Dragon Tea House cups/gaiwans

[shogun89]

Hello everyone,

I was searching around Dragon tea House for some gongfu ware and came across these matching pieces my question is whether anyone has any experience with them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Chinese-Zisha-Clay- ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Yixing-Zisha-Clay-D ... dZViewItem

Thanks for all the help!

[Victoria]

Nope, but the low wide variation of the cups you want, are next up on my queue!

[shogun89]

Nope, but the low wide variation of the cups you want, are next up on my queue!

I looked at the wide one too. Hard to decide.

[Victoria]

We could swap two between ourselves.

[tenuki]

that gaiwan is my daily gaiwan. i keep a few on hand to give as gifts if friends are interested after they have tea with me.

[shogun89]

that gaiwan is my daily gaiwan. i keep a few on hand to give as gifts if friends are interested after they have tea with me.

We could do that Victoria. Actually for 2.99 for that one set of cups it could be wise just to get both. Thank for the input Tenuki. It just seems to be a hard pass up for the price.

[Proinsias]

My friend has the cups, they are very nice.

Is that tetsubin unlined? the description sounds like it but I didn't think they were readily available unlined and new at that price. Could it be used for water heating?

[shogun89]

My friend has the cups, they are very nice.

Is that tetsubin unlined? the description sounds like it but I didn't think they were readily available unlined and new at that price. Could it be used for water heating?

I think that they are lined because they say not to use them on a stove in the care description. I would not buy a chinese made tetsubin. Go to Teavana for tetsubins, thats the one thing they have there that are very high quality. I've had my shogun style tetsubin from them for a year now.

and thank you for the tip on the cups, proinsias

[Salsero]

I have a couple sniffing-cup sets like those, but I must confess that I have always found such porcelain-lined-clay or clay-clad-porcelain cups and gaiwans to be fairly hideous aberrations. As is so often the case, I may be wrong, but to me they smack of export only chinoiserie. Certainly historical Chinese teaware doesn't combine the two materials. There's also the issue of cleaning. An advantage of porcelain is that it is non porous and you can wash it with soap. I would hesitate to use soap on clay.
Just my 2¢. It may well be that I am the only one who shudders at these things.

[shogun89]

I sortof agree with you sal but then I dont. IDK how to explain it. I personally find plain white porcelain cups very boring. But I want to see the color of the tea within the cup, so a colored outside and white inside seems to be the way to go. And why use soap? To properly clean any teaware all you need is a rinse of boiling water, thats what I've always used at least.

[edkrueger]

Some of this stuff is pretty awful to the tough, really rough. BTW porcelain inside is not entirely new, I have 1920' gaiwan with it.

[wyardley]

It may well be that I am the only one who shudders at these things.

No - you're not the only one.
I was going to say something too, but thought I'd butt out. If I commented every time I thought someone else's teaware was ugly, I'd never shut up.

I don't think the zisha cups are export only or anything, but I do agree that they're not that nice looking or convenient... plus, they can clash if your teapot is a different shade of clay. I guess you could argue you might gain a little heat retention, but other than that, I don't think they're worth getting, and the ones I've seen in person always feel awkward, really heavy, or poorly made. And I don't like the texture of zisha on the outside of my cup.

An advantage of porcelain is that it is non porous and you can wash it with soap. I would hesitate to use soap on clay.

I don't use soap on my porcelain either. Just a little baking soda or something if it's really dirty.

[shogun89]

OK, I am starting to agree with you guys. I looked around a lttle more and came across these, what are your thoughts?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Traditional-Chinese ... dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Chinese-Porcelain-S ... dZViewItem

I wonder why they are rated only 4/5 though . . . .

[Salsero]

Plain white gaiwans are very functional, and 100 ml or so is a size that I find very convenient for my own style. Since I usually drink alone, I like my cup to hold the whole gaiwan contents, thus avoiding the fair cup. The cups you reference look like they hold a good deal less than 100 ml.