Gaiwan-style tea making
Chinese tea drinkers have long made their large, leafy green teas in glassware beakers & teacups. Favouring the motion of unfolding & 'dancing' tea leaves as the lucid lemon-greens effuse around the cup. A complementary way of enjoying the leaf & brilliant colours of Chinese green tea, which is popular in many city tea-houses, involves a Northern Cup or Gaiwan. These are grand & ornate porcelain tea-sets. Pieces completed with a bell-shaped teacup, saucer & recessed lid. Gaiwan, may also function as steeping vessels for infusing tea leaves prior to pouring the infusion into cups (mainly for oolongs). This way of tea-making comes into its own with the whole leaf & fragrant spring teas. Teas like Huangshan Mao Feng & the other specialist Anhui greens, Biluochun, Long Jing & Junshan Silver Needle are especially amenable, as their sweet-aromatic flavours are rarely overcome by excessive bitterness. Some experience with 'in-the-cup' tea-making is necessary if the genuine colours & favours are not to be spoilt. Special care concerning the quality of water & its temperature are critical, as are the quality & quantity of leaf used. Made correctly, fresh & seasonal teas such as Liu An Gua Pian attain a complexity of sweet, aromatic & astringent flavours, unmatched by any commercial brand name. The aforementioned Chinese green teas can, and often are, made in a porcelain teapot. In Europe & US it is becoming increasingly fashionable to prepare and serve green tea in a glass teapot (or caffetiere), so that the guest can watch the play of the tea leaves & appreciate the delicacy of colour & appearance of the infusion. Certain green teas are specifically made for this kind of preparation. They are teas made from spring leaf buds with flower inclusions (Cluster Teas). Some of the best examples of this kind of tea are Hai Bei Tu Zhu, Jin Shang Tian Hua & Zhu Mei Xue Lian. The Cluster Teas are designed to entertain & satisfy all the senses as the tea infuses in the cup or pot.

Biluochun in glass
Drinking freshly made Biluochun on a warm spring evening is one of the great delights of tea travel. Biluochun is a whole leaf (bud) green tea that is conventionally made in the cup (& often glass). Its natural sweetness and fragrance allows for this. Prepared in a glass, the effect is quite charming. The floss disperses & the curly pale green buds unfurl and begin to bob up and down the infused tea. The buds eventually swell displaying their pre-harvest form before falling upright to the bottom of the glass. To make Biluochun well, a good quality soft mineral water, heated to about 75 deg. C, is necessary. A measured amount of tea is added to each glass and cooled water poured over the leaf. A bright yellow-green infusion envelops the glass within minutes & the green tea is ready for sipping with the help of the odd blow to push away floating buds.

YELLOW EMPORER GAIWAN SET
Available as a set of two gaiwan teacups

YELLOW EMPORER GAIWAN is a brightly decorated and authentic porcelain gaiwan-style teacup. The gaiwan teacup comprises a bell-shaped cup with lid & saucer. The teacup is finished in a daffodil yellow glazing with red and blue colours in a round picture-window design. An impressively ornate gilding completes the peice with possibly "enough gold for investment purposes"! The set is perfect as a demonstration piece, ideal for in-the-cup preparation of Chinese teas, whether it be a leafy green tea, an aromatic osmanthus or oolong, or even a fine needle-shaped leaf-bud tea. Gray & Seddon is pleased to offer a set of two gaiwan direct from our China ware suppliers in Shanghai. Should appeal to gaiwan and chinese teacup collectors. Gaiwan size: Height 11cm, width (cup mouth)10cm. Yellow Emporer Gaiwan Set Of Two Teacups $97.00.

YELLOW EMPORER GAIWAN SET $97.00

Pots full of fragrant Keemun
Keemun is slow to infuse. Possibly the slowest of any kind of tea. Without too many exceptions, the higher the gongfu grade, the longer it takes for the big flavours of Keemun to evolve. This is a consequence of the kinds of flavours held by the tea & the leaf being one of the most tightly rolled of all teas. Although Keemun has a reputation as a heavy or strong tea, it is also a versatile one. Keemun can be prepared as a light or heavy black tea. It goes exceptionally well with milk or lemon. It's an attractive iced tea. For connoisseur drinkers of Keemun who are fond of the lighter & aromatic infusions, then steeping can be accomplished in two minutes. This is true of the Hao Ya gongfu teas, and the leaf-bud teas like Mao Feng as well. With the gongfu grades generally, infusions well beyond 3 minutes are routine. For most Keemuns water temperature should be around 90 deg. C, certainly a little cooler for the whole leaf & leaf-bud teas. Another important point about high-grade Keemun is that it doesn't perform well with high salt mineral waters. The calcium & magnesium tending to kill a great deal of the palate & aroma. So be warned if you're making Keemun from a hard water supply. Most drinkers of fine Keemun would say that this tea is best drunk black. This does not require further comment, but Keemun blends excellently with milk, and on occasions is the right way to enjoy this fine Chinese tea!

For better information on Gaiwan tea cups, or The Bridge Tea House Chinese pottery supplies contact Gray & Seddon.
CHINESE TEA POTTERY