Use of glass for teaware

[Bok]

What is people’s opinion on glass for teaware?
From what I understand so far, as brewing vessels, glass seems to perform less well than porcelain or clay.
Not sure of the scientific reasons, but the consensus seems to tend that way.

I can attest from my personal experience that drinking from a glass cup flattens the taste a lot – unless it is cold tea!

Recently, I am seeing a lot of glassware used in Chaxis in Taiwan, a recent trend which is boiling over from Japan. Lots of very nice, at times paper thin glassware to be had there. Seems to overtake the previous wabi-sabi-rough-clay trend before it.

As I was looking for a good match for my antique cups, I was looking at glass chahai options.
Pitchers were not really used in ancient times, which is why I won’t find a qing dynasty tea pitcher as it simply does not exist. Glass would be easier to combine than a modern glaze.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

P.S. another big downfall of glass is that it is a b… to keep clean, unless one uses a dishwasher, rusty brown patina is inevitable over time and makes the teaware look shabby…

[jayinhk]

I have a glass Hario pot I use for green tea--works fine. I also use a glass cha hai every day. If you wanna get glass sparkling clean again, you can use some alcohol and a test tube brush. It'll clean up very quickly indeed. You can add salt as an abrasive if you want. It'll be as good as new after a little scrubbing.

[debunix]

I enjoy the use of glass cups on occasion, as well as brewing up in glass pots (mostly for herbal teas because my glass teapot is quite large), and I share tea up and down the hall with a glass pitcher. Most of my glassware does go into the dishwasher because it's easier, but the glass pitcher at work gets a rub with baking soda occasionally to keep it's sparkle.

Compared to glazed ceramic, brewing in it or drinking from it is very similar, and I would not consider it a lesser brewing material. It's mostly a matter of prefering an artisan ceramic over a the mass produced glasswares that are most easily found (and affordable). I still hope to find a fine glass gaiwan one day without any business's name painted or etched upon it.

[Bok]

Thanks for your input guys!

Debunix, did you have a look at Taobao?
http://ai.taobao.com/cp/uFrXuuVluuD6urVs.html

Some nice ones there!

[steanze]

Glass is one of my favorite materials for a chahai. It makes it easy to see the color of the tea, which can't be seen in a yixing pot and sometimes can't be seen in the cups (for example if I'm using celadon or cups other than porcelain/glass). It's easy to match it to different choices of brewing vessels and cups (fits yixing as well as porcelain and celadon).
With respect to other teaware, I personally don't like glass gaiwan. Glass cups are ok, I find that I end up using the porcelain and celadon ones more frequently though.

[Bok]

That echoes my thoughts perfectly!

[debunix]

I've never ordered off Taobao....but some of those do look very nice. I've bought at least one glass gaiwan online that turned out to be disappointing for reasons that I couldn't tell until it was in my hand--the clarity and fineness of the glass aren't so easy to distinguish well in a photo.

[LindaArtet]

Thank you for the reply.  That is actually why I was asking, because he didnt have information.  This is my first test of the Forum as a resource Holly in Michigan, USA