I wanted to share with you guys my favorite brewing vessel and favorite set up for daily tea brewing for myself. So what is it? Its my mini ru kiln gaiwan and a cup of my random preference. Thats right just a small gaiwan then straight to a cup. Im a simple person that is kind of a minimalist.
At first I hated it, it was small and cumbersome. I felt like I could not get that much tea out of it. Over time Ive been forming a bond with this one. Now I find it to be magical and delightful to use. I absolutely love it and could not see myself without it. Ive noticed that the tea it brews comes out much more flavorful and brings out these nuances that other brewing vessels I own cannot. After lots of experimenting I found it was the leaf to water ratio that was causing most of this added flavor along with heat retention. Since its base is a stoneware it has a noticed amount of heat retention.
At only 2oz some might think thats rather small. When you can brew 8-12 infusions that 2oz is more like 16 oz to 24 oz! Well give or take because of the leaves sitting in the pot. I find it to be prefect for enjoying all of my infusions of one kind of tea in one sitting. Also perfect for sampling new or expensive teas with out being wasteful. I like to slowly peal away at the layers of aroma and flavors the tea may bring. I also enjoy being able to jump around from one tea to the next in one day without feeling full of tea water. I used to think that it was the amount of tea or the concentration of the tea that brought on the feeling of cha qi. I now find that cha qi feeling for me is found in the thorough enjoyment of a fine tea. I find this gaiwan perfect for all teas, except only ok for puerh. The reason I say that is because at first I had trouble with puerh in this gaiwan, I need to revisit it for testing.
Pictures are of Da Hong Pao from jas-etea oh yea its yumm!
You can see its a beautiful light jade color and you can see the stoneware showing under the lid. Its not just painted to look like stone like some of the other celadon mimics. Its actually got a really great lid fit, just perfect really.
So what's your favorite teaware for brewing or tea set up?
At first I hated it, it was small and cumbersome. I felt like I could not get that much tea out of it. Over time Ive been forming a bond with this one. Now I find it to be magical and delightful to use. I absolutely love it and could not see myself without it. Ive noticed that the tea it brews comes out much more flavorful and brings out these nuances that other brewing vessels I own cannot. After lots of experimenting I found it was the leaf to water ratio that was causing most of this added flavor along with heat retention. Since its base is a stoneware it has a noticed amount of heat retention.
At only 2oz some might think thats rather small. When you can brew 8-12 infusions that 2oz is more like 16 oz to 24 oz! Well give or take because of the leaves sitting in the pot. I find it to be prefect for enjoying all of my infusions of one kind of tea in one sitting. Also perfect for sampling new or expensive teas with out being wasteful. I like to slowly peal away at the layers of aroma and flavors the tea may bring. I also enjoy being able to jump around from one tea to the next in one day without feeling full of tea water. I used to think that it was the amount of tea or the concentration of the tea that brought on the feeling of cha qi. I now find that cha qi feeling for me is found in the thorough enjoyment of a fine tea. I find this gaiwan perfect for all teas, except only ok for puerh. The reason I say that is because at first I had trouble with puerh in this gaiwan, I need to revisit it for testing.
Pictures are of Da Hong Pao from jas-etea oh yea its yumm!
You can see its a beautiful light jade color and you can see the stoneware showing under the lid. Its not just painted to look like stone like some of the other celadon mimics. Its actually got a really great lid fit, just perfect really.
So what's your favorite teaware for brewing or tea set up?
