch them from there and also avoid burning your lips. Also, be careful. You shouldn't touch the pot imediatly after pouring water on top of it but waiting till the handle and lid are slightly cooled. Of course, there are pots/cups better designed than others, and sensibility to heat is a very individual matter. Try to wear cotton gloves (driving gloves), they don't prevent the movement of fingers, don't smell and you feel the heat less for quick exposure. I use some to return the cookies inside the oven, etc.
I ignore that. What does "hot" mean ? How hot ? I never use water hotter than 90 degrees.
It's a Taiwan tea. There, I've seen them doing like me : bringing the kettle from another room. That makes the water at 90 deg. C. for rinsing, a little less for brewing. IMHO, the reason of gong-fu-ing is not reaching hot temp. , but maintening a "hot enough" temp. constant for a while.
It's unlikely. There are no Japanese yixing pots. But the big yixing pots with iron handles and frame exist, in China and Chinese import stores. They are not designed for gong-fu. The pots designed for gong-fu are a very very small minority of the pots on sale in Asia. The others are not "a few". It's logical there are more large size pots, as the Chinese rarely use pots (they brew daily tea in glasses or worse) and when they get the pot out of the cupboard, it's for an occasion, and they need to serve many guests.
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