New here and really need help!

[the_economist]

I'll be getting a donated Chao Zhou pretty soon so it'll be my first experience with small clay teapots....it's 100ml in size, so it's not the tiniest, but it's tiny enough. I'll probably need a lot of help deciphering how much tea to water ratio I should be adding to that too.

aaah i wish i was getting a chao zhou! im a chaozhou descendant but with no pot

@Britt: the three finger method is where your index is on the gaiwan knob, and your thumb and middle hold the opposite sides of the rim.

i have never used a pitcher. my original gaiwan set came with a porcelain tea boat/tray thing which caught all the spillings. and i thought it cool to distribute the tea by running it across several cups (in my case, 4).

but that said i might just get a pitcher to save myself the embarrassment of poorly distributed tea.

[Tea4Todd]

I'll be getting a donated Chao Zhou pretty soon so it'll be my first experience with small clay teapots....it's 100ml in size, so it's not the tiniest, but it's tiny enough. I'll probably need a lot of help deciphering how much tea to water ratio I should be adding to that too.

aaah i wish i was getting a chao zhou! im a chaozhou descendant but with no pot

@Britt: the three finger method is where your index is on the gaiwan knob, and your thumb and middle hold the opposite sides of the rim.

i have never used a pitcher. my original gaiwan set came with a porcelain tea boat/tray thing which caught all the spillings. and i thought it cool to distribute the tea by running it across several cups (in my case, 4).

but that said i might just get a pitcher to save myself the embarrassment of poorly distributed tea.

I actually like the distributing it between cups method, but, no one other than my gf ever drinks tea with me...so a serving pitcher is perfect for myself.

You're from Chao Zhou? Are you chinese or speak the language at all? I've been trying to learn, I can only say a few things. My fluency is in Japanese and Korean...although that's elementary fluency at best lol.

[AdamMY]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgjSNQOCT2U

I just remembered I made this video last spring, which gives an idea of how to do the 3 finger method.

Hope this helps.

[the_economist]

I actually like the distributing it between cups method, but, no one other than my gf ever drinks tea with me...so a serving pitcher is perfect for myself.

You're from Chao Zhou? Are you chinese or speak the language at all? I've been trying to learn, I can only say a few things. My fluency is in Japanese and Korean...although that's elementary fluency at best lol.

yeah im chinese and i speak crappy mandarin but no chao zhou dialect at all. my fluency is in english haha...

i just got my new gaiwan but it comes with a sad story. hope yours arrives safely!

[Tea4Todd]

yeah im chinese and i speak crappy mandarin but no chao zhou dialect at all. my fluency is in english haha...

i just got my new gaiwan but it comes with a sad story. hope yours arrives safely!

I speak REALLY crappy mandarin, lol. My fluency is in English and other asian langauges though. I know! I saw your post of your Gaiwan!! Looks really nice, you got it from Ten Ren? What the price point on that? What's the sad story?

[the_economist]

the sad story is that it is on the teaware loss thread already! before it reached home, before its virgin tea run, it got chipped! some fella knocked into me as i was carrying it back so the lid is chipped now.

it was 15 bucks, a real bargain i think. i love it a lot!

[britt]

Thanks everyone for the explanation of the "three-finger method." That name sounds like something from the Saturday morning Kung Fu Theater!

I'll give it a try next time I use a gaiwan.

Tea4Todd:

The amount of tea and steeping times will vary a lot depending on who you ask. What I usually do, since I buy all my oolongs from Hou De and they usually show pictures of the brewed tea in a white cup, is try it out and if I'm not satisfied I go the the vendor's website and see what the tea sould look like after brewing. I then adjust until it comes close in color. Usually the taste is improved in the process.

Even if you're wrong in the in initial amount of tea and brewing time, just vary each following infusion until you get better results.

[Tea4Todd]

Tea4Todd:

The amount of tea and steeping times will vary a lot depending on who you ask. What I usually do, since I buy all my oolongs from Hou De and they usually show pictures of the brewed tea in a white cup, is try it out and if I'm not satisfied I go the the vendor's website and see what the tea sould look like after brewing. I then adjust until it comes close in color. Usually the taste is improved in the process.

Even if you're wrong in the in initial amount of tea and brewing time, just vary each following infusion until you get better results.

Been a long absence from me from the boards. I got all my teaware and tea orders in, and I've been experimenting with different oolongs. I generally do a 10 second steep, then taste then I'll either increase by 5 seconds or 10 seconds depending on the tea. I generally am steeping most oolongs in my gaiwan for around 30-40 seconds...35 seconds seems to yield the best results, ALTHOUGH, certain oolongs, such as the Beipu Oriental and Light Roasted Milky Oolong taste great at shorter intervals...10, 10, 15, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 that seems to have yielded the best results so far for me.