I found a gaiwan!

[augie]

I found this locally at a tea shop in Indy. Store is moving, everything is on clearance! I found the purple pot and found a covered cup. I told the owner I was looking for a gaiwan but didn't see one in the store. His whole face lit up and he says, "Gaiwan, yes, you know about gaiwan?" It was hidden behind the pot I purchased and he proceeded to tell me the whole history of gaiwan (which I already knew) and how I should use it.

I wanted a gaiwan for mother's day, 2 wks ago, so I went to an Asian grocery superstore in Indy. Ton of teaware, but no gaiwan.

Now I need to decide what to brew first!

[Space Samurai]

I know exactly how the owner felt. Someone came in the other day and asked me if we carried sencha, and we proceded to have a whole 60 sec. conversation about Japanese or Chinese (don't start, Tomasini). It made my day.

I like your kitchen.

[tomasini]

....all im gonna say....is one word.
chinencha.
its the law

[Mary R]

Dude! What store? Where is it now? Where is it moving to? I could use some moderate retail therapy, and I could DEFINITELY use another gaiwan!

[augie]

....all im gonna say....is one word.
chinencha.
its the law

fukamushi, fukamushhi, fukamushi (I can't get it out of my head) Thank you for starting that blasted thread! Monday, I will be sitting at my desk at work sipping silver needle and thinking fukamushi, fukamushi, fukamushi . . . oh, stop it!

Space: Thx, you should see the rest of the house. Every room different color. Kids friends come over and tell me it looks like a Leprechaun got sick in our house!

Isn't it great when you meet someone you can talk tea to, who understands? My employer buys that green, preservative-laden swill known as Lipton citrus diet whatever tea. He looks at my meager collection at work and says, "very interesting". Ugh.

[augie]

Dude! What store? Where is it now? Where is it moving to? I could use some moderate retail therapy, and I could DEFINITELY use another gaiwan!

You know what . . . it doesn't have a name. It's on Broad Ripple Ave behind Sunflower Mkt, past all those trendy pubs and bars. It just says Tea and Herb on the storefront! LOL They have more stuff since I was there last fall. All his teaware is 50% off. He had some OK stuff. I am still afraid to buy his tea! I don't know why. He had some pu ehr bags and a lot of prepkgd stuff. When I went last fall he wouldn't look me in the eye. They are moving to City Market downtown, after August.

It's in the same strip mall as Magic Bus! Not that I shop there!

The other place I go is Tea Cozy on the far E side in Washington Sq Mall (cheezy n'hood). She has a lot of Adagio stuff. I got my Utilitea and Ingenuitea there -- that's how I found Adagio. She has a really great store and business model, just in the wrong location.

Also go to Saraga International Grocery superstore (Lafayette Rd & 38th ST) they have a whole aisle of teaware, no gaiwan. Tea sucks there. They also have a large selection of surimi.

Anyway, I am going to take my new gaiwan on it's maiden voyage tomorrow.[/i]

[Mary R]

I parked right in front of that store Friday night! I wondered if that might have been it. Thanks!

[augie]

I found it (Tea & Herb) while lost last summer. We moved to Indy just over a year ago. Everything I know about I found while lost! I wish I'd known mentioning the word "gaiwan" would fetch such fantastic service last year.

My daughter & I bought one of those display tea flowers, which we broke in the purple pot with. I have no idea what it was because he was explaining how gaiwan was used to serve tea to the upper class of society and he was so happy I just couldn't interrupt. Oh, he had a ton of flavored tea in front -- not wild about that stuff. If you do buy some tea, pls post and tell me what you thought. I'm not a big "risk taker".

OK, Friday night . . . you must have been visiting Magic Bus! See what you've been missing?

The tea cozy I found doing a google search. www.tecozy.com They are an Africian-American owned business, so I try to shop there as much as possible. They have some Adagio stuff.

[augie]

Maybe I should have made a poll, this is a stupid question:
Am I an idiot, or:
Is there some trick to using a gaiwan? I brewed Wuyi Oolong tea, which was great. Definately makes a difference using a gaiwan, I thought. But I had to use a towel to decant the tea to avoid burning my fingers.

I have seen gaiwan from $10 to $50+ bucks. I absolutely refuse to pay $50 bucks for a cup & saucer no matter how nice they are.

I have watched the video on Hop Goblin's blog -- of course there is no sound. Guy could be swearing like a son-of-a-gun in the background, maybe?

What kind of gaiwan do you gaiwan users use out there? Do I just have a cheap, crappy gaiwan? I paid all of $6.99 for it, so it can sit on the shelf and just look cool.

[Space Samurai]

It seems to me that using a gaiwan is more art than science; you have to figure out what feels best to you.

You may just have a cheap gaiwan. I had this problem with my first gaiwan; it was poorly made, and the cup and saucer parts did not fit together well at all. I did not have good results at all with it, and now it sits in my locker at work, mostly unused.

My second gaiwan was friggin fabulous: http://www.redblossomtea.com/details.ph ... n&item=950
I paid all of a dollar more, and it is supperior in every way. What I do is spread my four fingers into a V and slide them under the saucer, then place my thumb on the nob to kip the lid in place, then just rotate the wrist (I find you need to do this last part kind of face to keep the tea from leaking down the side).

Two things though, first I'm a stocker, so my hands are fairly calloused thus less sensitive. Second, after enough infusions, the lid got hot enough where it still burned.

I don't think there is a perfect way, but once you find what feels right to you, you shouldn't have any problems.

And if you want a better gaiwan, I highly reccomend purchasing one from Red Blossom. They have great teas, too.

[Mary R]

I spent a bit of time trying to take a picture of me showing off my gaiwan technique...yeah. That was awkward, and I almost broke my gaiwan.

Then I remembered that I learned my mad gaiwan skillz from TeaChat alum scruffmcgruff. He's already done the tricky photography and posted a nice tutorial on his blog, Tea Nerd.

It took me awhile to get the courage to try Scruff's method. For some reason, I thought it would be tricky to try to sandwich all three pieces together. It's insanely sturdy, though, and immediately solved all my issues with getting burnt.

I wouldn't pay $50 for a gaiwan either. I think I paid $15 for mine, which was more on the upper end of my price limit. The only things I really want in a gaiwan are a decent porcelain and a white interior.

[scruffmcgruff]

"Alum" makes it sound like I've graduated from teachat or something.

The "trick" with using gaiwans is knowing what parts get hot and what parts don't. Generally, the parts I find to be cooler are the saucer, the knob on top of the lid, and the very edge of the cup's rim. The way people use gaiwans like the woman in hop's video is by holding the cup as close to the rim as possible. It's not *that* hard, but it does take some practice. To start out, I'd try the easier way, explained by spacesamurai (and me, if you follow the link Mary posted).

Don't pay a lot (more than 20 bucks max) for a gaiwan unless you're a collector. The price of a gaiwan online is no indication of how well it will fit together-- it's just a matter of how much a vendor wants to mark up a piece of porcelain worth no more than a few bucks. If you look on ebay you can get a good gaiwan for $5 bucks plus shipping. I've bought a couple ebay gaiwans, and I'm happy with both of them.

[Mary R]

"Alum" makes it sound like I've graduated from teachat or something.

Yeah...I was posting at midnight after two very long days. For the love of me, I couldn't think of a better word.

[augie]

It seems to me that using a gaiwan is more art than science; you have to figure out what feels best to you.
. . .
And if you want a better gaiwan, I highly reccomend purchasing one from Red Blossom. They have great teas, too.

Red blossom is next on my list to try. Although, I am hooked on two Oolongs from Rishi: Iron Goddess of Mercy and Wuyi.

The second steep I was careful to hold by the very rim on the cup. I will have to go back and watch the video again. It is so worth the effort -- I was amazed at how the tea tasted. Now I need to find the scientific basis for a gaiwan making better tea!

My appologies if I have confused Scruff & Hop. You're all so darn tea-wise. Thx for your help, all. Otherwise, I might have given up & never tried new stuff . . .

[scruffmcgruff]

I think gaiwans are great because of their simplicity. Pour water in, pour tea out-- no complicated switches, filters, or mechanisms. It's also smaller than your average Western teapot, so you can get the proper leaf to water ratio without breaking the bank.