Aug 11th, '13, 10:54
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by theredbaron » Aug 11th, '13, 10:54
Teaism wrote:hmmm...let me share some information on this topic.
Very interesting, thanks.
The first time i saw Gaiwan/Gaibei was when i was eastern China in '93. Teas was (is?) directly drunk from the lidded cup. In Xinjiang and Qinghai people drank sweetened green tea mixed with dried fruits, and in Szechuan's tea houses green tea which was filled up by waiters with water kettles with quite long spouts. With the lid one kept the floating tea leaves away from ones lips.
I still have difficulties with the concept of brewing tea in Gaiwan to pour it into cups instead of straight drinking from Gaiwan, as i got used to back then. I find, for semi-fermented and Pu Erh teas, Xixing pots much more convenient and better tasting as well.
Aug 11th, '13, 12:03
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by gingkoseto » Aug 11th, '13, 12:03
theredbaron wrote:Teaism wrote:hmmm...let me share some information on this topic.
Very interesting, thanks.
The first time i saw Gaiwan/Gaibei was when i was eastern China in '93. Teas was (is?) directly drunk from the lidded cup. In Xinjiang and Qinghai people drank sweetened green tea mixed with dried fruits, and in Szechuan's tea houses green tea which was filled up by waiters with water kettles with quite long spouts. With the lid one kept the floating tea leaves away from ones lips.
I still have difficulties with the concept of brewing tea in Gaiwan to pour it into cups instead of straight drinking from Gaiwan, as i got used to back then. I find, for semi-fermented and Pu Erh teas, Xixing pots much more convenient and better tasting as well.
Gaiwan was invented for brewing green teas and drinking directly from it. The sweetened green tea you mentioned might be "eight treasure tea" which is popular among Chinese Muslim and some other ethnic groups. Sichuan gaiwan tea is very famous. But generally gaiwan was the dominant manner of drinking green tea in most part of China in the past. It was later replaced by glass in some regions (such as Long Jing region), while glass used to be expensive and rare in pre-industry time. Nowadays a lot of people use a tall porcelain cup with a lid to drink green tea in the same way as using a gaiwan.
It's rather a recent trend that in some tea performance or tea house serving (mostly with performing factor) people use gaiwan to brew green tea in a "gongfu" way (instead of drinking directly from the gaiwan).
Exactly like you, "I still have difficulties with the concept of brewing tea in Gaiwan to pour it into cups instead of straight drinking from Gaiwan". Even when serving friends green tea, I would either use a teapot or give each of them a cup to brew tea directly in (mostly the second way as it appears more "generous"
).
Aug 11th, '13, 14:10
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Joined: Aug 1st, '12, 08:20
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by theredbaron » Aug 11th, '13, 14:10
gingkoseto wrote:The sweetened green tea you mentioned might be "eight treasure tea" which is popular among Chinese Muslim and some other ethnic groups.
Yes, right, it actually is.
You have just inspired me to buy a pack from Idllu on ebay right now, something which i wanted to do for a long time already...
Aug 11th, '13, 23:24
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by gingkoseto » Aug 11th, '13, 23:24
theredbaron wrote:gingkoseto wrote:The sweetened green tea you mentioned might be "eight treasure tea" which is popular among Chinese Muslim and some other ethnic groups.
Yes, right, it actually is.
You have just inspired me to buy a pack from Idllu on ebay right now, something which i wanted to do for a long time already...
When you receive it, you may "dissect" it so that you can blend your own next time. I guess they would have tea leaves, rock sugar, goji, chrysanthemum (or jasmine or some sort of flower), dried longan, raisin, nuts and/or jujube.
This guy has a bunch of eight treasure tea blog posts:
http://blackdragonteabar.blogspot.com/s ... t+treasure
I bumped into the most recent one first, and it's believed to be an April Fool's Day joke. But the other ones are real.
