I am sorry we have not responded earlier.
It is always a pleasure to know that the understanding and experience we share can be of use. Thank you indeed for your feedback. It is the encouragement we need to continue our work.
Let’s focus in the gaiwan question.
Most certainly one can do without a gaiwan. Much as one can do with out a teapot. Or a cup, for that matter. In martial arts novel, there is a saying that when a swordsman is so good in his arts that anything can be a sword. Any vessel can be used as an infusion ware or as a cup.
*HOWEVER*, there are more useful infusion ware and there are less useful ones. As there are better swords and there are not so good swords.
A gaiwan is actually a versatile design. It may not be as good as a teapot for longer infusion duration from the perspective of heat lost, but heat lost may not be a bad factor when you actually want it to balance your overall infusion temperature. To simplify the idea, a 95°C infusion temperature maybe the result of either a consistent 95°C throughout the duration, or it can be the mean temperature between, say 100 in the beginning and 90 at the end.
The art infusing with a thinner and smaller vessel is very different from a thicker and larger one. So is the infusion effect. That basically means a same tea may taste quite differently.
Additionally, between 20 seconds and 5 minutes there are lots of room for play.
Most importantly, different teas really manifest themselves quite differently in the same infusion setting. Change the setting, the same tea tastes differently.
5 grams of Honey Orchid in a 150 ml gaiwan infused for 1 minute is very different from 2 grams of it in a same capacity taster mug for 5 minutes. Both can be good, but one may appeal to you better than the other.
This is but one example.
I think many use the gaiwan because it is convenient and not really knowing what the extent one can use it to make different infusion effects of a same tea. As I have always said, many who sell tea do not really know what they are selling anyway.
In terms of infusing within the 150 ml capacity, the gaiwan indeed is a very usable tool. It has a lot more versatility and possibilities to approach a tea using different variables, techniques and tricks. For a person who wants to explore more the nature of various tea, it is quite indispensable.
As Longjing 43 puts it, a good gaiwan is cheaper than a good teapot. It is also much easier to find.
