First gaiwan: burnt fingers and a better cup
16 June 2024 · 2 min read
I bought a plain white gaiwan, 120 ml, because everything I read said it was the honest way to taste leaf. The first week was mostly about not dropping it. The rim gets hot, the lid gets hot, and the grip, thumb and middle finger on the rim with the index finger holding the lid, feels impossible for about five days and then suddenly does not. Day two left a small blister.
The cup, though. The first tea I brewed in it was a green oolong I had been drinking for months in a mug with a mesh basket, 3 g in 350 ml, four minutes, the usual. In the gaiwan I used 5 g in 120 ml, water at 90 °C, and poured after 15 seconds. The difference was not subtle. The mug version was pleasant, floral, a bit flat. The gaiwan version was intensely floral, thick in the mouth, with a buttery note and a sweetness that stayed in my throat for a minute afterwards. The second steep at 20 seconds was better again, and the leaf opened fully only by the third. In the mug the leaf had never fully opened; I had been drinking the outside of the tea.
What a gaiwan teaches, mostly, is how fast things happen. At this leaf ratio a steep of 15 seconds and a steep of 30 seconds are different cups, and I have burnt a few sessions by looking out of the window. I started counting aloud, then using the kitchen timer, and now, three weeks in, I mostly feel it, which I did not expect to happen so soon.
Practical notes from the first weeks: fill to just under the rim, not to it, or the lid floats and the pour goes everywhere; tilt the lid to leave a crescent gap for pouring and the leaf stays in; pour in one movement, not a trickle, or the last tea over-steeps in the bottom. And keep a cloth on the table, because the first dozen pours will not all land in the cup.
The mug and basket have not been thrown away. On a working morning they still make sense. But for anything I actually want to taste, the little bowl with the lid has already taken over, and I understand now why people keep going on about it.