Brewing in a gaiwan (a novice question).

It takes some fine-tuning, and the answer is that you should adjust both the amount of leaves and the infusion time for every different tea you make. I got a little digital scale from Amazon and have been adhering to a strict one-gram-per-ounce-of-water rule, and that's really helped me focus on the timing. One other resource that has been very useful has been blogs such as Chadao and Teamasters that discuss technique and timing. Chadao members are particularly good about posting the steep times. I never liked pu'er, but that was because I was steeping like eight grams of it in a small yixing for two minutes, and now that my technique is improved I am getting dangerously obsessed with it.

I may lose some "street-cred" but I really do not like brewing in a gaiwan. I don't find that it produces any better infusion than any other method, and I get a lot more personal satisfaction from brewing in Yixing or straight in the mug with an infuser basket. There are a few teas that I will brew in my gaiwans, but they are far and few between. It really is a delicate balance between amount of tea, water, and water temp. and I find it is much harder to be precise in a gaiwan vs. yixing. But that is also why it is called skilled brewing I guess, I say stick with what works best for you personally, but it is fun to experiment every now and then with new methods and techniques. I find it easier to start small - less tea and less water and find what works then scale it up.

- Dominic

Thanks for the quick response. I have been reading the Teamasters blog, which has already helped me considerably. I'm going to check out the Chadao one. Which scale did you get from Amazon? Picking up a scale seems like a good idea.

I got the DigiWeigh DW-250BS. It is literally pocket-sized and I take it with me everywhere. It's kind of crappy though - you always have to tare twice, because after about two seconds at 0.0 it always goes to

-0.1 for some reason. I also got a little digital thermometer for Japanese green teas, but I hardly ever use it, because I hardly ever drink Japanese green teas.

Dominic I agree that yixing is more forgiving, but I think gaiwans are fine if you watch the clock and make sure that the water is the right temp. It's also really useful to have a totally neutral way to evaluate what you are drinking, and they give you the flexibility to try anything. Anything, including Liu An basket tea - what the hell is that stuff? Does anyone know how you make it taste good?

xDust> > xDust> > > I just received a celadon gaiwan from The Imperial Tea Court in San

it was a joke, right ?

Alex wrote: Anything, including Liu An basket tea - what the hell is

Hmmm.... now that I've got a timer and a thermometer, I suppose I should get a scale. 1g per ounce intuitively seems a lot to me, but without a scale, I've got little idea how much I've shovelling in right now!

Why is a yixing more forgiving? I thought they were generally pretty small as well.

Gavin

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Dustin, taking off from what Alex wrote, what brewing temperature are you using with those teas? With the BLC at least, I'd say you overdid it in your gaiwan. Really good BLC is pretty damned delicate and unless the water was quite cool, a minute is quite long. 140F is possible. But, perhaps you know all this already. Luck.

Michael

>

[Alex] [Michael] I sure do, and glad you asked: Wait around 50 years. It'll be soft and sweet and delicate. New ones are an acquired taste, eh? (I've been drinking some of these older versions and can attest.)

Anyway, hope this helps.

Michael

To the original poster:

Exploration and a sense of timing, a sense of appropriate strength, are fascinating aspects of brewing tea in a mindful manner. The more you use your gaiwan, the more relaxed you'll become with using it, and the more naturally the answers to your questions will be answered by your own experience. It's a comforting thought, no? "Your ears thirst for the sound of your heart's knowledge."

To Dominic:

I enjoy the flexibility of gaiwan brewing, but surely nothing can compare to the use of a yixing zisha hu paired specifically with the type of tea you have selected. If gaiwans are the badge of "street cred", then I am happy to be extremely uncool in this regard. :)

Toodlepip,

Hobbes

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I don't think Alex is joking, Oleg. *I* like the beet-dirt taste of that Liu An basket, but it's not for everyone. Yup, Lou Anne separates the men from the boys, that's for sure. Michael

I brewed it around 160F because that's what the instructions that came with the tea suggested. I'll try bringing the temperature down and see how that works. Thanks.

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Aha! Here's my fix on it: BLC of the first order is so delicate as to want a sencha treatment, but not everyone agrees. I like the idea of drinking some teas -- silver needles, sencha, BLC -- in the cool ranges, expecting a delicate and quieting experience. This is not for everyone, and some people say a quick douse in really hot water is what these leaves want.

Michael

The boats are neat. I like the unpredictability of Chinese tea taste. LiuAn is a fermented tea. When I get tired of enjoyable cups of tea I pull out something like this.

Jim

Michael Plant wrote:

Try 30 seconds with that same amount. If it's wulong, flush the leaves once good with hot water and then steep for about 30 seconds. To practice, buy yourself some lower grade teas so you don't mind as much if you mess up a steep.

Liu An is a Hei Cha, or Chinese Black Tea (as opposed to Hong Cha, Chinese Red Tea, Western black tea)--like green Pu-erh, it'll get better as it ages. If it's young, it'll probably be a little rough around the edges--it takes quite a palate to taste the potential in a young hei cha--I would hesitate to say i'm up to it yet, and I drink scarcely anything besides hei cha.

As for gaiwans--my notion is to experiment, get a feel for what looks right, what feels right--scales are a little too scientific for me, and things like proper timing and whatnot can be saved for a more formal Gong Fu. Drinking from a Gaiwan is time to kick back, relax, and just sort of enjoy whatever comes.

Beet and dirt is about right from my experience - and some ash and attic dust notes as well. It's funny because I've always been a big oolong drinker, and recently made the jump to sheng pu'er, having drank cooked pu'er and been kind of ambivalent. I took to the sheng right away, but the Liu An is just doing nothing for me. I have some '94 from Hou De. I guess I have to try it again now. Any advice on brewing parameters or what I should be looking for.

Beet and dirt is about right from my experience - and some ash and attic dust notes as well. It's funny because I've always been a big oolong drinker, and recently made the jump to sheng pu'er, having drank cooked pu'er and been kind of ambivalent. I took to the sheng right away, but the Liu An is just doing nothing for me. I have some '94 from Hou De. I guess I have to try it again now. Any advice on brewing parameters or what I should be looking for?