Competition Tea Tasting Set

Can you pour one-handed without risking, uh, lid elopement?

/Lew

Actually yes very easily because you basically set the cup with the lid into the larger teacup (bowl) on a slant and it is matched perfectly so it fits snugly (holding the lid tight) and drains quickly. It is actually very simple and elegant, much easier and less chance of mishap than a gaiwan so if you can pour successfully from a gaiwan it is actually way easier. I did burn the hell out of my index finger though on my second pour due to how heated it had become from the first brewing and then slightly hotter water for the second... but that was user error and I learned fast what I did wrong. :) Hook your index finger in the little handle and your thumb holds down the lid tight and you can pour just like a gaiwan, one-handed.

- Dominic

You know how some people say "theory is different from practice"? Well, when I was in Fujian, it was like that. I expected to see "tea competition tasting sets" - but everywhere I looked I never saw them - not even 1 set. Even professionals who had tea-tasting credentials - they didn't use them. I asked. They said, "No, I never use that". But what they did have instead were several white gaiwan, some small white porcelain bowls, and white porcelain spoons. One guy said the gaiwan was better - because you could use it just like the cup anyway. And it was more versatile because you could use it for regular gong-fu brewing and drinking; or for tea tasting and evaluation. And it was easier to pop out the brewed leaves and examine the leaf stack on the gaiwan lid.

Now, that's not to say that "tea competition tasting sets" aren't used. But I never saw anyone I met using one. Strange isn't it? But that's what I always saw. So in theory, they're used. But in actual practice - who the heck uses those?

Yes, but if I'd rather use my favorite cup for drinking, a cup that the brewing vessel doesn't fit snugly into, could I still do it one-handed?

/Lew

Sure, the second bit I posted there about hooking the index finger and holding top with thumb and you can pour into anything with a much more directed stream than from a gaiwan. The novelty may wear off eventually but right now it seems like everything and more that I currently enjoy about my gaiwans.

- Dominic

That was the technique shown in David Lee Hoffmans All In This Tea. I dont think any technique is complete without viewing the spent teas. There are whole leaves that you could use on a salad as I do occasionally. Im sold on my Bodum Pavina for elegance. Throw in some tea leaves and boiling water and pretend you are a fish in an aquarium. Im developing an appreciation for the stew nature of puer.

Jim

Those things are elegant, but they're made of polycarbonate, AKA Bisphenol A.

/Lew

Pavina is made of Borosilicate Glass AKA Pyrex not plastic. I do miss a lid for sniffing.

Jim

PS You d> Space Cowboy snipped-for-privacy@ix.netcom.com> writes:

Yep, I just used a new one last week and it certainly was plastic. They did used to be glass but I have no idea when it changed. I was bummed because the new plastic ones get those small cracks throughout from the heat which makes them look cheap and cloudy. Sadly, nothing is quality anymore and with the current economic environment companies are using it to go even further downhill. It's a pity that people just don't care either so it is tolerated and accepted.

That is exactly why I happily buy sets like the competition tasting set which is still made well and sold at a reasonable price. I'd rather give my money to that than a brand name that at one time had some semblance of quality. I've given up what little vestiges of consumerism I had and now just buy good quality and enjoy it rather than a constant treadmill... and I've also re-purposed almost all of my Yixing to a type of tea instead of a single one. And, no, I probably don't want to know the heavy metals and who-knows what else they leech out.

- Dominic

No, I think the change was from polycarbonate to borosilicate. Or, at least, that's what it looks like when you google for "Bodum Pavina". Maybe you got a closeout special?

/Lew

Bodum's Pavina line isn't now, and hasn't ever been, plastic. I've been breaking and replacing these for years now. Perhaps y'all were using some other product that looks like them?

N.

Nope, I was at Border's Bookstore and ordered the teapot service which consists of a french-press-like glass Bodum teapot and two Bodum double-walled glasses... which are normally glass. The last time we were there they were out of glasses so the girl walked out and grabbed a box off the shelf and went back to wash them and when she set them down they were certainly plastic and when I poured into them they had little striation/cracks which formed from the heat. We were there for a few hours and from the first use they were pretty ugly already.

My guess is that either they sell two levels of quality or they sell different cheaper line at Borders... but they were definitely Bodum and definitely plastic. I'll be there again within the week, I'll snap a photo.

- Dominic