gaiwan use

I wouldn't be qualified to advise you on etiquette, but if you want to be able to control the brewing of the leaves so you get the best taste and aroma, you should pour off the liquor into another vessel when it's done. This is especially true if you aim to get multiple steeps from the leaves.

/Lew

It was not uncommon to see people sipping from gaiwans with the lid tilted back in Beijing, mostly for green and jasmine tea.

ITC also teaches this method at the store, perhaps as a way to stop them from having to wash so many dishes.

But what Lew says I believe, for the best tasting tea and multiple infusions, it's best to pour off. It's what I do.

~j

Darawen Littlestich wrote:

Darawen, this is so simple - there are two ways to utilize gaiwan - for just drinking tea both ways - with leaves and without (poured from another gaiwan or teapot) and for brewing. Many people prefer to just have good tea in a gaiwan and let it brew there for natural amount of time while they seep, add water and seep again, especially if they like bitter notes.

Jason, ' Roy also never just bring wenxianbei (sniffing cups) - because they confuse people who have no idea what to do with them and feel stupid. If you want them and ask - they will be brought immediately. He will also not bring them even if his employees perform the gunfu while one of the guests is dressed up of has a nice dress or a blouse - for the fear of her spilling the tea on herself while trying to flip the cups.

Accusing Roy at ITC of trying to save on washing teacups at the expense of your tea enjoyment is preposterous. You have no idea who Roy is if you insinuate this.

Sasha.

You misunderstand me.

Firstly, I was referring to teacups/fair cup, not to weixianbei.

Secondly, my accusation was more at Roy's employees than at Roy.

Thirdly, As far as blouses go, we were a group of four men.

Lastly, and most imporantly, I was being facetious.

How does your foot taste, Sasha?

~j

Alex Chaihorsky wrote:

Howdy, Darawen,

Drinking from gaiwan is standard practice throughout Sichuan province, and they always say that the best teahouses are in Chengdu... so you're OK there. :)

For gungfu-style preparation, you can decant into a gongdaobei (fairness-cup) before serving. I use this for greens, and for types of tea for which I don't have a dedicated teapot.

So, you're fine in both ways. I agree that it's good to know that you're not breaching etiquette - not that there's much in the way of protocol, merely a reassuring feeling that you're not committing a heinous faux pas. :)

Toodlepip,

Hobbes

Darawen LittlestichjsOdndGtV6R78o3YnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com/19/06

18: snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com

Hi Darawen,

Your question is clearly a good one, having elicited so many responses, to which I add mine here: Between the two possibilities -- drink from a gaiwan with leaves therein or drink from a vessel with tea liquor sans leaves -- the first is less formal than the second, but both are quite acceptable. The issues is your choice of tea and getting to know just how much tea to put in. For example, a gentle green tea might do very nicely for the leaves-in method; you would refill your gaiwan with water as you carry it about drinking. This works. I do it. No problem. Decanting would wise in any situation where people are drinking tea together, or when you want to pay more attention to the tea than you do to whatever other work you are performing at the time.

I hope I am not being entirely unclear in this. But, I like your question. Stupid it is definitely not! I suggest we continue the discussion around which teas lend themselves to the leaves-in method.

BTW, there is nothing sacred about Roy Fong, and as a public figure he ought to be subject to the same ridicule as the rest of us suffer. Ha!

Michael

There is certainly no such thing as proper ettiquette in my book with anything, and I certainly don't let it get in my way of enjoying tea. I brew jasmine green in Yixing, have for many years, to date no fire or brimstone has rained down upon me :)

As for leaves in:

Sencha, Pi Lo Chun, Bird's Tongue, some Gyokuro, Oriental Beauty, Silver Needles, Melon Seed, some Dragonwells, and a Jasmine oolong I bought at Kam Man in NYC for pennies.

Strained:

TGY (gets too floral if left in IMO), Young Hyson, Kudingcha ( :), Monkey Hair, Spring Brow, Jasmine Green (gets bitter or too strong), and a jasmine green puerh mini tuo that responds better to lower temps and short brews.

Those are the first I can think of off the top of my head.

- Dominic Drinking: fresh mid-year picked sencha, eh it's OK.

Gaiwans are fun but an everyday pot or cup for someone like me? They're cute but not practical. I see Gaiwans as the shot glasses of tea. You can nurse it or toss it back but gone irregardless of the hot water supply. A gaiwan is an accident waiting to happen. It's like chopsticks. You're not native and your sushi will sooner or later go flying across the room. If you want to go native drink from the tea pot spout like they do in Thai restaurants.

Jim

HobbesOx> Howdy, Darawen,

[Jim] [Michael's brilliant response] Hey Jim, hate to clue ya, but gaiwans are respected tea drinking vessels in much of the world, and for good reason: Once you get the hang of it, they are easy to control, pour fast fast fast, and the porcelain is often beautiful. I once tried to go native by eating with a fork and knife, but found them very awkward, and besides I could taste the metal in my mouth, which is God awful, so I went back to my natural ways. Let the natives be hanged.

I'll give you that. This is the way you make tea everyday, a shot at a time? You know in China tea is till expensive. Most have to nurse the same leaves all day long. Go British. Use a pot. That's native enough for me. You won't find the Chinese eating eggs sunny-side-up with chopsticks. You're still native if you don't lick the plate.

Jim

PS A gaiwan is a lawsuit wait> [Jim]

My feeble attempts to impress my guests have always failed, and so I've given it up. As for the Japanese, they *do* lick their damned plates, a habit I've always found adaptable to such food stuffs as ice cream. No joke. It's when they don't lick their plates in your house that they've gone native, although they would probably say it's respect for other cultures. Yadayadayada. Michael

You're missing the point. I don't care if you lick from plates but is a gaiwan the way you serve tea everyday? If not then it's cute. When I'm in a Thai restaurant I ask for a cup. I think we tend to romanticze about other cultures. Then we bastardize it. I always use a spoon for my soup even in Vietnamese restaurants. I don't care for the bib even though the Maitred' is pissed because I'm holding up the table for the party who made reservations. We have those kind of upscale Asian restaurants in the burbs. In fact, one Chinese restaurant is so upscale you have to ask for the chopsticks because nothing worse than soiled evening wear before a night on the town.

Jim

PS My grandma could make a pot of tea with a pan and pitcher. I d> My feeble attempts to impress my guests have always failed, and

Even being 100% Italian I actually use chopsticks with perfect skill and for probably 75% of the food I eat (although 50-60% of the food I eat is Pan-Asian). I have been eating with them my whole life, in fact the last time I was in Atlantic City eating noodle soup at a ramen bar I had surprised a few of the "natives" who initially laughed when I requested them as they were eating.

I have had no real trouble adapting to gaiwans, except my early stupid attempts to brew Puer in them which cost me some of my fingerprints. It was surprisingly easy and not the clumsy affair I had pictured. I now use them everyday at work and they are easier to clean out than a strainer and the smaller size lets me actually get the whole thing down before going cold due to me being pulled away for something.

- Dominic Drinking: Ten Ren Ti Kuan Yin (in gaiwan with leaves left in :)

I agree with your point about romanticizing / bastardizing the practices of other cultures, but I don't think it applies to gaiwan use. Tea drinkers in Fujian use gaiwans every day for oolong, and I don't mean fancy people who go to tea houses, I mean ordinary people. One time I was waiting for a bus in a remote area of Xiamen City and the bus driver asked to sit down and have some tea with him. It was TGY, and he was drinking it with a gaiwan and little porcelain cups. Believe me, you don't get less pretentious that a Chinese bus driver. So, personally, I don't think gaiwans are cute or orientalist - in fact I think they're a superior tool for someone who drinks a lot of different kinds of good tea and wants to do so with minimum fuss. They don't need to be cleaned, and they don't build up nasty deposits around the spout. Thanks to the saucer, they don't spill or drip (unless you drop them). I make tea in a porcelain gaiwan every day in my office and I use it for everything except matcha. It doesn't take that long to get the hang of using one, either - just get your first and second fingers under the saucer and keep the lid in place with your thumb. Finally, they are cheap. In China they are practically free, and I got one from Seb for I think $14 that is really well-made and quite handsome. Try getting an yixing pot for $14.

Drinking directly FROM the gaiwan, as is done for green and jasmine tea, is a different story. My nose is actually too big to accomplish this - it hits the knob on the lid before I can get anything out of the cup, and I have to tilt my entire head back 45 degrees to drink. Has anyone else had this problem?

Space Cowboy wrote:

Jim, It's quite possible I did misunderstand your point. But, in answer to your question, I use either a gaiwan or an YiXing Gung Fu pot always, no matter where I am, and I don't consider it cute. You are quite wrong about Gung Fu in China or any other place (IMHO!!). In some cases, people do Gung Fu tea for the same reason they smoke pipes: It gives them a little ritual that's so familiar they hardly think about it. It's a means and an end at the same time. It's a friendly and familiar thing to do. On the other hand, it is a way to bring out the very best the tea has to offer, and that's something worth striving for, don't you think? I have nothing against mugs and tea bags, I just don't do them myself.

Your point further down about the high cost of tea in China and the need some have to nurse their tea is undoubtedly true. The plate licking just struck me as an amusing aside, which is the way I thought you had intended it. Michael

Yep

CYRANO DE BERGERAC

I just wanted to know how many people used a Gaiwan on a daily basis. More than I would have guessed from the circle of illuminati. I can see them for corporate use if you don't have to constantly walk buy the bosses office for refills. I used the same clay pot for my entire corporate career. A gaiwan still wouldn't be practical for me even if back in the grind. I could tap the clay infuser on a desk with a napkin to dump the leaves. The gaiwans I have are to fragile for that. All I can tell you have to beome a slob for a few moments fishing for the leaves. Plus I needed more than shots of tea during the day.

Jim

PS Styrofoam will replace Gaiwans > Jim,

Stop lying.

Jim

oleg shteynbuk wrote: