Why such tiny cups?

Posted by Sean Clark on Mar 29th 2024

One of the most common questions we get around Chinese teaware is…

Why do you use such tiny cups?

And the simple answer is that we’re preparing tea to TASTE it.

Instead of producing a large and dilute pot of tea, we make a dozen or more short, potent infusions.

Each tea steeping reveals more about the character of the tea…

And you’re able to observe how the flavors, fragrances, and qi evolve in each cup.

Gong Fu Cha “the skill or effort acquired to make tea” is the discipline we use to achieve this, and can take a lifetime to master.

While it might look like a ceremony, it's really just a series of principles and techniques to make the best cup of tea possible.

If you’re interested in cultivating your own Gong Fu and practicing these techniques, we wanted to share with you our brand new teaset…

Our Stone and Pine Gaiwan Travel Set includes everything you need to make the best cup of tea possible.

This set includes…

A porcelain Gaiwan, the ancient “lidded bowl” used for steeping tea…

A glass Gong Dao Bei, the secondary vessel used for decanting and serving…

3 porcelain Tasting Cups, used to quickly cool down temperatures and taste…

A portable wooden carrying case, which doubles as a base for the gaiwan and a receptacle for wastewater...

A cloth table runner to keep things clean and tidy…

And it all fits beautifully inside a portable cloth pouch…

We just received a new shipment of these, and as of the time of writing, we only have a couple dozen sets left.

So we recommend acting quickly if you want to secure one of these…

>>>Check out our new Stone and Pine Gaiwan Travel Sets here

Have a question? Hit reply and let us know.

Talk soon,

West China Tea

P.S. Our award-winning YouTube channel has a video on how to steep tea using a gaiwan, click here to watch.