Is it REALLY this complicated??????

[moot]

I know I'm late to this game, but here's an idea:

Buy a gaiwan. One. Make sure it's thin. Don't buy a cheap $5 one. I bought mine from a nice tea shop in the heavily Chinese Monterey Park, but I hear The Tea Gallery's are nice. Good ones seem to run around $15-$30 or so.

Things about a gaiwan:

1. They're porcelain, so they don't absorb flavors. So you only need one. Also, you can't screw them up. I've lost several yi xing to carelessness, mold, and an overeager guest who wanted to help out and thought *lots* of soap was good for everything.

2. Half the ultra-serious tea people I know end up using a gaiwan for over half their teas anyway.

3. They're more intimate than a teapot, and afford more control for a number of reasons. It'll be obvious as soon as you try to use one.

4. More important than getting just the right pot for this or that, is to, for awhile, *brew steadily with one brewing vessel*. I think, especially if you're just starting out with tea, there are so many damn variables - water temp, kind of tea, brewing length, that you want to minimize them. Basically, you want to become intuitive with one brewing vessel.

5. Later you can add yi xing. But only one at a time - and get used to it. Learn its ins and outs. Each pot brews a little differently, and you won't really get the hang of it unless you brew a lot with it. People who buy immediately buy a ton of pots and bounce between them each day, I think, sort of cripple themselves from developing a really intimate connection with a particular brewing vessel.

[capheind]

Tea is exactly as complicated or simple as you want it to be. In China its as common to brew your tea at the bottom of a glass as it is to engage in an elaborate Gung-Fu session, or so I'm told by Chinese friends.

If your looking for a pot, Yixing can actually be quite affordable depending on where you look, but you don't NEED one, you can go on using your Ingenuitea, or a glass pot, or any other teapot you like. If it tastes good to you, you can't possibly be doing it wrong.

You can actually make Oolong without a screen of any sort on the pot, as the leaves generally expand sufficiently that they won't fit in the spout, and even if they do.. they taste fine to me

[ABx]

I know I'm late to this game, but here's an idea:

Buy a gaiwan. One. Make sure it's thin. Don't buy a cheap $5 one. I bought mine from a nice tea shop in the heavily Chinese Monterey Park, but I hear The Tea Gallery's are nice. Good ones seem to run around $15-$30 or so.

Hmm, I'm not sure I follow.

Gaiwans are porcelain, and most of what's available doesn't differ that much in quality based on price. The ones from TeaGallery seem to be a much better quality porcelain, and those do make a difference, but most of the ones you see out there, even the $15-$30 ones (and especially on the internet), are the same as the cheapies. Most of the gaiwans that I see online for $15-$30 are the exact same gaiwans that my local shop sells for under $5 (even down to the same pattern). The yixing gaiwan with porcelain interior that I got from Dragon Teahouse for around $5 has more tea stains than any of my other teaware.

The cheapy (despite $15+ price tags) mass-produced ones are usually fine. They are usually fairly unremarkable, but will (and do) serve most people's needs. Those cheap sets that come with cups, pitcher, etc., on the other hand, tend to be noticeably lousy quality.

But really, if someone is like the OP and doesn't want to get into gongfu, then a gaiwan probably won't be much better (brewing with a gaiwan would be gongfu as well). A lot of people just starting out tend to want to just explore the teas, and don't want to focus much on brewing. I think it's easy for those of us that are obsessed to think of this stuff as fun (and incredibly rewarding), but many simply want a nice big mug of tea that has more to offer than the typical fare that comes in tea bags, and there's nothing wrong with that

I started with an infuser mug, and I still think it's the best vessel (both for quality and convenience) for brewing big pot/western style. I still use mine occasionally for making iced tea or on other rare occasions. Although it's not gongfu cha, I find it to be the best compromise - it's not hard to just use a little extra leaf to get much better results -- it's certainly much better than what you get from 1tsp of leaf in a 24oz pot.

[chrl42]

One thing, love is lacking.

For me, Yixing is easiest tool to treat than any other teaware I know of.

You don't have to worry about getting stain/blot (cos it's fired at high temperature), no worry about leaving tea in pot too long, no worry about gettin finger burned (Gaiwan), easy to hold, plus it gives a pleasure of seasoning (Yang Hu).

Learning about tea or teaware shouldn't be of a headache, should be of a pure joy

[Tead Off]

One thing, love is lacking.

For me, Yixing is easiest tool to treat than any other teaware I know of.

You don't have to worry about getting stain/blot (cos it's fired at high temperature), no worry about leaving tea in pot too long, no worry about gettin finger burned (Gaiwan), easy to hold, plus it gives a pleasure of seasoning (Yang Hu).

Learning about tea or teaware shouldn't be of a headache, should be of a pure joy

Yes. How can you love a gaiwan unless it's a Qing dynasty blue and white used by Qianlong himself.

Down with gaiwans!

[JPX]

i bought 2 yixing zisha clay tea pot from tea gallery for like 10$ on ebay each with 120ml capacity... it has an artist stamp etc. im pretty sure its not the same quality as lets say another ''famous'' pot but its a pretty damn good deal. You should look into it.

[Ebtoulson]

As far as the IngenuiTEA just put a little bit of bleach and boiling water in it and let it sit for a while. It removes stains and smells.

Also, hardly anyone here practices real gong fu-- most of us have our own preferred (but admittedly bastardized) techniques that are more or less based on gong fu.

I know I skip steps but I do it for convenience

One thing, love is lacking.

I ...love u?????

But in all seriousness if I'm looking to brew larger amounts of tea or really fine teas/herbals (like rooibos) the IngenuiTEA is teaware of choose. But if you find your tastes maturing you may want to buy a yixing pot or a gaiwan and try your hand at gongfu. Good luck

[chrl42]

I ...love u?????

How are you