The Gaiwan
One of the most
popular styles of brewing and drinking tea in China uses instead of a
teapot a vessel called a gaiwan, a covered bowl tea. The gaiwan is
comprised of three parts: the lid, the bowl, and the saucer.
The lid, or gai, is
smaller than the mouth of the bowl but larger than the body, so it fits
inside the bowl without falling in. When one is drinking tea, the lid
is tilted back slightly, and the leaves are blocked inside, allowing
only the liquid to pour through. The lid, when closed, also allows the
tea to infuse more quickly, and can also be used to brush away any foam
and stir the leaves. It allows easy access to observe and smell
the tea. The lid removed allows the tea to cool, and with the lid on,
the tea stays warm while breathing. In a Chinese teahouse, if one’s
gaiwan is empty, all one needs to do is to lift the lid and place it on
the table, and an attendant will come by with hot water. If one needed
to leave one’s table temporarily, the lid is placed on the chair, which
indicates an imminent return.
The bowl, or
wan, is the main steeping chamber where the leaves are placed to
steep. Tea was first drunk in a bowl as it was handle-less and
round shaped. The tea bowl, or chawan as it was originally
called, was particularly used for matcha or powdered tea. As
whole leaf teas began to gain prominence and the bowl became a steeping
as well as drinking vessel, it became known as gaiwan. The gai refers
to the importance of the addition of the lid, which allowed the steam
to be kept inside the bowl which effectively steeped whole leaf
tea. The gaiwan is usually round with a flaired rim, so that the
user my hold a bowl of hot tea by the rim without burning one’s
fingers. The gaiwan is multi-functional. Besides being a vessel to
steep tea with, one can drink the tea directly without even opening the
lid, with it just slightly ajar. The Southern Chinese sometimes
call the gaiwan a gaibei, the bei meaning cup instead of bowl. The
reason is that in the South, this vessel is more commonly used to drink
tea than only for steeping, qualifying it as a cup.
The saucer, or
tuo, also commonly called the tea boat, is used for supporting
the bowl. The saucer prevents the bowl from burning the tabletop or the
hands that serve the tea, and can also catch any tea spilled from the
bowl. The saucer is usually made of porcelain but can sometimes be made
of metal, and has a depression in its surface to perfectly cradle the
bottom of the bowl. On the bottom is the “foot,” a base that sets on
the table or other surface. It is thought that in the Tang dynasty, a
daughter of the governor of Sichuan, in Chengdu, invented a wooden dish
to bear the bowl to serve the tea with. She invented this saucer so the
bowl would not easily burn the hands when serving tea. Later on, she
made wax rings to place on the saucers to secure the bowls better,
forming the earliest tea boats. The first professionally made saucers
were made of lacquer while the bowl was made of porcelain.
By the Qing dynasty,
the gaiwan was recognized as the official royal tea vessel, and
subsequently, most teahouses in China served tea in gaiwan. The key to
the gaiwan is that there is no teapot necessary. This is an immediate,
direct method much simpler than gongfu tea using Yixing teapots. As a
result, the gaiwan flourished as the vessel of choice for refined as
well as everyday consumption of tea.
Purchase a Gaiwan now!
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