Blue Monday Banned, TeaDay Declared, 2.25.08

[Chip]

Welcome to TeaDay Monday...it is not blue Monday, but it is black, green, white...well you get the idea!

So, hopefully finishing off the whole does size matter question, are yours getting smaller, larger, or staying the same...ummm, we are still talking about teapots and teacups by the way!!!

Answer the daily TeaPoll and discuss this topic here on TeaDay. I hope we all can learn something today as we share our experience with everyone. We also get to know each other's practices a little more as well. I think this will be an interesting discussion.

So, whether you are new to tea or experienced, let's all put our heads together and see if time and experience is a factor in this equation.

Remember to stop by frequently and share what is in your cup throughout TeaDay. Post often. See what everyone else is drinking as well.

[scruffmcgruff]

I'll bet I'm the only one to pick option #3. I got a bit overzealous with my teaware size reductions, and went for 1oz cups for a while. I'm happy with the size of my teapots, but I'm starting to lean towards 2oz for cups-- 1oz isn't really necessary or beneficial in any way, as far as I can tell.

[omegapd]

I started my journey with a smallish Yixing pot and while I still use it, I have gone to bigger pots and cups since I like to drink tea at work and it's much more convenient for me.

EW

[Scarlet Glow]

Right now I use 12-16oz. tea pots with 6-8oz. cups.

Soon, very soon, I am going to buy a couple of 200-250ml yixing pots with a few 1-2oz. cups.

[Sydney]

I'm so glad my option was first in the list. With five hundred quadrillion options, my eyes started to glaze over.

[cloudyday]

Realizing quickly there was only so much tea I could consume in one sitting comfortably without wasting, my cups have stayed at around 6oz. My pots, though - I started buying 12oz, maybe due to some wishful thinking of possible future tea friends to share a pot with (which hasn't happened), but have recently been looking towards the 6-8oz range of pots. Only ones smaller I've gotten are two 4oz Yixing for gongfu of puerh and oolong.

Trying Gui Hua oolong from Teaspring this morning. Not all that great, just tastes like a milk oolong with a flowery aftertaste (obviously due to the osmanthus - or does osmanthus cause a regular ooolong to taste like a milk oolong? heh). Maybe it's better than I'm feeling it is, and this Monday is just getting to me. No telling.

I gotta study for a test today for a class tonight taught by a teacher that gives horrible typo-laden notes, does not consistently use the textbook, using a study guide that fits with niether the notes nor the textbook. I hate incompetent teachers. I mean, give notes or teach the class, because this guy can't effectively do both at the same time...and if they give tests from their crappy notes and can't teach the material either, then what the hell am I to do? What am I paying for? I could just as well sit at home and read the damned textbook for free and NOT falter due to some moron's ineffective teaching style and the accompanying means of evaluation (aka tests) that potentially will then cause my standing in the school system to lower (aka bad grades), regardless of my ability to actually grasp and understand the material.

sigh...

[Sydney]

I typically wind up with a cup containing somewhere between 2 and 4 ounces of brewed tea. I find it much easier to make tea just the way I want this way.

If others are going to have tea with me, I'm equipped to dole out larger amounts as needed, though.

[hop_goblin]

I generally drink Gonfu style so I use tiny cups, no more than 40ml. However, im starting to drink DHP and High mountain wulongs in a bigger celadon cup 100ml. I just purchased another at 120ml but it hasn't came in yet! Can't wait!!

[Cinnamon Kitty]

I started out with my 16oz mug to brew everything in. After getting my 10-11oz kyusu, I started using the slightly smaller cup that works well for 10oz of tea. When I got my 150 ml gaiwan, I found even smaller cups that fit with that size. So my teaware sizes have been shrinking as I find better tea.

I am starting the morning with seeing how many steeps of Den's Fuka-Midori Sencha I can get before class. Currently, the second steep and part of the third are in my travel mug and the first and the remainder of the third are in my normal cup. It came out pretty well for combining steeps. I also have a water bottle with powdered sencha to prevent tea deprivation through my afternoon classes.

[TimeforTea]

I've decreased my size for tea pots and cups slowly, as I'm learning all there is to know. I always thought that the popular large tea pots were the way to go. Fortunately, I only bought one set of a large tea pot, cups and tray, from Home Goods, which I'm now using to display my tea obsession.

This morning I drank citron green. Perfect choice for a Monday morning.

I recently placed an order with Upton, as some of you recommended I try some $1 samples to taste different teas, even though they're not the best quality. Let me know what you think:

Pi Lo Chun Superior Organic
Yunnan Green Jade Supreme
Long-Jing (Lung-Ching) Green (Superfine)
Chai Spice Tea

Edit: This afternoon, drank adagio's Gyokuro, from my green sampler order. I don't know how this one slipped through the cracks of my tea cabinet! Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed this tea. I wish I didn't drink it so quickly...must make more later!

[olivierco]

My pots and cups are staying the same size, but I have many cups from 2oz to 16oz and many teapots from 3-4 oz to 18oz.


This morning Keemun for breakfast. I haven't been able to drink any tea today at school, but I will sure have some this evening.

[Selaphiel]

My cups and pots are getting smaller and smaller. Mostly use kyusus, gong fu cha pots and gaiwans now.

Enjoying a nice bowl of matcha now. Gotta love some matcha after a long day at the university.

[augie]

I chose other here. Way to many selections to think about. I just don't pay that much attention. Water quality is the only "tea deal breaker" I have. I will not drink tea with tap water. I have so many 10-12 oz brewing vessels and different cups my tea drinking has definately changed, but not much by sizes.

[RussianSoul]

My pots are getting smaller, the trend is very clear. I started with a 40oz Japanese porcelain pot that was in the house forever. Then I was seduced with a 24oz glass pot - pretty! I realize shortly it had problems - too big for one person and has a narrow difficult to clean spout. Then I got a 17oz and 12oz tetsubins and loved them for a while. Until I noticed that I am not using the bigger one all that much. So I got another small one - 10oz, this one is my favorite so far. I am also becoming clear that if I continue to drink Japanese tea as I started a small kyusu may be in order.

My cups are 10oz. So far I am spending too much money on pots, I cannot deal with cups at the same time. But I am looking at 5-6oz Japanese cups with the thought to get them eventually.

Adagio's Irish Breakfast (3rd infusion) in my cup. First two with milk and sugar, this one plain.

[Salsero]

I gotta study ... a teacher that gives horrible typo-laden notes ... I hate incompetent teachers. I mean, give notes or teach the class ... what the hell am I to do? What am I paying for? ... some moron's ineffective teaching style ... that potentially will then cause my standing in the school system to lower ... regardless of my ability to actually grasp and understand the material.

sigh...

I am certainly glad you got that off your chest! It also made me feel a lot better about my Monday. Hang in there; don't let the morons get you down, cloudyday.

On another note: In today's poll Chip has slipped us one of his famous trick questions. Actually, everyone's teaware is "getting bigger." The universe is expanding, so all of our teaware is constantly growing in size.