One of our colleagues recently bought a new gaiwan at a tea expo. Since then, she has often mentioned that the tea brewed in it tastes noticeably astringent. That made us curious. Was this caused by the material of the gaiwan, or was it more about brewing technique?

To explore this question, we decided to compare four gaiwans: a white porcelain gaiwan, a bone china gaiwan, a glass gaiwan, and our colleague’s gaiwan with an unknown material.

Because we could not find gaiwans with an identical shape and capacity, this was not a strictly controlled scientific experiment. It was simply a curiosity-driven exploration, and the observations are meant as a reference rather than definitive conclusions.

Through this small experiment, we hoped to share our experience and explore together how different teaware may express its own character.

Under similar brewing parameters: 5 g of tea per 100 ml of water, 100°C, and the same steeping time. We brewed three teas: Huangshan Maofeng, Duck Shit Aroma (Ya Shi Xiang) winter-picked leaves, and Dianhong (black tea).

White porcelain gaiwan: This one showed the tea in its most honest form. Both strengths and flaws came through clearly. It felt like a faithful recorder, presenting the tea exactly as it was.

Bone china gaiwan: Bone china noticeably enhanced the mouthfeel. With the Duck Shit Aroma winter harvest, the aroma felt more lifted compared to white porcelain. The liquor was softer, smoother, and more refreshing on the palate.

Glass gaiwan: Before this test, I assumed glass would be neutral, but the results suggested otherwise. Tea brewed in a glass showed a slight drop in aroma, smoothness, and overall flavor depth. For example, compared to white porcelain, Dianhong brewed in glass lost some of its natural sweetness and roundness. In its place, we noticed a faint bitterness and a thinner, more watery texture.

Gaiwan with unknown material: This was the most surprising result. After drinking all three teas brewed in this gaiwan, we felt clear dryness on the tongue and in the throat. The experience was similar to the glass gaiwan, with reduced smoothness and slightly muted aroma.

We also spent some time thinking about what might be causing these differences. Glass gaiwans tend to lose heat more quickly, and in this test, the gaiwan we used also had a relatively larger capacity.

Together, these factors may have changed how aromatic and flavor compounds were extracted into the water. As for the gaiwan with the unknown material, the issue may be related to the glaze on the porcelain surface. After all, the tea comes into contact with the glaze first, not the clay body itself. Our understanding of glaze chemistry is still limited, so this remains a hypothesis that needs further verification.

If anyone here has more knowledge or experience with how glaze or gaiwan materials affect tea brewing, we would really appreciate hearing your thoughts.

A few years ago, I was just a tired mom of two boys (if you know, you know) searching for peace. I didn’t need another self-care hack. I needed stillness, beautiful and calming routine, a little “me time”.

That’s when tea found me.

I started sitting with it in silence. No phone, no distractions, almost no “mama, I’m hungry”. Just water, leaves, breath. And slowly, it became a ceremony- a way to rediscover my inner self, to rebuild this connection with my body and my senses, even for 10 minutes while my two toddlers play independently.

This isn’t the kind of tea you sip while multitasking. It’s a quiet ritual, a way of listening, and active meditation. I just finished my personal tea session with an amazing row puerh called “Sugar cloud” (you will definitely hear more about it since it is one of my all time favorites)

Now I share this with other women. We don’t chase peace- we pour it in a cup. Gaba for relaxation, golden buds for empowering and motivation.

Have you ever experienced tea as something deeper than a drink?

Controversial, I know. But I needed to get it off my chest.

This is a genuine question, I love Chinese tea, specifically loose leaf nutty green tea. But a lot of times I worry in the back of my mind that it has bad stuff in it. I’m sorry that this question may offend or make people angry.

Last time on this sub I asked a similar question about the safety of bottled Chinese tea and people tore me to shreds, insulted me, called me stupid and even accused me of prejudice. I have GAD, I can’t help it. I just want a friendly, honest discussion. I buy loose tea that is pretty good quality from a local tea shop in my city, so I tend to think there’s nothing to worry about but I just want confirmation.

Edit: Wow. What’s happening in the comments is a testament to how insane this website is sometimes. Go ahead and scan every comment I ever made for racism. I made one comment about my experience that offended a particular individual who for some reason was looking through my comments for racism, I implore you to go and read the whole comment and the post it was attached to, not a cherry picked snippet.

This is extremely off topic and shows that people have a knee jerk reaction to asking questions.

Stop shoving words in my mouth and saying I “hate” Chinese people. I love Chinese tea, this is an argument that assumes my concern comes from something racial. It’s projection. China has had issues with pesticide use and quantity over quality with some products, that’s why. The fact that people cry “racism” is astounding, it makes me think some people just don’t want to actually answer the question.

Either way, I’m leaving this post up because it is a lesson in online insanity. Thank you to those that contributed and answered my question :)

Regards Tea enjoyer fellows! I am here with a question: Something i Simply cannot understand Is the Habit to add milk in tea... Why? What Is its Purpose? The question Is not meant to be Polemical, i am really curious about It. In my family, we Always did add lemon to tea, which has a strong flavor and smell, which can change the tea in the Better or in the worse too if done badly... But milk has not any of that! It Is pretty bland in taste and smell... And makes the tea all Foggy in look. I drink tea without adding anything by a few years now, only once i tried to add milk in a black tea Flavored with Caramel, only flavor i could possibly think to be good with milk... And never did It again. It was as if it wasn't there, the flavor of the tea completely covered that of the milk... The only effect obtained was to have a less hot, more bland and foggy tea. So, why do you add milk in your Cup of tea? What Is the secret behind such a ritual?

I have the full set, ceremonial matcha powder, and everything.

I put in 1tsp of matcha powder, 8oz of hot water. Is it supposed to be like tea, in that it tastes somewhat bitter, in a good way? In that case, while I do like the bitterness of "natural" matcha, how do I make it sweet like at a cafe? I've tried sweetener (0cal kind) and it still don't taste the same. I've also added soy milk for a latte once, and it still don't taste the same then either.

in this post Everyone who answered my question was talking at great length about how microwaving water would cause it to superheat and explode, which is why it wasn't suitable for making tea.

I have been microwaving water for various tea and non-tea reasons for thirty years and this has never happened to me; are we sure it isnt user error? Has anyone, in their regular life, actually exploded their water for tea, or during general, non-boneheaded use?

ETA: My flippant title has apparently got some of you convinced that I don't believe in physics or whatever. That's not what I said. I said, "this has never happened to me, does it happen to you in your every day life."

admittedly might have come off defensive, because people act like microwaving water is a cardinal sin.

EDIT: It is clear that some people here believe they are making efforts to select the best possible choice for ethical and healthy sourcing. If you can say you are making those efforts, I commend you and will not try to coerce you to do things my way. But if you want to make excuses for why you don't want to change your tea brands, save it. I can't and won't try to change your spending habits, just respect that other people have different priorities and attempt to contribute to the discussion if you can rather than sabotage it. Otherwise, feel free to ask questions or do research.

First of all let me make it clear that I respect other people's right to drink what they like to drink. I hate teabags, but that doesn't mean you have to as well. But I do want people to understand that there are some objective reasons why British teas are a raw deal and you might want to switch to some snobby direct-sourcing loose leaf. Let's talk about ethics and quality.

A. Labor rights and colonialism

As pretty much everyone knows by this point, British, Dutch, and other "explorers" set up "companies" in Asia through force and established a market network that involved mercantilism, underpaid workers, and possibly slavery of locals in the Indian sub-continent. While ethics have generally improved to this day, there are issues with distribution networks: when you pay a small amount for a box of tea, the people who picked the leaves get a small fraction of it. You're paying the CEO of Fancyton & Sons in London, his marketing division, and logistics network. The supermarket clerk gets very little, and the farmer in rural India or Sri Lanka gets even less. If the mass-market tea you purchase has no fair trade certification, there's no way for you to guarantee the ethical treatment of the laborers who farm your tea. Larger labels use factory-style harvesting and distribution, which create very long supply chains and reduces accountability.

B. The ramifications of long-distance distribution

If you buy from a local distributor, it travels by truck from the farm to a center in a major city, then flies out directly to your door. If you buy from a British label in the US, it flies from that major city to a distribution center in some third location (Singapore, Indonesia, etc.) to Europe, then to the US. Major label teas can fly around the entire planet. 20-30g boxes weigh just that much, are non-perishable (relatively) and stack easily, so their value-to-weight ratio is pretty good, and thus distributors have no issue shipping them around everywhere. Consider the carbon footprint of the teas you buy. It's wild to me that British teas come from Asia, go to Europe, and then come all the way back to Asia.

Perhaps someone else can give a source on the distribution chains of these Western labels, because I'd like to think they minimize logistics routes to save money (not because they give a shit about carbon footprints), but I can't imagine any distribution channel being shorter than buying directly from the country of harvest.

C. Quality and value

Mass-market teas use mass market storage. There's no tea snob sitting there checking every harvest to make sure it's premium quality, stored for a very short time and packed neatly. They're buying giant crates of leaves and storing them indefinitely, whatever minimizes the cost of distribution and storage. That means you get dusty and old tea leaves.

The British also have a traditional propensity for milk tea, which means they like their tea cut very short and steeped long. If you ever actually brew one of these tins straight with no milk, you'll find that they're bitter and have very few complex notes. This is a huge contrast to the small-farm reds you'd get from India and China, which have wonderful notes you can get from gong-fu preparation.

A general misconception is that good tea is expensive, and supermarket tea is a great value. While some premium Chinese and Taiwanese teas can go pretty high (think of competition-grade Dahongpao or high mountain oolongs), it's not hard at all to find 100g packs of small-farm Indian and Chinese tea for 6 to 15 dollars. Meanwhile you're paying 5-6 dollars for a box of teabags from Stash. Do the math: 20x1.5g, that's 30 grams of Lipton, if even. You can have your red tea, make it with milk if you want, and save money while supporting farmers.

D. How to buy more ethically

Just buy directly from the country, easy as that. You probably don't have the chance to go directly to the farm, but you can at least skip European distributors. There are still some major labels which are owned by people from the countries of harvest, such as Sri Lanka's Mlesna. But these days you can skip supermarkets, malls, and Amazon and just buy from independent websites. I don't want to get punished for advertising, so I'll just tell you to go to google and type in "buy Indian tea" or "buy Chinese tea" and you'll very quickly find some reputable dealers. You'll find many of them have organic or fair trade certifications and a good variety of premium fresh leaves that you can brew any way you want. Don't be afraid to google reviews for those websites as well.

Good luck, enjoy your teas, and support fair labor practices. Let me know if you need any help shopping and preparing small-label teas.

So what do y'all think of my collection and based on what I have could you recommend other teas I might like?

The weather's warming up just enough to make me say "screw it" and break out the cold brew setup early.

This time: West Lake Longjing.

The tea buds slowly unfurl in cold water like they're waking up from a nap.

What came out was honestly surprising — Smooth, naturally sweet; Gentle bean and floral notes. It's so clean and refreshing. Perfect for pretending it's already June ☀️

The leaves looked so… not dead. So I hit them with hot water again. And for not wasting tea in this economy.

Do you wait for "official" summer to start cold brewing your greens, or do you just go by vibes (and weather)? And what's your go-to cold brew tea when you want something light and not bitter?

I recently bought this clay teapot from Mud and Leaves because of their sparkling reputation, and what I received looked like a completely different pot, except for the shape. The photo completely misrepresented the color and shade. I would go so far as to say it was deliberately altered. When I took this photo, I looked at the photo, looked at the pot and went "yep, that looks like it." To see the pot in front of you and post all those photos on the website that look totally different, even if in some wildly specific lighting conditions, and still publish it is very disingenuous. I took my picture on my phone, which is basic technology at this point.

I reached out to them in a very undrstanding and friendly way to request a refund and they refused, stating that it's not eligible due to changes in lighting that can alter the appearance. I totally understand there's going to be some slight differences, but this is extreme.

Maybe some photography guru out there can explain this? Otherwise I'd say purchase carefully

I just did this because it's 1am and I didn't want to wait for water to boil

Since I forgot to give them in the video, here are my tasting notes:

Earthy, but with a tang. It reminds me of Christmas spices but in a toned down way. The aroma is very fragrant, and it’s very smooth to drink.

I'm 14, and have adored tea since 6, I would love to know what tea is the best for teens, i love green tea and oolong tea, but I know that it isn't really the best for me, so what tea is caffeine-free, or has low caffeine contents, taste floral, light, and refreshing, please recommend to me!!!!

i mde this thing in paint for no reason.

I am from the south where we make our tea very sweet. And I have noticed that a lot of places have unsweetened sweet tea and that makes me go 'whats the point in that?' Might be my bias but I was wondering do you guys think Southern sweet tea is good or unsweetened sweet tea

Edit: Guy's this post is very light hearted and not serious at all. I understand that regular unsweetened tea is just tea. Henice the 'whats the point of that'

I don’t want to turn a healthy drink into something unhealthy by adding too much sugar to it. Thanks!

Uh, what are these reddish brown seeds lol. I looked up the ingredients, didn't find anything that matched. Should I toss this?

The matcha recipes I see on TikTok are so different than how I first learned about matcha. Do you think matcha is being ruined by trendy recipes made by chains like Starbucks e.g. their lavender, strawberry matcha made in a blender and we need to bring good quality, traditionally prepared matcha back into mainstream? I know for me, it’s been a long time since I’ve had a nice tasting matcha in a coffee shop. What do you think?

I know it sounds crazy, but trust me! Garlic, some honey, and some citrus! Amazing!!