Gaiwan filling past the lid?

[Muadeeb]

I've seen some advice on filling a gaiwan with enough water that it comes up past the lid and forms a seal. The problem is that with that much water, I burn my fingers when trying to pour it out. I'm getting the feeling (besides hot fingertips) that this might be worthless advice and I should fill the gaiwan to the point where it just starts to flare out to the rim and not worry about a proper seal. Would you agree?

[ole]

Sometimes I do fill it 'past the lid'. But at the same time, when I use my gaiwans the water is often not that hot anyway, and the one I use the most has a pretty broad rim so not often I burn my fingers anyway.

But I would probably just leave it if I ended up with burnt fingers. I doubt it will have a too much of an effect on the taste anyways. You'll get some of the same seal just below as you said.

[yalokinh]

Grab it by the saucer. I have never been burned because of that

[gingkoseto]

Exactly! No matter what benefits are claimed for it, I won't sacrifice my finger for it

[sherubtse]

Grab it by the saucer. I have never been burned because of that

I always fill past the top of the lid to form a seal even when using boiling water. When pouring, I grab the thing by the saucer and top of the lid using 2 hands. Not elegant or "correct", but it works fine for me.

The seal is formed and my fingers stay un-burned.

Best wishes,
sherubtse

[wyardley]

Overfill it slightly, then just tip to push off the extra water.

[jayinhk]

Fingers under the saucer, thumb on top. Works for me, although I use one of my small porcelain teapots with handles instead of gaiwans nowadays.

[yalokinh]

Fingers under the saucer, thumb on top. Works for me, although I use one of my small porcelain teapots with handles instead of gaiwans nowadays.

I do thumb and ring finger holding the saucer, pointing finger holding the knob of the lid. middlefinger just hanging out, lol. I have medium large hands, so holding the gaiwan with just one hand isn't a problem

[Math]

Someone should make a chart with pictures of the various ways you can grip your gaiwan when you pour, just like the one for kyusus someone posted here a while ago.

[teaisme]

That would be neat to see how people use their gaiwans.

I've been playing around with different ways of holding a gaiwan past couple weeks.

One way that I decided to pursue further is thumb on lid, ring finger and middle finger on the bottom rim (this requires picking up with other hand on top rim, securing thumb and opening for the pour, placing fingers on bottom rim)

The pour this way is very comfortable and smooth, and I particularity enjoy how the wrist never feels awkward and the pouring from gaiwan to cup feels so effortless, I also like this because it helps me not to do 'the lean' when I pour, which in itself feels kinda wrong.... now to figure out a smoother way to get to the pouring position...

[wyardley]

I think the over / under approach or the three finger on top approach are the two normal ones. I am a 3-finger guy, myself.

http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?p=120157

No-saucer is, of course, preferable for the tipping approach I mentioned above, and thus, the three-finger approach is best if you're using this method.

[AdamMY]

I hope I am not stepping on toes here, but if you want to see how I use a gaiwan (three finger guy here), on page 4 of my SPAM topic I posted a link to me walking people through how I use a gaiwan.


[Chip if this violates forum policy please delete]

[Devoted135]

I tend to basically rest the lip of the gaiwan on my thumb and ring fingers and hold the lid on with my pointer and middle fingers. No saucer during the pouring step for me.

[the_economist]

Overfill it slightly, then just tip to push off the extra water.

truth.

[tenuki]

I do this and don't burn my fingers - check out my vid to see how...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukVRMKk8cVg