Anyone brew in a gaiwan?

[Robert Marotz]

I have a lovely little Yixing pot but when brewing tea for myself, I prefer using a gaiwan. For most teas I have not had any problems, though with some of my oolong I have not been able to coax the full sweetness out of the leaf.

In particular is my Dongding oolong, which I remember having a fairly sweet taste when I tried it in Taiwan...but it may either be from a bad batch of tea or perhaps I'm just not brewing right. I certainly don't follow the steeping times listed for most infusion types (3-5 minutes is wayyy too long in a gaiwan), so I'm curious if anyone else out there prepares tea with a gaiwan; and if so, how do you coax the flavor and sweetness out of the oolong? Once I get some decent quality tea (just ordered some), perhaps I will be able to test my methods to discern where the fault rests.

[Tracy]

I use a gaiwan fairly regularly, especially when I don't feel like digging the leaves out of my yixing pot. The infusion times vary greatly between the oolongs I use (I rotate between a core group of 5), as does the water temp., so I can't advise you here.

Experimentation with leaf amount, water temp, and infusion time will ultimately reveal what you're looking for, but the one variable I found to be critical is "rinsing" the leaves first (wet them, pour off the first small infusion). This readies the leaves for that first real infusion, and I find that the tea will reveal its beauty more fully when you do this. The second infusion is usually my favorite, although this varies too.

[illium]

One of the most important factors of brewing tea is the temperature of the water. When brewing with a gaiwan, or any kind of container, the material of the container is quite significant to it's ability to retain the heat of the water.

You might be familiar with the idea of pre-heating your teapot or cup with hot water before hand. This is a good and avisable practice for all types of tea preparation and vessels.

But another more subtle issue is the material the teapot/gaiwan is made of, and how thick or thin it is.

For example - lets say you have a ceramic gaiwan made very thin. That means that it will heat up very quickly, but that it will cool off very quickly and lose heat very easily, thus causing the water inside to cool off rapidly. You could pre-heat it easily, but it would lose that heat quickly. A thicker gaiwan would retain the heat longer, but needs more pre-heat time.

Also, it depends on the kind of tea you are brewing. A white/green tea is better brewed at a lower temperature, and is served well by a temperature curve that drops off faster (because the bitterness comes out at the end of the brewing time), so a thin walled gaiwan might be more appropriate. An oolong, like the DongDing you mentioned, likes hotter starting water temperature and a longer heat retention curve, and would be better in a thicker-walled gaiwan, or the traditional pre-heated YiXing pot.

Another major issue that you might consider is the water you're using. Since the end product of the tea you drink is 99% water, it makes a huge impact. The difference between the flavour in Taiwan versus your home could be as simple as the difference in the local water.

I live in Portland, Oregon, and we're blessed to have a local water supply that is primarily from a massive glacial water shed. I recently travelled to my mother's home in St. Louis, Missouri, and brewed up some tea for her while I was there. I was shocked at the difference in flavour (to the negative), due to the harsh river water that St. Louis lives on.

So, you might consider using a bottled natural spring water for your tea. That is considered the best option, as it will provide a consistent flavour. Another option would be to use a filter jug and filter your tap water. That will remove mose of the heavy metal deposits in the water, and clear up the flavour a lot.

Hope that helps,
Troy

[Robert Marotz]

Now that I'm doing much better in terms with technique, I figured I should post a follow-up.

The dongding that I got was actually not very high quality and was oxidized much more heavily than the more conservative dongding I'm used to. Thus it was necessary to prep it with much more energy than what I remember for my previous dongding which was much greener by comparison. I could brew the heavily oxidized stuff after a lil more experimentation, but it was of course not the same as a lower-oxidation wulong. After picking up some better quality stuff from another vendor, I found brewing significantly easier.

I have 2 gaiwan...one is a cheaper quality thick porcelain one from Taiwan and the other being a high quality thinner one from Jingde. I much prefer using the thin-walled one for my white teas and pengfeng wulong (which most Taiwanese claim is best with slightly cooler water even though it's heavily oxidized), while other wulong teas like baozhong are better prepared in the thick-walled one. With 2 gaiwan, I have the option of brewing multiple teas for presentation/company, or I can just use one of them as a drinking cup for myself!

The gaiwan is really a fantastic little device for tea brewing and drinking, but with the cup sizes many people are so accustomed to, it's no surprise that the more modest gaiwan is often overlooked.

[JAS-eTea Guy]

I have a Yixing that I use just for oolong. While I will use a gaiwan when I want to taste the precise flavors of the particular tea, I prefer to use a Yixing pot that has some seasoning.

[Geekgirl]

Holy thread resurrection, batman!

[depravitea]

I've really gotten into using a gaiwan, for pretty much everything. I haven't had the cash yet for a nice Yixing pot, but that is a priority. The gaiwan is just a great tool, and I really dig brewing Gong Fu style, which I just learned.
I read that you should only use a Yixing pot for one type of tea, is this true?

[Oni]

I used a 120 ml gaiwan with Dong Ding oolong from Teaspring, it was very tightly rolled, 3 leaves joint on a twig, very small balls, heacy, I used one chinese wooden spoon full, and 25-30 seconds infusions for the first two brews, and than gradually increased it with 10 seconds, and it was very good... If you prefer high grade Taiwanese tea than try houdeasianart, they sell only very high grade tea.

[hooksie]

I read that you should only use a Yixing pot for one type of tea, is this true?

That is true. Yixing "absorbs" qualities of the tea since it is porous. This is one reason they are so popular, because a well seasoned Yixing pot tends to add back to a tea, in theory.

Some people limit to the style of tea, such as only brewing pu-erh. Many limit further than that, say only shu pu-erh. Some people take it to the extreme and only brew one specific type of a style of tea.


(And yes, thread necromancy in the highest.)

[Tead Off]

I used a 120 ml gaiwan with Dong Ding oolong from Teaspring, it was very tightly rolled, 3 leaves joint on a twig, very small balls, heacy, I used one chinese wooden spoon full, and 25-30 seconds infusions for the first two brews, and than gradually increased it with 10 seconds, and it was very good... If you prefer high grade Taiwanese tea than try houdeasianart, they sell only very high grade tea.

I think with good tea it is hard not to get a good cup no matter what you choose to use. But, I keep reaching for my yixing pots when I want Taiwanese oolong. For me, nothing comes close to the fullness I get with zhuni and oolong.

Having said this, I was previewing an auction that takes place tomorrow. It was full of Qing period porcelain wares and there are some knockout teacups and gaiwans up for bid. Just looking at this particular gaiwan made me want to reach out to it and fill it with some dong ding. I will probably go back and bid on a couple of items.

[Proinsias]

Not claiming any rationality for the following but tea which brews a lighter greener colour I'm more inclined to stick in a gaiwan and tea which brews a darker browny colour I'm more inclined to put in a yixing.

[Proinsias]

I think with good tea it is hard not to get a good cup no matter what you choose to use.

I have found many expensive wuyi and dan cong oolongs can be a pain in the butt to get right, when it does come out right all those failed attempts are worth it though.

This thread is serving to remind me it has been far too long since I had any Taiwanese oolong.

[Tead Off]

This thread is serving to remind me it has been far too long since I had any Taiwanese oolong.

For me, the most rewarding Oolongs are from Taiwan.

[Victoria]

I agree.

[greenisgood]

Not claiming any rationality for the following but tea which brews a lighter greener colour I'm more inclined to stick in a gaiwan and tea which brews a darker browny colour I'm more inclined to put in a yixing.

I agree. I use a yixing for roasted oolongs and gaiwans for light oolongs and greens.