My first gaiwan tea session

[Drybonz]

I got my first gaiwan set in the mail today, which I ordered from netsurfr's Jas E-Tea. He's been really helpful to me, and I think we are lucky to have somebody like him here at Badger and Blade.

I originally decided I wanted to go with an infuser and stick with western style brewing so that I could keep it casual. However, I stumbled across this nice YouTube video of some people casually brewing with a gaiwan, hanging out and having fun... so I decided I wanted to do this instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x8hOPj0ziA

The girl in the video seems skilled at what she is doing and the simplicity of what they were doing appealed to me.

So I just used my gaiwan set with some sheng for the first time and I really love this. The process, and the tea, are both really wonderful.

My main problems were: 1) At first I filled the gaiwan with too much tea, attempting to imitate what I saw in the video. I guess this tea is more compressed because it filled the gaiwan too much and I had to take some out to make room for water.
2) I'm ok with holding the gaiwan... I imitated the video and I'm fine with that, but it is too hot! I'm having a hard time holding it long enough to pour it into my pitcher because it is so hot to hold. Should I just suck it up and get used to it?

Anyway, just wanted to share some of my experience. Thanks netsurfr... and I can see myself getting hooked pretty easily!

If anyone has thoughts or recommendations (tea selection as well) for me I appreciate it!

 

[Troggie]

If the teapot keeps being too hot you can try one of these http://www.artisticnippon.com/product/tokoname/tokonameindex.htm

Not sure on tea yet as I am still waiting for an order to arrive.

 

[Drybonz]

I definitely want to stick with the gaiwan.

 

[Drybonz]

I think I've got it now... I was filling it too much, partially due to having too much tea in the gaiwan, and it was getting the rim too hot to handle.

I think a slightly larger gaiwan with a wider rim would work better for me too.

 

[DavyRay]

<snip>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x8hOPj0ziA

The girl in the video seems skilled at what she is doing and the simplicity of what they were doing appealed to me.

So I just used my gaiwan set with some sheng for the first time and I really love this. The process, and the tea, are both really wonderful.

My main problems were: 1) At first I filled the gaiwan with too much tea, attempting to imitate what I saw in the video. I guess this tea is more compressed because it filled the gaiwan too much and I had to take some out to make room for water.
2) I'm ok with holding the gaiwan... I imitated the video and I'm fine with that, but it is too hot! I'm having a hard time holding it long enough to pour it into my pitcher because it is so hot to hold. Should I just suck it up and get used to it?

Basically, yes. You will get used to hot fingers picking up a hot gaiwan.

Anyway, just wanted to share some of my experience. Thanks netsurfr... and I can see myself getting hooked pretty easily!

If anyone has thoughts or recommendations (tea selection as well) for me I appreciate it!

The girls in the video are not afraid to wash the tea and the pot. They seem to be quite sloppy. Are you going to copy this. This is the way to avoid over-filling the gaiwan. Just over-fill, then toss off the excess.

 

[Drybonz]

The girls in the video are not afraid to wash the tea and the pot. They seem to be quite sloppy.

Oh... I just assumed that is what the tea tables are for.

 

[jwhite]

Oh... I just assumed that is what the tea tables are for.

They are a bit sloppy, but it's a causal fun tea with friends, and that is what tea tables are for.

 

[Drybonz]

They are a bit sloppy, but it's a causal fun tea with friends

Yeah, that is what appealed to me when I watched this video. I stopped thinking about it as something that had to be ceremonious.

 

[StillShaving]

In the video she did one extraction, filled the 3 drinking cups, and then poured it all out. I can understand wanting to preheat all those items but that could have been done with plain hot water. So why pour the first brew out? Would it be too bitter drink or have more caffeine than they wanted?

Also during the second extraction she poured a little out of the gaiwan before pouring into the glass vessel. Why would she do that? Part of the tea culture or just bad habit on her part? If the tea was good I don't see the point of that.

 

[ouch]

The first flash infusion is to cleanse the tea of any dust or impurities. If you haven't found any weird crap in your pu'er, you haven't tried enough.
For shu (and the good old Xiauguan Tibetan brick, aka: ODB) a second rinse is recommended, as well.

 

[Drybonz]

In the video she did one extraction, filled the 3 drinking cups, and then poured it all out. I can understand wanting to preheat all those items but that could have been done with plain hot water. So why pour the first brew out?

She is doing the wash and heating the cups all at the same time. She could just throw the first brew out, but she heats the cups with it as well, which is kind of more efficient.

 

[jwhite]

The first wash on many teas also help the leaves to relax and begin to open for the infusions to be drunk. The bit she tosses on the drinking infusion is a little bit of over fill.

 

[netsurfr]

I have to admit that I may not be the poster guy for technique but I pick up my gaiwan with the saucer and finger on the top of the lid. I then use a couple of fingers to stabilize the gaiwan cup itself on the rim. This seems to allow me to have the most control with the minimum heat exchange with my fingers. I have watched all the videos and I am pretty sure those folks have asbestos fingers... hehe.
Actually, although I kid a bit, I think the answer lies in the gaiwan itself and the technique that you use. I have a small pottery gaiwan that never seems to bother me. The thinner porcelain gaiwans make me pay attention to technique and how much I fill them. For example, with the Menghai gaiwan, if I am fixing tea for a number of people, it starts to get a bit hot about the fourth infusion when doing them in sequence and I am only using the lid and the gaiwan without the saucer. So, I use the saucer when necessary to give me a slightly different grip. Maybe one day I will attain the asbestos fingertips necessary to do lots of continuous infusions. Or, maybe I will just use a couple of different gaiwans and not worry about it.

 

[nff]

we need to make little fingertip silicone sleeves like those oven mits. they just come up to the first knuckle on the fingers

 

[_JP_]

When I was drinking tea and using a gaiwan, I would pour it out one handed. What I did was first skew the lid slightly for pouring. Then I would pick it up with the thumb and fourth finger of my hand. Sometimes I would add the middle finger as well (What rule says I can't?) As far temperature goes, being a professional cook had me almost immune to the heat.

 

[Drybonz]

As long as I don't fill it up too far I'm ok now... I was filling it too far and getting the rim really hot... especially on the first couple infusions.