Tea preparation

Gaiwan or Shiboridashi: the art of simple infusion

Publish on 11.29.2024 by Gaia Gardens

Have you ever wanted to enjoy a quick cup of tea, but felt a little discouraged when faced with your filter and large teapot?

Well, there's a solution to making tea quickly and easily: use a Chinese gaiwan or a Japanese shiboridashi. These two ingenious, easy-to-use instruments enable you to brew tea in just a few minutes and in small quantities.

The design principle is the same: the bare minimum - no handle, no handle, no filter to clean. Just a bowl with a lid and, for the gaiwan, a saucer to boot.

Happy sobriety in the art of brewing tea... We love it!

The Gaiwan (or Zhong)

The infuser of choice for many Chinese tea lovers, the gaiwan or zhong is made up of three parts with a symbolic dimension. The saucer, to avoid staining the sometimes precious wood of tea tables, but also to allow the instrument to be handled without burning oneself, represents the earth.

The bowl, with its thin walls and slightly flared rims for pleasant contact with the lips, represents the human being.

Lastly, the lid, which is the gaiwan's key piece, since it is used to retain and smell the most discreet and often interesting fragrances of the infusion, and to stir the infusion so that the leaves soak in properly, or to cool the water if it's a little too steaming, represents the sky.

What is it made of?

As a general rule, tea lovers prefer a white porcelain gaiwan, with thin walls to avoid burning the tea leaves. The white color allows you to appreciate the quality and color of both the infusion and the leaves before and after tasting.

Glass can also be an alternative to porcelain for infusing delicate teas. But it does not allow the same appreciation of leaf quality as immaculate white porcelain. Glass can even mask certain defects.

Similarly, terracotta gaiwans in a variety of colors are available on the market. In some cases, this can be interesting for teas that need a lot of heat to infuse as black teas, wulong teas and pu'er teas.

For which types of tea?

Green teas

Originally, gaiwan was used for green teas, which require delicacy in their preparation. The thin walls of the porcelain retain little heat, preventing the leaves from stewing. When green tea is burnt in water that is too hot (over 80°C), the result is more like a bitter vegetable broth, with no subtlety whatsoever, than the delicious green tea with its sweet, fruity and floral aromas.

With gaiwan, water at the right temperature and the right infusion time, the result is always precise and richly flavored.

Other types of tea

In China today, it's not uncommon for gong fu cha enthusiasts to brew wulong in a gaiwan and then distribute the infusion into small cups. In this case, practicality takes precedence over infusion in small Yi Xing earthenware teapots, for a very high quality result.

This instrument can be used for all tea colors and origins, from the most delicate white tea to the most aromatic black tea.

However, care must be taken to ensure that the gaiwan is not made of porous earth, which could become impregnated with "parasitic" flavours as the infusion progresses. Uncoated (non-vitrified) earth should therefore be avoided. However, it is possible to potting a quality porous clay gaiwan and using it for a single tea family, or even a single tea. But then you lose its practicality and ease of use...

But once again, a classic gaiwan, in white porcelain, remains the reference model we prefer in our store.

How to use a gaiwan?

Place the leaves in the bowl, pour in the water, cover after stirring the infusion with the lid and leave to infuse. If you're brewing a green tea that doesn't require a high water temperature, you can drink the tea directly from the bowl, tilting the lid just enough to absorb the infusion while holding back the leaves.

If there are several of you, or if you're brewing a tea that requires a high infusion temperature, the principle is the same, but first you pour the contents of the gaiwan into a serving pot (or reserve pot), which you then pour into one or more cups.

Be careful, it's hot

If you wish to brew a wu long, black or dark tea requiring high water temperature, you must not make the mistake of filling the gaiwan to the brim to avoid burning yourself when you grip the upper edges of the gaiwan, while holding the lid by its knob with your index finger.

It's a bit of a trick, but once you're used to it, the gesture becomes natural and the game is worth the candle, as it's a really simple way to brew.

Once the multiple infusions have been made and the tasting finished, simply empty the gaiwan (the tea leaves and their tannins are excellent for composting) and the whole thing can be cleaned up in no time.

Shiboridashi: the Japanese counterpart to gaiwan

The shiboridashi is the Japanese counterpart to the gaiwan, but with an even more sober design: no saucer. Its name comes from the verb "shiboru", which in Japanese means "to press", "to crush", and the idea is to squeeze the tea leaves to extract maximum flavor.

Originally, shiboridashi was used to infuse mainly gyokuro or high-quality sencha teas. The principle: a very small volume of water in relation to the quantity of leaves to obtain the most concentrated, supple and aromatic liquor possible.

Generally, the shape is flat and flared, but some models can be relatively tall. What they have in common is that they always consist of a simple bowl on which the potter has formed a spout, and a lid that rests directly on the inner walls of the bowl, rather than on a molded inner rim as is the case with a hohin or classic teapot.

Like the gaiwan, the lid allows you to capture and inhale the tea's most subtle fragrances, and to stir the infusion to thoroughly soak the leaves and control the temperature.

By design, the bowl and lid are not fitted together, as the lid must be free to have the necessary clearance to dose the flow when serving tea.

Some potters also form grooves inside the bowl under the spout, to retain the leaves when the infusion is poured.

What materials are used?

Traditional shiboridashi are made from unglazed or glazed terracotta, or more rarely from porcelain.

Raw, unglazed terracotta tends to round out the infusion's taste and make it softer, whereas a porcelain or glazed terracotta shiboridashi will be totally neutral and render the infusion as it is, with its qualities, but also its faults, which may in some cases be highlighted.

An unglazed terracotta shiboridashi is therefore easier to access, as it is more tolerant, whereas a porcelain or glazed terracotta shiboridashi is unforgiving, but opens the doors to analytical tastings.

For what types of tea?

Today, as with the gaiwan, tea lovers no longer confine this instrument to brewing green teas. You can brew any color of tea. The only limitation is the memory effect of uncovered earth.

However, there's a "but": most of the shiboridashi we sell come from Tokoname (Aichi prefecture). The clay from this Mecca of Japanese pottery has a reputation for fine grain, and potters from this region generally fire at high temperatures, making these kilns very low in porosity and with virtually no memory effect.

For other origins, it's a case-by-case affair.

On the other hand, with porcelain shiboridashi and glazed terracotta, the question doesn't arise. You can switch from a green tea to a black tea and then to a wu long without any limitations.

As with a gaiwan, infusing other families than green teas in a shiboridashi is a slightly roundabout way of using this infuser, but its practicality and ease of cleaning justify its daily use.

The only precaution to be taken in this case is to avoid filling the shiboridashi to the brim when brewing teas requiring very hot water, so as to ensure a pleasant grip of the edges from the top without burning yourself.

As you'll have gathered, when it comes to brewing both classic and premium teas, these two particularly endearing instruments have no equal.

And the icing on the cake is that their sobriety brings out the best in the ceramists' finishing work... Feel free to browse our boutique to discover some of our pearls..

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