Show Off Your Pots and Cups V

[Victoria]

Loving my new lily cup!


~clicky for more~

[Geekgirl]

Your lily cup is ooohlala!

[chamekke]

What a graceful shape! It's well named.

[henley]

Loving my new lily cup!

It's a perfect combination of asian & girly! Very nice.

[chamekke]

It's official. I gave in, and bought a gaiwan for my furtive oolong needs. And here's the photo. It's a Crystalline-glazed Gaiwan of Emerald Green (more of a girlwan if you ask me), ordered from Hou De and now on its way. It's 120 cc / about 4 fluid ounces:



Sadly, I don't have a bigger photo because by the time I thought to order it, Hou De was out of stock and had removed the listing altogether. Luckily they did a little digging in their warehouse and managed to locate one more gaiwan, thus endearing themselves to me forever (the thumbnail-sized photo is from the special-order page they created).

Originally I was quite prepared to buy a cheap gaiwan locally, but despite the presence in my city of several tea rooms AND this nation's oldest Chinatown, nary a gaiwan was to be found. So I chose something pretty instead.

[Victoria]

Wow, beautiful! That was really nice of Hou de! I have the same color one in the
flatter style gaiwan from Teaspring - oh and guess what - if you ever want matching cups - Jing in UK has them!!! They are called blue - but they are green - trust me.

Congrats!!!

[hop_goblin]

Beautiful Gaiwan! Congrats!

[Mary R]

It's official. I gave in, and bought a gaiwan for my furtive oolong needs. And here's the photo. It's a Crystalline-glazed Gaiwan of Emerald Green (more of a girlwan if you ask me), ordered from Hou De and now on its way. It's 120 cc / about 4 fluid ounces

I have that exact same gaiwan, too! It's so pretty, I'm half scared to pick it up...I have a reputation for dropping my teaware.

[Chip]

I love these crystalline pieces, especially the green ones. I am really jealous of this "last one that was lost in the warehouse." Be sure to share more pictures when you get it.

[chamekke]

Wow, beautiful! That was really nice of Hou de! I have the same color one in the
flatter style gaiwan from Teaspring - oh and guess what - if you ever want matching cups - Jing in UK has them!!! They are called blue - but they are green - trust me.

Woo hoo!!! Thank you for that link, Victoria! What lovely wares; I looked up your "flatter style gaiwan" on Teaspring, and it's a stunner. (Of course, now I am seriously tempted to get one or two of those cups )

Hey, I have a question which may be related.

Last week, at the infamous consignment shop, I actually found what I now suppose may be a gaiwan (not the ruffly kind) with the ridged type of pouring spout. At the time, I thought it was an inexpensive gyokuro-style houhin, except that the knob on the lid doesn't look right for that. However, there are so many styles of houhin and kyuusu that I couldn't be sure. On the other hand, the stamp on the bottom gives me the impression that it is Chinese.

Oh, who am I kidding. Actually, I don't really know what the heck it is.

But I bought it ($5 - seemed a reasonable price for an experiment), brewed some Wu Yi in it last night, and even if this "gaiwan" is not especially attractive, it certainly did the trick.

Can anyone identify this little beast? (sorry for the crap quality of the photos... my electronic camera is on its last legs and I'm now having difficulties with focus and exposure)

[chamekke]

I love these crystalline pieces, especially the green ones. I am really jealous of this "last one that was lost in the warehouse." Be sure to share more pictures when you get it.

Will do. I'm a bit griped at myself that I didn't save the larger photo (the studio-quality one) when I had the chance. Oh well.

Hou De did say that they hope to get more of these in stock again ... they're just not certain when that will happen. When they offered to check their warehouse, on the off-chance they might find one more, I said "Yes please," but without much hope. Imagine my delight when they came up with one more. Hurray for Hou De!!

[henley]

It's official. I gave in, and bought a gaiwan for my furtive oolong needs. And here's the photo. It's a Crystalline-glazed Gaiwan of Emerald Green (more of a girlwan if you ask me), ordered from Hou De and now on its way. It's 120 cc / about 4 fluid ounces:

Love your girlwan! It really is pretty. Can't wait to see the at home pics.

BTW, did you see the blue pearl gift set from Victoria's link? Very pretty!

[Geekgirl]

But I bought it ($5 - seemed a reasonable price for an experiment), brewed some Wu Yi in it last night, and even if this "gaiwan" is not especially attractive, it certainly did the trick.

Can anyone identify this little beast? (sorry for the crap quality of the photos... my electronic camera is on its last legs and I'm now having difficulties with focus and exposure)

I believe that is what is called a Gai bei, though I could be completely wrong. I often am. It's best used for large leaf teas that need plenty of room to unfurl. Very nice, I love the glaze!

[Salsero]

Last week, at the infamous consignment shop, I actually found what I now suppose may be a gaiwan (not the ruffly kind) with the ridged type of pouring spout.

Looks gaiwanesque to me. And actually quite a lovely one! esp with those beautiful leaves inside.

The traditional style is the type you ordered from Hou De, but the one Victoria referenced at TeaSpring is a modified style as is your consignment shop one. Do you find all these treasures in the same consignment shop? This consignment shop story of yours is getting a little hard to believe. I suspect foul play, I just can't figure the angle.

TeaSpring also has stocked a gaiwan the plate of which is hollow in the center, like a donut or a toilet seat. You can't see it in the photo, but it is the only such gaiwan I have ever seen. Used to own one until I broke the lid ... The few times I have looked back at it in the last year or so it has been "out of stock" so I am beginning to think that "out of stock" is a permanent rather than a temporary characteristic of this item.

To add to your confusion, gaiwans can have many shape characteristics, so one person will prefer a more tapered shape while another might prefer a more chunky profile, as well as varying thickness of the porcelain, the thinnest dissipating heat more rapidly and so being good for greens and the thickest retaining heat that is thought to be good for yancha and puerh.

Personally, I think it is pretty clear that this variety is perpetrated by the gaiwan cartel to lure us into owning many.

[Salsero]

Love your girlwan! It really is pretty. Can't wait to see the at home pics.

Henley, where do you come up with these? Very funny indeed. I also hope to see some home photos of this little sweetheart.

I believe that is what is called a Gai bei

I believe you are wrong. Gaiwan or gaibei lid bowl or lid cup mean same thing. Regional variation, something China has A LOT of. It seems that other parts of China use completely different terms. I have asked people from Fujian and from Szechuan if they knew gaiwan or gaibei and they stare at me blankly like I was the only white devil who didn't get it right in the whole history of the race. Then I bring one in and they are all smiles and telling what the real word for it is.