I agree with your point about romanticizing / bastardizing the
practices of other cultures, but I don't think it applies to gaiwan
use. Tea drinkers in Fujian use gaiwans every day for oolong, and I
don't mean fancy people who go to tea houses, I mean ordinary people.
One time I was waiting for a bus in a remote area of Xiamen City and
the bus driver asked to sit down and have some tea with him. It was
TGY, and he was drinking it with a gaiwan and little porcelain cups.
Believe me, you don't get less pretentious that a Chinese bus driver.
So, personally, I don't think gaiwans are cute or orientalist - in fact
I think they're a superior tool for someone who drinks a lot of
different kinds of good tea and wants to do so with minimum fuss. They
don't need to be cleaned, and they don't build up nasty deposits around
the spout. Thanks to the saucer, they don't spill or drip (unless you
drop them). I make tea in a porcelain gaiwan every day in my office
and I use it for everything except matcha. It doesn't take that long
to get the hang of using one, either - just get your first and second
fingers under the saucer and keep the lid in place with your thumb.
Finally, they are cheap. In China they are practically free, and I got
one from Seb for I think $14 that is really well-made and quite
handsome. Try getting an yixing pot for $14.
Drinking directly FROM the gaiwan, as is done for green and jasmine
tea, is a different story. My nose is actually too big to accomplish
this - it hits the knob on the lid before I can get anything out of the
cup, and I have to tilt my entire head back 45 degrees to drink. Has
anyone else had this problem?
Space Cowboy wrote:
> You're missing the point. I don't care if you lick from plates but is
> a gaiwan the way you serve tea everyday? If not then it's cute. When
> I'm in a Thai restaurant I ask for a cup. I think we tend to
> romanticze about other cultures. Then we bastardize it. I always use
> a spoon for my soup even in Vietnamese restaurants. I don't care for
> the bib even though the Maitred' is pissed because I'm holding up the
> table for the party who made reservations. We have those kind of
> upscale Asian restaurants in the burbs. In fact, one Chinese
> restaurant is so upscale you have to ask for the chopsticks because
> nothing worse than soiled evening wear before a night on the town.
>
> Jim
>
> PS My grandma could make a pot of tea with a pan and pitcher. I don't
> do that because I don't find it practical. Gongfu in China is nothing
> more than finding out how much you want to spend.
>
> Michael Plant wrote:
>> My feeble attempts to impress my guests have always failed, and
>> so I've given it up. As for the Japanese, they *do* lick their damned
>> plates, a habit I've always found adaptable to such food stuffs as
>> ice cream. No joke. It's when they don't lick their plates in your
>> house that they've gone native, although they would probably
>> say it's respect for other cultures. Yadayadayada.
>> Michael
>>
>>> I'll give you that. This is the way you make tea everyday, a shot at a
>>> time? You know in China tea is till expensive. Most have to nurse the
>>> same leaves all day long. Go British. Use a pot. That's native
>>> enough for me. You won't find the Chinese eating eggs sunny-side-up
>>> with chopsticks. You're still native if you don't lick the plate.
>>>
>>> Jim
>>>
>>> PS A gaiwan is a lawsuit waiting to happen no matter how much you want
>>> to impress your guests.
>>>
>>> Michael Plant wrote:
>>>> [Jim]
>>>>> Gaiwans are fun but an everyday pot or cup for someone like me?
>>>>> They're cute but not practical. I see Gaiwans as the shot glasses of
>>>>> tea. You can nurse it or toss it back but gone irregardless of the hot
>>>>> water supply. A gaiwan is an accident waiting to happen. It's like
>>>>> chopsticks. You're not native and your sushi will sooner or later go
>>>>> flying across the room. If you want to go native drink from the tea
>>>>> pot spout like they do in Thai restaurants.
>>>>
>>>> [Michael's brilliant response]
>>>> Hey Jim, hate to clue ya, but gaiwans are respected
>>>> tea drinking vessels in much of the world, and for
>>>> good reason: Once you get the hang of it, they are
>>>> easy to control, pour fast fast fast, and the porcelain
>>>> is often beautiful. I once tried to go native by eating
>>>> with a fork and knife, but found them very awkward,
>>>> and besides I could taste the metal in my mouth, which
>>>> is God awful, so I went back to my natural ways. Let
>>>> the natives be hanged.
>>>
