The gaiwan brings out the original flavor, while tea brewed in a purple Clay pot is enhanced. You will find it somewhat sweeter. If you are not doing a tea tasting but enjoying an aged tea, many seasoned tea enthusiasts would choose a purple clay pot.
Brewing Puer Tea with a Purple Clay Pot
Suitable for brewing ripe tea, aged tea, and Compressed tea.
Given that puer tea improves with age, it is suitable to use high temperatures to awaken the tea leaves and extract their contents. A purple clay pot has good breathability and heat retention, absorbs tea juice, and is resistant to both hot and cold temperatures.
Secondly, its good breathability helps to restore the true color, aroma, and taste of the tea.
Moreover, due to the unique nature of its material, it is very suitable for brewing compressed teas, aged teas, and ripe teas. Its excellent heat retention slows down the dissipation of the aroma, making the brewed tea more flavorful.
Furthermore, long-term use can enhance the aroma of puer tea, making its flavor richer and more mellow.
Brewing Puer Tea with a White Porcelain Gaiwan
Suitable for brewing new teas, raw puer teas, and loose teas.
A gaiwan has many advantages.
First, the porcelain is fine and does not retain flavors or stains easily, making it easy to clean.
Second, a gaiwan can be used to brew any type of tea, offering great versatility.
Third, it facilitates smelling the aroma and observing the state of the tea as it steeps.
Fourth, gaiwans are generally affordable and offer good value for money.
In summary, white porcelain gaiwans are elegant and nimble, have a high firing degree, and conduct heat quickly. Porcelain gaiwans are better at retaining aromas than glass vessels and are helpful for observing and appreciating the changes in the color of puer tea.
However, gaiwans heat up and cool down quickly, have poor heat retention, and the resulting tea may not be as flavorful as when brewed in a purple clay pot.
Additionally, the wide opening of a gaiwan facilitates good heat dissipation and prevents the tea from becoming over-steeped. A gaiwan can be used to brew all types of puer tea, but it is particularly well-suited for raw puer teas and newer, tender teas.
Puer Tea: Is it Better to Brew with a Gaiwan or a Teapot?
1. With the same amount of tea, Water temperature, and steeping time, a purple clay pot more effectively releases the tea's character, producing a better flavor profile compared to a porcelain gaiwan.
The reason is likely due to the strong heat retention and slow heat dissipation of purple clay, which assists in releasing soluble compounds from the tea.
A gaiwan cools down relatively quickly. When water is poured into a cooled gaiwan, some of the heat is absorbed by the gaiwan and the surface of the tea leaves, reducing the water temperature and decreasing the release of soluble compounds, diminishing the richness of the flavor.
2. In terms of lid aroma, the gaiwan has a slight advantage. The gaiwan can disperse some of the steam, reducing olfactory stimulation and making the lid aroma more pronounced. Purple clay absorbs some of the tea's aroma, making it less noticeable compared to a gaiwan.
3. Using, cleaning, and examining the infused leaves are more convenient with a gaiwan than with a purple clay pot, which might explain why many people prefer using a gaiwan for brewing tea.
From an operational perspective, the first few infusions can make a gaiwan quite hot to handle (though experienced tea drinkers may overlook this), and it is easier to break. A teapot is relatively easier to handle but more difficult to clean and prone to slipping during cleaning.
Another consideration is that due to heat dissipation, the temperature of tea brewed in a gaiwan is lower than that in a teapot. This means that tea brewed in a gaiwan appears more resilient to multiple infusions compared to tea brewed in a teapot.
When comparing the seventh infusion, the tea brewed in a gaiwan is darker in color than that in a teapot, but because the teapot retains heat well, the flavor is still stronger than that of the gaiwan.
Lastly, from a cleaning standpoint, using a gaiwan is more convenient!