Customer Reviews
This is my first order with Tao Teaware and I'm very pleased with this gaiwan. I think it looks even better in person than it does in the photo. There's a nice rustic texture, that's the best way I can think to describe it. If you zoom in on the product photos, you can kind of understand what I mean. It feels good in the hand, with a nice balance.
Measurements for mine:
--> Bowl: 106 grams
--> Lid: 41 grams
--> Total capacity under lid: 108ml*
I've used this gaiwan for a couple of sessions now. The rim stays cool during using and the pour is good. The bowl is medium as far as mass, so it does a good job of retaining heat. Since this is 108ml capacity, it's also small enough that the leaves can cool down some between brews so they don't get cooked. In my experience, some bigger gaiwans can cook the leaves, or do something that prevents an optimal brew. And for even more mysterious reasons, smaller gaiwans in general seem to perform better, but sometimes I want more than 60-70ml capacity, you know.
This is a great all arounder. I have thicker gaiwans, thinner ones, bigger ones, smaller ones, but surprisingly after having acquired a pile of gaiwans, this is my first all arounder, i.e., standard, mid-weight, 100ish milliliter capacity gaiwan. Very pleased with it already, and foresee that it will be great for aged sheng and shu puer that can benefit from some additional heat retention that the the mass of this gaiwan should provide. This gaiwan also is not burning my fingers from the harder steeps because it's well designed and made of a proper type of clay for this use. For younger sheng and many oolongs, a super thin gaiwan seems to help the brew since thin ones cool down even faster, but even then, if I didn't already have some super thin gaiwans, I'd be more than happy to brew up pretty much everything in this. Truly an all around gaiwan.
Last but not least, this gaiwan looks great with some dried up tea streaks. Fully recommend. I think this one is going to get a lot of use.
* now for the bonus OCD part...
Total capacity is a tricky thing to measure since that depends on exactly how you place the lid. I took about a dozen measurements of this one to arrive at 108g, then I filled it up to 108g of water and moved the lid around by turning it a little at a time to confirm, that yes, 108g is the comfortable amount of water for my particular copy (which is also 108ml of water thanks to the miracle of metric system). As long as a basic gaiwan like this one comes in +/- 10% within stated capacity, I'd say we're in great shape.
