Best Way To Get Started with Good Tea AKA I Don't Know What I'm Doing...

[Martin Fisher]

For gong fu brewing, is there some alternative to a gaiwan that would work for someone with tremors?

I don't want to burn my fingerprints off. LOL

Grandpa-style, maybe?

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, Martin Fisher said:

For gong fu brewing, is there some alternative to a gaiwan that would work for someone with tremors?

I don't want to burn my fingerprints off. LOL

Grandpa-style, maybe?

The Yixin teapot that I have has a handle.  So you can pour the hot water over teh rounded surface of the teapot to warm it up, pour water into it (to brew the tea) until it overflows a tiny bit and put the cover on.  The handle should stay cool enough to hold.  Can you hold a small handle or is it too difficult to hold a small handle?

[Martin Fisher]

22 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Can you hold a small handle or is it too difficult to hold a small handle?

 

I do have trouble with a handle sometimes.

[Martin Fisher]

I may be able to use a Yixing.

I'd just need to choose times when tremor isn't bad.

[cdh]

The brew basket would allow you to do the gongfu style short steeps of lots of leaves.  Or you could look into ordering something like this.  It also lets you steep a lot of leaves in a little water and drop the water away from the leaves quickly. Yixing pots are fun and pretty, but they also drain more slowly than you'd get with the filter basket or Kamjove thingy.  That time difference can make a difference in some teas that are tasty when brewed for 10 seconds at a time, but unpleasant when it gets to 20 or 30 seconds... (lookin' at you, dancong oolongs).  

[Martin Fisher]

 

[cdh]

That would do the trick, and not require waiting on the slow boat from China...