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A gaiwan is a lidded bowl used for brewing tea. It consists of three parts: a saucer (to hold), a bowl (to brew in), and a lid (to strain and trap heat). It is the most versatile and widely used brewing vessel in Chinese tea culture, used in teahouses, competitions, and everyday drinking across China.
The gaiwan has no moving parts, no filter, and no mechanism. You control everything — water contact time, pouring speed, leaf-to-water ratio — with your hands and attention. This simplicity is its strength.
A gaiwan gives you more control than any teapot. You can adjust steep time by seconds, pour instantly when the flavor is right, and see the leaves directly as they unfurl. There is nothing between you and the tea.
It is also the most neutral brewing vessel. Unlike clay teapots (which absorb flavor over time), a porcelain or glass gaiwan adds nothing to the tea. This makes it ideal for comparing different teas or for teas where you want pure, uncolored flavor.
For Chinese tea — oolongs, pu-erh, white tea, and Chinese greens — a gaiwan is the traditional and often the best way to brew.
For everyday use, a porcelain gaiwan of 100-150ml is the standard. This size is designed for gongfu-style brewing: more leaf, less water, short steeps, multiple infusions.
Porcelain is the most popular material. It is non-porous (does not absorb flavor), easy to clean, and conducts heat evenly. Glass gaiwans let you watch the leaves, which is useful for green and white teas. Our gaiwan collection includes both materials.
Avoid gaiwans that are too large (200ml+) for gongfu brewing — the extra volume makes it harder to control steep time, and the tea cools too quickly. For Western-style brewing with less leaf and longer steeps, a regular teapot is more practical.
Step 1 — Preheat. Fill the gaiwan with hot water, swirl it around to warm the bowl, then pour it out. This stabilizes the brewing temperature.
Step 2 — Add tea. Place 5-7 grams of leaf into the warmed gaiwan. For tightly rolled oolongs, use the higher end. For fluffy white teas, adjust by volume rather than weight.
Step 3 — Rinse (optional). Pour hot water over the leaves, wait 3-5 seconds, and discard. This wakes the leaves and washes surface dust. Rinsing is standard practice for pu-erh and roasted oolongs. It is optional for green and white teas.
Step 4 — First infusion. Pour hot water into the gaiwan. Start timing. For most teas, the first gongfu infusion is 10-20 seconds. Tilt the lid slightly to create a gap, then pour the liquor out into a cup or pitcher in one smooth motion.
Step 5 — Subsequent infusions. Add 5-10 seconds per round. A good oolong or pu-erh will give 5-10 infusions. Each one tastes different as the leaf opens progressively.
This is the part that intimidates beginners. The porcelain gets hot, and there is no handle.
The correct grip: place your thumb and middle finger on the rim of the saucer (or on opposite sides of the bowl’s flared lip). Your index finger rests on top of the lid to hold it in place. The lid is tilted to create a gap for pouring while keeping the leaves inside.
The key is to grip the rim, not the body. The bowl's walls are hot, but the flared lip stays cooler. Pour decisively — do not hesitate with a full gaiwan of hot water in your hand.
If you burn yourself the first few times, that is normal. Everyone does. Within a few sessions, the grip becomes automatic.
Oolong tea: The classic gaiwan tea. Multiple short infusions reveal how the flavor evolves across 5-8 steeps. Tie Guan Yin and Da Hong Pao are both ideal gaiwan teas.
Pu-erh tea: Gongfu brewing with a gaiwan gives you the most control over pu-erh's strong, layered flavors. Rinse first, then short steeps.
White tea: Silver Needle and White Peony both show well in a gaiwan, especially a glass one where you can watch the buds unfurl.
Chinese green tea: Longjing and other Chinese greens work in a gaiwan, though the temperature needs more care (75-80°C).
Less ideal: CTC black teas, herbal teas, and rooibos are better in a teapot or mug. They do not benefit from the short, multiple-infusion approach that a gaiwan is designed for.
A 120ml porcelain gaiwan, a fair cup (pitcher) to pour into, and a tea you enjoy are all you need. Start with an oolong — it is forgiving, re-steeps well, and shows the most dramatic evolution across infusions. The teapot guide covers other brewing vessels if you want to compare methods.
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