Modified Gaiwans

[gingkoseto]

The crackling one will get pretty after being used for a while. Here is mine (on the left) compared with a new one. Mine was only used for several times because it's too big for drinking by myself. I used darker tea every time (bai hao oolong, heavy roast dong ding...) and it changes color fast

[OolongWang]

The crackling one will get pretty after being used for a while. Here is mine (on the left) compared with a new one. Mine was only used for several times because it's too big for drinking by myself. I used darker tea every time (bai hao oolong, heavy roast dong ding...) and it changes color fast

The older one looks nice. It looks this different only after being used several times? Gives one an incentive just to pour hot water over it. I will see if mine reacts the same way. It may not, since given the cheap price it may be made to an inferior quality.

Does yours have a stainer? The stainer in mine is starting to change shape only after 6 or 8 times of brewing although I must admit boiling water was used each time. Now I have to push it into the bowl whereas when it was new, it would just slide in without problems.

If the stainer can no longer be used it will be difficult to find another one that will fit exactly.

[Oolonga]

Wow, your gaiwan looks very very nice, I wonder how much it cost?

The 5 gaiwans I bought in China all cost between Y20-25, about US$3-$4 each. They are purely functional with no aesthetics in them at all.

I bought it for $38 but it's a high quality product and is hopefully gonna last me a long time so I consider it a good investment.

Does yours have a stainer? The stainer in mine is starting to change shape only after 6 or 8 times of brewing although I must admit boiling water was used each time. Now I have to push it into the bowl whereas when it was new, it would just slide in without problems.

Mine does and it's shape isn't affected yet.

[teaisme]

NOTE
I would not recommend buying the really cheap modified gaiwans out there floating around on certain eBay sites. I have had experiences with two of them in the very low price range.
One had 6 holes in the spout, but only 3 were actually open, the other 3 were still glued shut.
Another had a very thick clear glazing, that seemed excessive. I don't know why, it just seemed excessive. Too shinny you know? The edges of the lid were not glazed though, and gave off a little bit of dust/powder when whipped with a dry black cloth.

[gingkoseto]

The crackling one will get pretty after being used for a while. Here is mine (on the left) compared with a new one. Mine was only used for several times because it's too big for drinking by myself. I used darker tea every time (bai hao oolong, heavy roast dong ding...) and it changes color fast

The older one looks nice. It looks this different only after being used several times? Gives one an incentive just to pour hot water over it. I will see if mine reacts the same way. It may not, since given the cheap price it may be made to an inferior quality.

Does yours have a stainer? The stainer in mine is starting to change shape only after 6 or 8 times of brewing although I must admit boiling water was used each time. Now I have to push it into the bowl whereas when it was new, it would just slide in without problems.

If the stainer can no longer be used it will be difficult to find another one that will fit exactly.

You will have to use hot tea water, not just water, to stain the pot. If you brew dark tea, see if you can find tea spots on the outside wall of the pot. Usually the tea travels across the wall every time, then when you wash the pot, you will wash away the tea spots on the outside the wall but the "veins" of tea stain stays inside the wall.

My strainer, if I squeeze the bottom, it will change shape a bit but the top ring which sits on the pot will not change shape so it will always slide in easily. Is it a round stainless steel basket? It's used in many Chinese and Japanese teapots and I see them often on ebay. But it may cost you more than what you spent on your teapot

It's an unfortunate phenomenon in Chinese market that once a product gets popular, suddenly everybody is making and selling it. Then the market is a mixture of the original good products and the cheap products. But at least you were lucky to be able to hand-pick them on site. And after all they are just porcelain ware, unlike the cheap/fake yixing ware that can cause health concern.

[gingkoseto]

NOTE
I would not recommend buying the really cheap modified gaiwans out there floating around on certain eBay sites. I have had experiences with two of them in the very low price range.
One had 6 holes in the spout, but only 3 were actually open, the other 3 were still glued shut.
Another had a very thick clear glazing, that seemed excessive. I don't know why, it just seemed excessive. Too shinny you know? The edges of the lid were not glazed though, and gave off a little bit of dust/powder when whipped with a dry black cloth.

This happened to a yixing of mine. Even though it works fine after I used a metal wire to "repair" it, I did feel a bit angry, and I felt an urge to write to that yixing craftsman and ask for my wage for working on his teapot

[OolongWang]

NOTE
I would not recommend buying the really cheap modified gaiwans out there floating around on certain eBay sites. I have had experiences with two of them in the very low price range.
One had 6 holes in the spout, but only 3 were actually open, the other 3 were still glued shut.
Another had a very thick clear glazing, that seemed excessive. I don't know why, it just seemed excessive. Too shinny you know? The edges of the lid were not glazed though, and gave off a little bit of dust/powder when whipped with a dry black cloth.

I bought them from shops in China so I did inspect them before parting with the money.

[Intuit]

What is the source for your nice looking modified gaiwans, Ginkgo?

[OolongWang]

You will have to use hot tea water, not just water, to stain the pot. If you brew dark tea, see if you can find tea spots on the outside wall of the pot. Usually the tea travels across the wall every time, then when you wash the pot, you will wash away the tea spots on the outside the wall but the "veins" of tea stain stays inside the wall.

My strainer, if I squeeze the bottom, it will change shape a bit but the top ring which sits on the pot will not change shape so it will always slide in easily. Is it a round stainless steel basket? It's used in many Chinese and Japanese teapots and I see them often on ebay. But it may cost you more than what you spent on your teapot

It's an unfortunate phenomenon in Chinese market that once a product gets popular, suddenly everybody is making and selling it. Then the market is a mixture of the original good products and the cheap products. But at least you were lucky to be able to hand-pick them on site. And after all they are just porcelain ware, unlike the cheap/fake yixing ware that can cause health concern.

The stainer is a round stainless steel basket. I notice now that the top ring does not change but the basket itself stretches so you have to push it into the pot but it still fits nicely although it is not so smooth now.

Your observation on what you call "an unfortunate phenomenon" in China happens not only in the tea industry but also in many other areas. Take cinema for instance. Once there is a good kungfu movie that wins an oscar this causes many other similar movies most of which are inferior to the award winning one. There is a lack of innovation in many areas; maybe because there is a reluctance to spend on research & development by commercial companies on their products although I think this is being retified at least in the scientific fields.

[Intuit]

>There is a lack of innovation in many areas; maybe because there is a reluctance to spend on research & development by commercial companies on their products although I think this is being rectified at least in the scientific fields.

You think this is true only in China??

Your statement is absolutely and fundamentally true here in the US. Companies are investing less in R&D than ever before. They wait for government and university labs to do the legwork, move it to incubator stage, and then they step in - IF and ONLY IF there is incentive money to move the idea beyond demonstration stage.

As far as innovation in certain scientific fields: China is now set to dominate innovative green technology. The US COULD have used this horse to carve out new materials and manufacturing technologies, and ride out the abysmal lack of jobs in industrial sectors that have moved overseas.

[OolongWang]

>
Your statement is absolutely and fundamentally true here in the US. Companies are investing less in R&D than ever before. They wait for government and university labs to do the legwork, move it to incubator stage, and then they step in - IF and ONLY IF there is incentive money to move the idea beyond demonstration stage.

As far as innovation in certain scientific fields: China is now set to dominate innovative green technology. The US COULD have used this horse to carve out new materials and manufacturing technologies, and ride out the abysmal lack of jobs in industrial sectors that have moved overseas.

Intuit,

Presumably you are a researcher. I really dont have much experience in research. In Xiamen we were taken to an industrial park because my son wanted to see an animation exhibition. Imagine my surprise when I saw the scale of the buildings and the area surrounding it. It is quite easily about 10 times the scale of area of what is found in Singapore in the Biopolis complex although the buildings there are lower. I did not expect this in a small city like Xiamen which is closer to Taiwan than most Chinese cities and therefore more exposed to potential damage in the case of war between the two sides.

[Ritva]

I have this modified gaiwan. It's made by Ei Long Studios (Taiwan) and I bought from Jing Tea UK (not Jing Tea Shop) http://jingtea.com/teaware/blue-pearl-gaiwan-200ml
It looks quite similar than Oolonga's gaiwan, just different colour. The photo above is not very good, it looks better in real life. It has a strainer and actually I've been using the strainer in a mug at work when I drink pu erh Western style. Jing has also matching cups

but I use them mostly for sencha. They are perfect size for that. The cups are not 120 ml as the description says but 150 ml and I find it a bit odd. The gaiwan is too small for two cups so the combination doesn't really work but in separate use they are really nice items.

[Victoria]

Ritva I had that one too at one time!!
I passed it along to daughteroftheKing after she had
a mishap with hers.
It is a beauty!

I have these two, the first a smaller one from TeaSpring,
the second a set from eBay seller Tea Emporium:

[nonc_ron]

Long Quan Crystallized Blue Celdadon Cups
I just bought two cups and a Modified Gaiwan. ( All the same color )
when I went back to copy a pic of the Gaiwan, it was gone, that quick.
I guess I bought the last one.
Found one on ebay.

[Geekgirl]

Holy moly those are beautiful!