One more reason, a gaiwan is so much easier to clean than a teapot, you just turn it down and leaves will fall. Teapots always keep some leaves inside.
Gaiwans are definitely my favorite way to brew tea. One of the reasons is that I'm usually drinking tea by myself and gongfu portions are much more practical :)
I just had my first tea tasting session at a local tea bar with non-tea friends. Went through the basic greens, Dragon Well, Sencha and Gen Mai Cha. It was unreal how different they all were. I am just starting out but I am hooked.
The gaiwan is the epitome of tea culture. Not only can it be used as a versatile brewing device but can also be sipped from. I've used pots but I always finding myself going back to a gaiwan on default.
Got my first gaiwan ( Mei Leaf’s True Tea Gaiwan) yesterday and I love it so much! Since it arrived yesterday afternoon I’ve had three sessions. It’s a pleasure to brew with and beautiful. I love watching the tea pour out over the slope of the gaiwan’s edge. Pouring out of a pot makes me think of water flowing from a hose compared to the gaiwan’s river like flow. Strange thing to love about it, I know, but there it is.
My favorite tea brewing utensil is a shiboridashi. Shares many of the same traits as a gaiwan, but makes pouring without a strainer easier, at the cost of not being able to pour as quickly as a gaiwan.
I just bought that same exact gaiwan from your shop, and I am OBSESSED. I am terrified of dropping it while pouring, though! It is such a beautiful piece of teaware. :)
I am normally a coffee drinker and I mean like latte person. However I've been trying to give tea a chance. I tried a few bagged teas and really liked it. So I've been researching. At first I realized I needed loose leaf so I was looking for pots. I found a couple (american) tea pots that I thought of buying but I'm glad I waited because as I kept looking into tea the gaiwan started to be mentioned. As soon as I saw it and how it's used I just had to have it. I bought one off of etsy but it doesn't have tracking and might not be here for over a month. I couldn't wait that long so I bought one off of Amazon and it arrives tomorrow. I also bought some loose leaf tea both from a tea store near me (they don't have gaiwan's ) and from mei tea. I can't wait to try it.
The gaiwan is the killer app of tea. Simple, efficient, pleasurable to use. When you do your next gaiwan video, maybe talk about the 2 types of gaiwan: flat saucer and cupped saucer. To some extent, the design drives the handling style. Great video.
Mei Leaf You mentioned it briefly when you talked about how people sometimes lift the gaiwan up from the saucer with just the thumb on lid. I bought a gaiwan with a deep saucer that's conducive to this handling style and quickly found the design led me to change my grip. It just depends on the design, though. The gaiwan you use in these videos has a flat saucer and is better handled according to your preferred method.
My favourite way of brewing is definitely the gaiwan! Even though I've got a few beautiful pots I like to use, I don't feel compelled to take them out as much. There's something so down-to-earth and connected with the gaiwan and your video articulated the experience so well!!
I so agree! ( Well, who wouldn't, when everything is so well put- I just love your videos, you do a wonderful job!) To combine the advantages of two worlds I got myself a few Yxing clay gaiwans- (of course the clay may not be the best.) They are cheap , beautiful, I love the handling ( it is so much more comfortable since they are not as hot to the touch as porcellan ones) and I adore the sound the lid makes. Plus it is not such a luxury to reserve them to a specific kind of tea. Gong fu Tea makes me happy!
Proud life moment: Tonight my husband and I both brewed tea with a gaiwan for the first time. It was waaaay easier than I made it out to be in my head. I can't imagine going back to western style brewing.
Awesome... I was about to buy a few teapots from your store but now I decided to just get a porcelain gaiwan instead! Saved me a ton of cash now I can buy more tea
Gaiwans are great 😊 I use my gaiwan almost every day. Big plus for gaiwans is their size - it's perfect for drinking alone. We can use less tea leaves and enjoy more brewings than from bigger pot. I know there are also very small pots but they are pretty rare items. For cooling water I often pour it over lid - this one you didn't show on video ;) ...and I absolutely love watching leaves to open in gaiwan - that's why I usually use the glass one. Glass don't hold temperature as well as other materials but while brewing gong-fu style it's so short that water doesn't really have time to cool down so no worries here :)
My only problem with gaiwans is that I am forever burning the heck out of my fingers. The gaiwan gets so hot when I'm pouring. I still enjoy brewing with a gaiwan. A little bit of pain is worth the reward of good tea :)
Thank you. I know this isn't a new video but I've been trying to figure out if I should get a gaiwan or go with a gong fu. I think that a gaiwan is first on my list to purchase and I'll do a gong fu later. My boyfriend bought me a Breville tea maker for Christmas and it's AWESOME but it's not so good for the bigger leaf teas.
Hi! Congratulations on the channel, I'm really learning a lot! I still brew my tea with a cup and a strainer, or a teapot, but I was thinking of buying some more "advanced" tea ware. Would you recommend to buy a gaiwan first, or something different? Thanks a lot!
Hi Don! I was curious to know what are the important things to look for in purchasing a gaiwan (size, material, etc.) Hopefully you can cover this in a new video. Thanks for all the information!
Both size and material are important factors. Glass is for green teas really. Porcelain is pretty universal for all tea and clay or thicker porcelain is more suited to high temperature teas where you want a bit more roundness and less high notes of tea. Size depends on how many you are planning to brew for but in general 150ml is a perfect size for solo and small groups.
Never had an gaiwan but I like the idea and I don't know why but gaiwan looks so small when think than need to make a oolong and the leaves start to open more and more,is it enought place for the leaves and water together? For one person?
It is perfect for a few people but you can get bigger ones or brew more infusions. The joy is watching the Gaiwan fill up with the leaves and filtering the water through the leaves - this makes delicious tea!
I'm definitely getting this Gaiwan for the simplicity, beauty, low capacity, and the fact that it's not glass, as well as the glass pot for when I'll be really thirsty and for the lighter teas. Also a question - does this porcelain over time start revealing the tea stain lines like the porcelain of your cups and gong dao bei?
Hi Don, love your videos and was wondering where you stand on Chinese import ceramic infuser mugs? Would you consider showcasing one in a video? Also Celine is a charming girl with great screen presence - why not let her narrate more here and there?
Thanks for your videos. They are great. I have a question that is is not exactly relevant for gaiwan, but rather to a way that you brew your oolong. This way that you pile infusion on infusion to fill in the cup, is there a different taste to the final brew in comparison to brewing in a big (~250ml) cup with a filter? Sort of western style?
Usually you drink one infusion individually instead of piling on infusions (we did this to save time in the video). The single short infusions are very different in the flavour, texture and richness compared with Western brewing.
I think you missed the most important reason for a Gaiwan..There is NO metal strainer..The metal strainer can leech nickel from the metal into the water especially since there is acid in the tea..That can also change the taste of the tea..
Hey, I just purchased two Gaiwans and some pots from your shop after learning about these. A question I have is the following: Is a Gaiwan also suitable for brewing Japanese green tea? (Mainly Sencha and Gyokuro)? I seen a vid of you brewing these and you used other brewing times for them than in your brewing chart from your website and also these Japanese tea wares. So is it possible and if yes what would be the brewing time for japnese green tea in a Gaiwan? Cheers!
Yes you can brew Japanese tea in a Gaiwan. You will probably need to pass the tea through a filter between the Gaiwan and the cup/pitcher because Japanese teas are more broken and fine in general. Check out a video called 'how to brew Sencha' for my preferred brewing times.
Love your videos, Don, but I keep find myself trying to get a decent view of the painting behind you. Haven't been successfully yet. Any chance you could angle the camera just once to let me see it? I'm both a tea lover and an art lover. 😃
So I just bought a Gaiwan and a Yixing teapot. How do I know how much tea leaves to put in my gaiwan? Also, do I have to be specific with which teas I put in my Yixing? Is it forbidden or bad if I were to put lol types of tea in my Yixing?
This is the best video for you: ruclips.net/video/ZxjEoRt3zwg/видео.html It is not forbidden to mix teas in Yixing although it is advised to stick to similar types because the clay will slowly pick up the flavour from the leaves and mixing up lots of types will affect the flavour. But it is better to use the pot than save it for one type of tea which you brew occasionally.
I think that if you are buying a Gaiwan for personal use then a 70-100ml is perfect. If you want one that is more versatile for 2-3 people then 150-180ml is perfect. Bigger ones are good if you are planning to regularly serve more than a few people but this is unusual and starts to move out of usual Gong Fu volumes.
thank you! i'm saving up for this gaiwan as part of my first gongfu style tea set up. part of what sells this one in particular is it's aesthetic beauty plus the very functional way it was designed so that it can hold the lid when you're not brewing. your videos are the best online for learning about tea.
very informative! I've ordered one and was wondering if there was a real difference with the professional cup for tea tasting. looking forward to receiving it :)
Mathilde Montel Those professional tasting sets are impossible to use on a daily basis. They are really inflexible, by design, because they are meant to standardize brewing parameters.
As Callum says, the professional tasting cups are designed for that cupping method which tries to standardise brewing for direct tea comparison. The Gaiwan is altogether more flexible and allows for more personalisation to the brewing.
Yes. Makes a great cup. You hold the saucer with your thumb and little finger, steady the cup with your ring and middle fingers, and manipulate the lid with your pointer finger. Slip the lid back just alittle to allow the liquid to flow and hold back the leaves, no need to use your teeth th strain the leaves, and the lid can act somewhat as a top lip protector, when drinking hotter teas. The alternative holding method is to rest tha saucer on your little finger, hold the cup with thumb and ring finger and use your other hand to manipulate the lid.
A great video, as always...I like your new logo, but I think the gaiwan in the picture seems just a bit "stiff" :) Perhaps the curves and the shape of a gaiwan should be a bit more emphasised.
- of course it wasn't developed two years ago and sure the old Yuan or Ming used porcelain bowls to drink tea and maybe there were tulip shaped cups and some of them u could cover. But as a tiny special brewing vessel even with a soucer it is probably common since just a while.
no,not 21st century,it was 19th century people start to use it as a brewing vessel. and the soucer is way earlier being used with gaiwan even when people didnt use the gaiwan as a brewing vessel
Hello. I follow with great interest your videos and I am surprised that you seem to attach little importance to the water that constitutes 99% of the tea. You usually use an electric kettle with hot water which is in contact with plastic (bad). Like the Japanese, I think the water quality is paramount and a non-enamelled cast iron kettle (Tetsubin) is required to achieve adequate water for tea. Filter water with charcoal is even better. You do not seem to be interested in Japanese quality teas (Gyokuro, Sencha) nor the Japanese teapots (Kyusu) that seem (for me) better designed that Chinese teapots.
One more reason, a gaiwan is so much easier to clean than a teapot, you just turn it down and leaves will fall. Teapots always keep some leaves inside.
Doh! Forgot this one thank you.
Cristian Perez Jimeno couldn't agree more!!!
Gaiwans are definitely my favorite way to brew tea. One of the reasons is that I'm usually drinking tea by myself and gongfu portions are much more practical :)
Yes forgot to mention the efficiency of Gaiwans for solo brewing thanks!
I just had my first tea tasting session at a local tea bar with non-tea friends. Went through the basic greens, Dragon Well, Sencha and Gen Mai Cha. It was unreal how different they all were. I am just starting out but I am hooked.
+dudeinc10 nice one and enjoy the tea journey!
The gaiwan is the epitome of tea culture. Not only can it be used as a versatile brewing device but can also be sipped from. I've used pots but I always finding myself going back to a gaiwan on default.
Yep we agree, it really becomes the default way of brewing.
Surely tea is the epitome of tea culture! 😄
Just bought my first Gaiwan! I’ve been looking at in my local tea shop for months but was too nervous to buy it. Thanks for the inspiration ❤️
Got my first gaiwan ( Mei Leaf’s True Tea Gaiwan) yesterday and I love it so much! Since it arrived yesterday afternoon I’ve had three sessions. It’s a pleasure to brew with and beautiful. I love watching the tea pour out over the slope of the gaiwan’s edge. Pouring out of a pot makes me think of water flowing from a hose compared to the gaiwan’s river like flow. Strange thing to love about it, I know, but there it is.
My favorite tea brewing utensil is a shiboridashi. Shares many of the same traits as a gaiwan, but makes pouring without a strainer easier, at the cost of not being able to pour as quickly as a gaiwan.
Love these too, such a beautiful shape.
I just bought that same exact gaiwan from your shop, and I am OBSESSED. I am terrified of dropping it while pouring, though! It is such a beautiful piece of teaware. :)
I am normally a coffee drinker and I mean like latte person. However I've been trying to give tea a chance. I tried a few bagged teas and really liked it. So I've been researching. At first I realized I needed loose leaf so I was looking for pots. I found a couple (american) tea pots that I thought of buying but I'm glad I waited because as I kept looking into tea the gaiwan started to be mentioned. As soon as I saw it and how it's used I just had to have it. I bought one off of etsy but it doesn't have tracking and might not be here for over a month. I couldn't wait that long so I bought one off of Amazon and it arrives tomorrow. I also bought some loose leaf tea both from a tea store near me (they don't have gaiwan's ) and from mei tea. I can't wait to try it.
The gaiwan is the killer app of tea. Simple, efficient, pleasurable to use.
When you do your next gaiwan video, maybe talk about the 2 types of gaiwan: flat saucer and cupped saucer. To some extent, the design drives the handling style.
Great video.
True thanks for the suggestion!
Mei Leaf You mentioned it briefly when you talked about how people sometimes lift the gaiwan up from the saucer with just the thumb on lid.
I bought a gaiwan with a deep saucer that's conducive to this handling style and quickly found the design led me to change my grip. It just depends on the design, though.
The gaiwan you use in these videos has a flat saucer and is better handled according to your preferred method.
And you can also brew your favourite tea the way that you drink the tea directly from gaiwan. Some teas are the best to prepare this way.
Love your passion for tea. Thanks for the videos. Learning a lot here.
Thanks!
My favourite way of brewing is definitely the gaiwan! Even though I've got a few beautiful pots I like to use, I don't feel compelled to take them out as much. There's something so down-to-earth and connected with the gaiwan and your video articulated the experience so well!!
I so agree! ( Well, who wouldn't, when everything is so well put- I just love your videos, you do a wonderful job!) To combine the advantages of two worlds I got myself a few Yxing clay gaiwans- (of course the clay may not be the best.) They are cheap , beautiful, I love the handling ( it is so much more comfortable since they are not as hot to the touch as porcellan ones) and I adore the sound the lid makes. Plus it is not such a luxury to reserve them to a specific kind of tea. Gong fu Tea makes me happy!
Proud life moment: Tonight my husband and I both brewed tea with a gaiwan for the first time. It was waaaay easier than I made it out to be in my head. I can't imagine going back to western style brewing.
We love chai tea and many different types of teas here in Afghanistan!
Awesome... I was about to buy a few teapots from your store but now I decided to just get a porcelain gaiwan instead! Saved me a ton of cash now I can buy more tea
Great video! Thank you!
Please make a video comparing the gaiwan, shiboridashi, and hōhin, and their pros and cons when brewing both Chinese and Japanese teas.
Just discovered your youtube videos and love them. Interested in the gaiwan but link is not working properly. I did find it by use the search option.
Weird, it seems to be working on our computer but thanks for finding a workaround and for watching!
Gaiwans are great 😊 I use my gaiwan almost every day. Big plus for gaiwans is their size - it's perfect for drinking alone. We can use less tea leaves and enjoy more brewings than from bigger pot. I know there are also very small pots but they are pretty rare items. For cooling water I often pour it over lid - this one you didn't show on video ;) ...and I absolutely love watching leaves to open in gaiwan - that's why I usually use the glass one. Glass don't hold temperature as well as other materials but while brewing gong-fu style it's so short that water doesn't really have time to cool down so no worries here :)
TRUE - forgot the lid pouring method to cool the water. Thanks.
My only problem with gaiwans is that I am forever burning the heck out of my fingers. The gaiwan gets so hot when I'm pouring. I still enjoy brewing with a gaiwan. A little bit of pain is worth the reward of good tea :)
Eric if it’s burning you, try holding it with the plate underneath, pour with all 3 together 🤓
Jonathan Chan good suggestion I will try that!
@@EricBryan Wow you had burned your fingers for 3 years then you got this advice. I love youtube.
@@voidremoved I gotta better gaiwan and now I don’t burn my fingers. Been curious about those automatic gaiwans though. They seem popular now.
great vid. again thanks
Thank you. I know this isn't a new video but I've been trying to figure out if I should get a gaiwan or go with a gong fu. I think that a gaiwan is first on my list to purchase and I'll do a gong fu later. My boyfriend bought me a Breville tea maker for Christmas and it's AWESOME but it's not so good for the bigger leaf teas.
With a gaiwan you can brew tea "the grandpa" style and control the process even better.
I really enjoy with your videos! Thank you very much!
Thanks!
Hi! Congratulations on the channel, I'm really learning a lot! I still brew my tea with a cup and a strainer, or a teapot, but I was thinking of buying some more "advanced" tea ware. Would you recommend to buy a gaiwan first, or something different? Thanks a lot!
the gaiwan is similar to the shape of the body during a sitting meditation position, which analogously represents the same three things
I just ordered my first gaiwan yesterday
Very easy to clean too 😁
Hi Don! I was curious to know what are the important things to look for in purchasing a gaiwan (size, material, etc.) Hopefully you can cover this in a new video. Thanks for all the information!
Both size and material are important factors. Glass is for green teas really. Porcelain is pretty universal for all tea and clay or thicker porcelain is more suited to high temperature teas where you want a bit more roundness and less high notes of tea.
Size depends on how many you are planning to brew for but in general 150ml is a perfect size for solo and small groups.
Never had an gaiwan but I like the idea and I don't know why but gaiwan looks so small when think than need to make a oolong and the leaves start to open more and more,is it enought place for the leaves and water together? For one person?
It is perfect for a few people but you can get bigger ones or brew more infusions. The joy is watching the Gaiwan fill up with the leaves and filtering the water through the leaves - this makes delicious tea!
I'm definitely getting this Gaiwan for the simplicity, beauty, low capacity, and the fact that it's not glass, as well as the glass pot for when I'll be really thirsty and for the lighter teas. Also a question - does this porcelain over time start revealing the tea stain lines like the porcelain of your cups and gong dao bei?
This porcelain does not have the craquelure glaze of the Ru Yao material. Thanks for ordering!
Apart from being way better than pots, can we say how much cheaper they are?
Hi Don, love your videos and was wondering where you stand on Chinese import ceramic infuser mugs? Would you consider showcasing one in a video? Also Celine is a charming girl with great screen presence - why not let her narrate more here and there?
Can I use gaiwan for oolongs and another teas or it's just for green tea?
Thanks for your videos. They are great. I have a question that is is not exactly relevant for gaiwan, but rather to a way that you brew your oolong. This way that you pile infusion on infusion to fill in the cup, is there a different taste to the final brew in comparison to brewing in a big (~250ml) cup with a filter? Sort of western style?
Usually you drink one infusion individually instead of piling on infusions (we did this to save time in the video). The single short infusions are very different in the flavour, texture and richness compared with Western brewing.
I thought you're supposed to drink the tea directly from the Gaiwan. pushing the tea away from the section you will drink from, tilting the lid.
you can...it's just another way of enjoying tea :)
I think you missed the most important reason for a Gaiwan..There is NO metal strainer..The metal strainer can leech nickel from the metal into the water especially since there is acid in the tea..That can also change the taste of the tea..
Hey, I just purchased two Gaiwans and some pots from your shop after learning about these. A question I have is the following: Is a Gaiwan also suitable for brewing Japanese green tea? (Mainly Sencha and Gyokuro)? I seen a vid of you brewing these and you used other brewing times for them than in your brewing chart from your website and also these Japanese tea wares. So is it possible and if yes what would be the brewing time for japnese green tea in a Gaiwan? Cheers!
Yes you can brew Japanese tea in a Gaiwan. You will probably need to pass the tea through a filter between the Gaiwan and the cup/pitcher because Japanese teas are more broken and fine in general. Check out a video called 'how to brew Sencha' for my preferred brewing times.
@@MeiLeaf wow that was quick! Thank you!
Love your videos, Don, but I keep find myself trying to get a decent view of the painting behind you. Haven't been successfully yet. Any chance you could angle the camera just once to let me see it? I'm both a tea lover and an art lover. 😃
Can't send a picture over RUclips but if you message on Instagram I can send you a picture.
So I just bought a Gaiwan and a Yixing teapot. How do I know how much tea leaves to put in my gaiwan? Also, do I have to be specific with which teas I put in my Yixing? Is it forbidden or bad if I were to put lol types of tea in my Yixing?
This is the best video for you: ruclips.net/video/ZxjEoRt3zwg/видео.html
It is not forbidden to mix teas in Yixing although it is advised to stick to similar types because the clay will slowly pick up the flavour from the leaves and mixing up lots of types will affect the flavour. But it is better to use the pot than save it for one type of tea which you brew occasionally.
what kind of kettle is the one you use in the video
Why should I get rid of the bubbles? (you use the lid for this purpose...)
I see you use Gaiwans of around 150 or 180 ml? What's the ideal size, or maybe the most traditional in your opinion? What about 100 ml?
I think that if you are buying a Gaiwan for personal use then a 70-100ml is perfect. If you want one that is more versatile for 2-3 people then 150-180ml is perfect. Bigger ones are good if you are planning to regularly serve more than a few people but this is unusual and starts to move out of usual Gong Fu volumes.
what water catcher would you recommend to go along with the sky blue gaiwan? that is not the gonfu guru lol
A porcelain tea boat would be stylish with this Gaiwan.
thank you! i'm saving up for this gaiwan as part of my first gongfu style tea set up. part of what sells this one in particular is it's aesthetic beauty plus the very functional way it was designed so that it can hold the lid when you're not brewing. your videos are the best online for learning about tea.
Is gaiwan good teaware for brewing Japanese green teas or for this purpose is better to use a kyusu (e.g. from Tokoname)?
very informative! I've ordered one and was wondering if there was a real difference with the professional cup for tea tasting. looking forward to receiving it :)
Mathilde Montel Those professional tasting sets are impossible to use on a daily basis. They are really inflexible, by design, because they are meant to standardize brewing parameters.
As Callum says, the professional tasting cups are designed for that cupping method which tries to standardise brewing for direct tea comparison. The Gaiwan is altogether more flexible and allows for more personalisation to the brewing.
For simplicity, can i just drink straight from the gaiwan?
Yes you can although this is more suited to lighter teas brewed in cooler water like greens.
It's actually called “grandpa-style“, you just push the leaves back with your teeth and lips. :)
Yes. Makes a great cup. You hold the saucer with your thumb and little finger, steady the cup with your ring and middle fingers, and manipulate the lid with your pointer finger. Slip the lid back just alittle to allow the liquid to flow and hold back the leaves, no need to use your teeth th strain the leaves, and the lid can act somewhat as a top lip protector, when drinking hotter teas. The alternative holding method is to rest tha saucer on your little finger, hold the cup with thumb and ring finger and use your other hand to manipulate the lid.
Hey you?
😘😘😘
😘
A great video, as always...I like your new logo, but I think the gaiwan in the picture seems just a bit "stiff" :) Perhaps the curves and the shape of a gaiwan should be a bit more emphasised.
Thanks Rok - We went through a fair amount of sketches (some much more curvey) and they did not fit as well with the type for some reason.
*symbolism
Your intros remind me of customgrow420
We were influenced by many people and Jolie definitely did contribute to our intros.
Mei Leaf I love it
I find it is too hot to hold for pouring...
That sofa looks really uncomfortable. Great video otherwise, as usual.
盖碗容易烫手
0:10 i have love affair with this gayvan
- 'authentic'? I'm not chinese but think honestly that it is a bit more of a pragmatic 21st century style object.
highmountainTea The design is ancient.
gaiwans have been in use since the late 1300s
- of course it wasn't developed two years ago and sure the old Yuan or Ming used porcelain bowls to drink tea and maybe there were tulip shaped cups and some of them u could cover. But as a tiny special brewing vessel even with a soucer it is probably common since just a while.
no,not 21st century,it was 19th century people start to use it as a brewing vessel. and the soucer is way earlier being used with gaiwan even when people didnt use the gaiwan as a brewing vessel
Hello.
I follow with great interest your videos and I am surprised that you seem to attach little importance to the water that constitutes 99% of the tea. You usually use an electric kettle with hot water which is in contact with plastic (bad). Like the Japanese, I think the water quality is paramount and a non-enamelled cast iron kettle (Tetsubin) is required to achieve adequate water for tea. Filter water with charcoal is even better. You do not seem to be interested in Japanese quality teas (Gyokuro, Sencha) nor the Japanese teapots (Kyusu) that seem (for me) better designed that Chinese teapots.
no wake in up the tea ware, no rinsing the tea, moving the tea with the gaiwan lid. bro, you may need to review your gongfu cha skills