I'd consider myself proficient with using a gaiwan now, but I wasn't for the first few years of my tea journey. I was scared of them.
That's not going to filter the tea properly. That looks uncomfortable to use. I'm gonna burn myself!
At first, I used tea infusers that sit in your cup. These bothered me for a few reasons: some tea types don't expand and steep well in a confined space; they clogged constantly; and they can be annoying to clean.
I then took my first baby step towards gaiwans - with an "easy" gaiwan. It was a nicer experience, but still had some of the same issues: it tended to clog and was annoying to clean. It has a lip that is difficult to clean under. And it actually lets quite a bit of tea bits through.
Similar to this one:
After a few years, I got my first gaiwan for cheap, and I'm so glad I did! It was just easier. You can keep the lid mostly closed and it somehow filters tea bits better than my "easy" gaiwan. It's soooo easy to clean. Now, I do actually use a filter sometimes to catch fine tea dust, but I don't actually need to.
I'm sure gaiwans are synonymous with loose leaf tea for many people, but they aren't common where I am in the US. So for anyone who hasn't tried one, I say give it a try!
-- PS - One cool looking kind of teaware I have yet to try is a shiboridashi. This looks like a better version of my "easy" gaiwan:
Pictures are deceiving, and I didn't specify the size. It's 180ml teapot. It's called Hario Asian teapot. I think it's discontinued, but there's a newer model which has a metal fine mesh filter instead of that metal spiral. Fill it to the bottom of the spout and it's about 100ml, which is great for gong fu brewing. Fill up to the bottom of the lid and it's 180ml. But yea... after I got my gaiwan, I haven't used it.
Ah, ok. Thanks for the info.
The newer one is like this? If so, this forces you to fill even more. The picture you first showed may be better, in my opinion.
One thing about teapots like these is that they could be useful for group sessions. But really, I still prefer gaiwans for a group. To get more tea, I just bring out more gaiwans and serve multiple types at once.
I actually meant this Hario Glass Jumping Teapot:
But as said, images are deceiving, and it turns out that that pot comes as 500ml and 800ml variations. Hario Europe doesn't seem to sell small teapots anymore, but some vendors might have other, smaller, models.
Oh wow, interesting. I've never seen a pot filter like that. Thanks for looking that up.
That looks more useful to me, if the filter design actually works well.