High quality gaiwan

[jaylorgator]

I'm looking for a high quality porcelain gaiwan for one person. The ones I have found seem to be pretty cheap porcelain. Where should I look?

[IPT]

What do you mean by high quality?

Hand crafted ones from Jingdezhen are gorgeous, but very expensive. Most of the gaiwans on the market are mass produced. It is hard to find high quality ones, even here in China, and it is very hard to find large ones in the old fashioned style.

[jaylorgator]

By high quality, I basically meant not mass produced.

[IPT]

If you are looking for the smaller, modern ones, they are findable, but not terribly easily to do so. You can always ask one of the Teaware Artisans that are posters here to custom make you one, if you cannot find one.

[David R.]

From another recent thread :
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f= ... rd#p208012

[wyardley]

Personally, I'd worry more about the material and utility / how it feels in the hand vs. whether or not it's handmade.

[jaylorgator]

Do you know of any stores that have well made gaiwans (regardless of if they are hand made or not)?

[Poohblah]

The gaiwans from The Tea Gallery have a very high reputation on these boards. Many vendors sell gaiwans that appear to be of decent quality, though. For instance, most of the ones from Dragon Tea House look pretty good, as does this one from Postcard Teas. I'm sure there's more around.

[edkrueger]

I second Yardley's comment. Often times, the best –at least from a practical tea-making stand point– gaiwan are mass produced with a good design. A handmade gaiwan will be pretty, but might not have the features that make a gaiwan useful.

[betta]

I came across this taobaoshop some time ago. Seem to be decent ones.

Like other members said, functionality (shape, thickness, etc) is most of the time more important, if you buy functional gaiwan.

[Jayaratna]

Jerry from China Cha Dao used to offer some top quality ones. He's not offering them any more, maybe for lack of buyers, but perhaps one can try asking him.


http://stores.ebay.com/China-Cha-Dao/Ga ... 34.c0.m322

[Alex]

He is planning on getting some more stuff as I'm after some cups off him. email him to speed him along