Liuzhou workshop, sized to the 90ml gaiwan
Michael sourced this pitcher line during a Fujian-to-Guangxi swing in early 2025, after a long-running complaint from our tasting room: most 200ml cha hai sit half-empty after a gaiwan pour, and the wide bowl drops temperature fast. He wanted 150ml — enough headroom for a full 90ml gaiwan, no more — and a spout that would not drip onto the tea boat.
The workshop belongs to Gao Lihua, a second-generation lampworker outside Liuzhou. Her studio supplies the same borosilicate line we carry on tea.glass, and she runs small batches of 40–60 pieces at a time, finishing each spout by hand at the bench torch. Michael sat through two pours of Mí Lán Xiāng (蜜兰香) with three prototype spouts before settling on the current cut — a slightly downturned lip that breaks the stream clean.
The glass itself is 3.3 expansion borosilicate, the same family used in laboratory ware. It anneals overnight in a small electric kiln, which is what gives the base its slight weight and removes the stress lines you see on cheaper blown pitchers. Each piece carries a faint pontil mark on the underside — Gao does not polish it out, and we asked her not to. It is the only way to tell a hand-blown piece from a mold-finished one.
Michael’s field notes from that visit are filed under his Guangxi report on tea.travel.