Thursday, May 11, 2006

How to hold a gaiwan...

...without getting your fingers burned? (a question from London)

On the above picture, you can see how it's done: the thumb and the middle fingers hold the gaiwan by pressing against the rim and not the gaiwan's walls. The forefingers holds the top like a filter: the space left for the tea to flow out must be adapted to the size of the leaves.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

C'est en effet la méthode qui, d'un point de vue gestuel, vient plus naturellement. J'en connais qui le tiennent avec le pouce sur le couvercle et le reste de la main sous la soucoupe de base

Anonymous said...

I think the only way not to get your fingers burnt is... training. The more I use the gaiwan (in the way Stéphane described), the better it works, and less I get burnt. In the beginning, it was just horrible. Once, I got all the tea (+ half the gaiwan) on the floor, AND burnt also. So: train a lot, it will be better by the time! And don´t fill the gaiwan too much - half (or just a bit more than half) is better to get used to it.

Good luck for your fingers!