Blue and White Gaiwan Tea Set 150ml

Blue and white gaiwan tea set with matching cup, 150ml

This blue and white gaiwan set is a 150ml porcelain set for one-person gongfu brewing: a three-piece gaiwan and a wide, low cup painted to match. You choose the pattern when you add to cart: Fish and Waterweed, Landscape, or Lotus with Underglaze Red. People pick a gaiwan set over a teapot when they brew for themselves in short rounds and want to watch the leaf open.

Everything in the set is Dehua porcelain from Fujian, cobalt blue painted under the glaze and fired once at high temperature, so the colour won't wear off. The cup has a small motif on the inside base that shows through the tea.

We like porcelain for a first gaiwan because it doesn't hold onto flavour; one set moves between green tea, oolong and pu-erh with no carryover.

Three patterns

Fish and Waterweed has carp swimming through drifting weed, called nian nian you yu, a wish for plenty every year. Landscape is distant hills, pine trees and a small pavilion, the classic ink-painting scene. Lotus with Underglaze Red is a blue lotus vine with copper red flowers, fired to a soft brick red.

Product details

• Set: gaiwan (lid, bowl and saucer) and one matching cup
• Gaiwan: 150 ml, 9.8 cm across, 10.3 cm tall with lid and saucer
• Cup: 110 ml, 8.8 cm across, 5.2 cm tall
• Material: porcelain, underglaze blue; the lotus pattern adds underglaze red
• Firing: single high-temperature firing
• Origin: Dehua, Fujian, China

This works well for

• A gift for a loose leaf drinker who hasn't owned a gaiwan
• A first gongfu setup, brewing and drinking in one
• Brewing for one at a desk or kitchen bench
• Tasting teas back to back without washing up

Photos flatten blue and white. Come and hold one at our Salamanca Tea Bar in Hobart and see the pattern in person.

How to use a gaiwan

Leaves in the bowl, hot water over them, lid on. To pour, tilt the lid to leave a small gap, hold the flared rim (it stays cool), and let the tea run out while the lid holds the leaves back.

Care

Rinse with hot water before first use, then hand wash. Glaze and colour shift a little between firings, so your set won't match the photo exactly.

Shipping

Ships from Hobart, Tasmania. Free shipping on orders over $95 Australia-wide. Each piece is wrapped separately and boxed with padding.

Related

Gaiwan · Tea Sets · Tea Wares · Master Cup