What Teaware Should I Use or Buy? Help Needed

[JRS22]

I just began drinking puerh this past year after participating in the puerh OTTIs. I have a small assortment of teaware that I've been collecting for brewing Japanese and Chinese greens but my favorite brewing vessel for puerh was my small Tea Gallery gaiwan. Last week the lid met with an unfortunate accident - turns out it can fly but it can't land. The obvious thing to do is order a replacement from the Tea Gallery, but it's currently out of stock.

I have a larger gaiwan that I could use for the less expensive puerh, but I have some samples of aged sheng that I would prefer to brew in small quantities. I know I could experiment with brewing it in a larger gaiwan (100 ml) but I've gotten the impression from reading Teachat that it's best to proportion the gaiwan to the quantity of tea.

If I'm wrong about that then I could use the larger gaiwan until the small one is back in stock. I'm ready to buy something just for brewing the aged sheng, but I don't know what to get. Or I could do both - improvise and buy - so I'm looking for advice from more puerh drinkers.

[TomVerlain]

100 ml is not that big. Since puerh can be brewed over and over, you can adjust your times and quanity of water on the fly.I used to try and use 5g of tea, but lately it is what ever chunk or qunaity I feel like. The key is very very very short steeps. As soon as you are done pouring the hot water, the tea is ready. With a gaiwan you can really see the tea color, and decide how much brewing time is right as the steeping takes longer. Have fun and enjoy

[bagua7]

Have you looked into clay pots? IMO they brew better tea than porcelain ware.

Regards.

[JRS22]

I need to clarify my issue. I want to brew really small quantities of puerh. For example, I just purchased a 5 gram sample of an aged sheng for $9 and I want it to last for 2 sessions. I realize that each session could go for 20 rounds and last for several days. Still, before I buy more of the tea I may want to try more than one brewing technique so I don't want to use it all for one session. So can I brew 2 grams of sheng in a pot that's large enough for 5 grams or more and still get good results, or do I need a smaller pot for a smaller quantity of tea? Japanese greens seem to taste better when the size is proportional to the quantity of tea - tiny for gyokuro, medium for sencha, large for genmaicha. Is that true of puerh?

If a larger pot is just as good as a smaller pot for me then there are lots of clay pots available online. But if I need a smaller pot or gaiwan, where do I find one? The Tea Gallery gaiwan is just the right size for a one-person portion of sheng and when it's back in stock I'll buy more, but I haven't found another vendor with that size pot.

[debunix]

I've found my tiniest pots and gaiwans by obsessively scouting my chinatown tea shop. These littlest ones are few and far between online. If you're going to wait for just the right one--of either a pot or gaiwan--your aged sheng may age a fair bit more before you find one you like. I still reach for my gaiwans before my clay pots, out of habit more than any perceived effect on taste, and because I don't have to think about which one for which tea. But none of my pots are yet well seasoned, so I can't really say I've ever compared the same tea in a well-seasoned pot vs the gaiwans.

While scouting a few places where I've occasionally seen very very tiny gaiwans, I just came across some 70mL sized versions from Dragon Tea House on Ebay, and now the tiniest I have ever seen, claimed volume of 35 mL apiece (also this one). The same seller also lists several mini pots on this page, and I just heard back from the seller that these do not have the single hole inside the spout design that often seems to compromise the usefulness of such tiny pots.

(This has been a costly question because I also bought samples of several teas I've read about but not yet found from my usual suppliers, along with a tiny locust gaiwan.)

(several edits because I forgot links amidst the buying frenzy)

[David R.]

In my opinion, aged sheng is better when using a high ratio of leaves in a small teapot. You can find threads of people discussing the matter.

[MarshalN]

I think for 5g and you want to stretch it out for two sessions -- that's pretty ambitious. The thing with doing it this way is you actually miss out on a lot of interesting notes, flavours, and sometimes even the qi of the tea if it's not brewed sufficiently strong.

[betta]

As far as I know, for older stuffs you need:
1. high brewing temperature
2. more tea leaves
3. longer steeping time

Gaiwan doesn't fit properly into this picture because you can't pour hot water on gaiwan during brewing. If you let the hot liquid sit in gaiwan too long, the gaiwan will be too hot to handle.
Unless you're a traditionalist, I won't recommend using gaiwan for older tea.

Some mini yixing pots should be fine. These pots carried by Tim could be good for you.

[solitude]

you can find 40ml mini yixing pots in dragond tea house, I would go certainly for this.

[entropyembrace]

I don´t like using a gaiwan for aged tea either...I find my Petr Novak stoneware pot works best of what I have...I agree a mini yixing would probably work well for what you want.

[Bob_McBob]

you can find 40ml mini yixing pots in dragond tea house, I would go certainly for this.

I've seen these a few times and wondered if they're any good. Link

[Drax]

you can find 40ml mini yixing pots in dragond tea house, I would go certainly for this.

I've seen these a few times and wondered if they're any good. Link

I'll let you know in about a week... I picked up one in a recent order, as I've been looking for something in the 40mL range...

[JRS22]

I just ordered the 40 ml Shui Ping Zhu Ni Yixing Zisha Clay Teapot as well as a 70 ml Yixing Zisha Clay Red Gaiwan that Debunix pointed out. I plan to use the pot for the aged sheng and the gaiwan for the newer puerh.

I don't have a problem with burning my fingers with gaiwans - when I bought my first one I found instructions here on Teachat on how to hold the gaiwan by the saucer and the knob on the lid.

Maybe someday the blue pots will be back in stock at the Mandarin's Tea Room just when I've earned a special gift, but in the meantime I'll make do with the basic equipment from Dragon Tea House.

[Bob_McBob]

That's what I get for posting eBay links

[JRS22]

That's what I get for posting eBay links

This handsome 40 ml pot is still available:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-Flat-Xi-Shi-Yi ... 35a46e1e08

as are several others. I do wonder how many of the pots were purchased by Teachatters...