Thursday, October 29, 2009

Brewing Wenshan Baozhong in a gaiwan

To drink my spring Wenshan Baozhongs, I like to bring the colors of this mountainous forest on my Cha Xi. All kinds of greens can be found in this subtropical forest, but the major color is dark green, like my Cha Bu. The strange sounds you hear in the background are Taiwanese frog songs!


This is the small qingbai gaiwan I used. It weighs 120 gr with the saucer, 74 gr without. Its volume is 8.5 cl maximum and 6 cl normal. (It's made by a different factory as the singing cup, and the color is slightly lighter.) You will notice that the saucer isn't evenly round: it looks like 4 petals. Cute!

Its small size is good for travel or for solitary tastings. If the gaiwan isn't filled to the top, it's even possible to empty it in just 1 qingbai singing cup.
A gaiwan lets you taste the tea as it is. It's a great tool to study tea.

10 comments:

Margaret Studer said...

That was lovely to watch. Thank you. It shows that you have a sensitivity to how special the tea experience is. In very culture that values tea, there are rituals and customs. But no matter what the customs are, they almost always require pleasant surroundings
Thank you again for posting your lovely video.

TeaMasters said...

I'm glad you liked it!

Anonymous said...

Can you scoop up that gaiwan with one hand and pour from it? I've seen that done but it doesn't work well with each one.

TeaMasters said...

I will show how to pour in another video. There are different ways to do so.

Karen said...

My new little gaiwan is SO sweet! Thanks for making it available, Stéphane--I was going to take it to school but I don't think I can part with it. :)

TeaMasters said...

I'm glad you like this gaiwan, Karen. I agree, its small size and round curves make it very cute.

Lucas said...

This gaiwan is GREAT. I tried it with Da Yeh Oolong. It's very easy to handle, especially for those with small hands.
I was searching for a small gaiwan bit I did't find any on the web. This one was perfect for me.
Stephane you ARE the BEST!

David said...

Stéphane, is this gaiwan still available?

Happy new year, enjoy your holiday.

Best,
David

TeaMasters said...

THANK YOU DAVID
Yes, it is still available.

C said...

I have this mini-gaiwan and I love it. In fact I have and enjoy the entire Qingbai set. I can attest to its quality.

From what I see Stephane expanded the set recently with the addition of a new cup style as well as a smaller teapot. Both are high on my list to purchase.

Thank you for such excellent teaware, Stephane!

Christian S.