Nifty place, MingCha;I hadn’t heard of them until just now. That’s another place I’ll have to visit when I fly out to HK in a few years.
On the subject of gaiwan, I’ve been meaning to ask about shape. According to the article, the ones shaped like those two in lamppost’s post are great for cups and seem to be associated with green alone (from what I’ve seen here and on another site). But what about the shorter, wider ones? The gaiwan that, until last week or so, I used most often was of the shorter, wider type. Now my specific one is comparatively thick throughout the body – that is, compared to my narrow one. Is this the norm for the wide style gaiwan? Other sites have listed them as being for “Oolong and black” or “For Pu’er”.
I used to use it for all my teas and hadn’t noticed anything negative. However it seems the taller, narrower one doesn’t hold heat well enough for pu’erh, while the shorter, thicker (there’s the key) one does. Thinking this would also hold true for black tea, as they use the same temperature water.
And what is the association between steeping (specifically) green tea longer in the taller of the above gaiwan? Is it heat retention related?
Where does white tea find itself best served?
Thinking there are some subtleties yet unknown to me.
M.
