Sourcing a blank slate — a visit to Jingdezhen
This gaiwan came together on a humid April morning on the eastern outskirts of Jingdezhen, in a small workshop that still mixes its own kaolin body from nearby Gaoling village. The previous week went to seven different studios, with side-by-side brewing logs kept throughout. The aim was a vessel that adds nothing and takes nothing away, a gaiwan that stays completely out of the tea’s way.
At each stop, we brewed the same lot of 2025 Bái Hóo Yín Zhēn and a lightly-roasted Tǐ Guān Yīn, tasting for any shift in texture or aftertaste. Most porcelain retained a faint clay minerality; a few rounded the liquor’s edges. The batch that became this product was the only one that delivered identical cups to the control (a laboratory-grade glass vessel). The potter, a second-generation artisan, fires his gaiwans at 1300°C for sixteen hours, achieving near-zero porosity with a tight, ringing tone when tapped.
We selected the 90ml size deliberately — large enough for a full aroma cup, small enough to hold in one hand without fatigue during long calibration sessions. The unglazed foot is a practical choice, providing grip even with wet fingers. Each gaiwan carries a minute variation in lid rock and rim thickness, a signature of hand-finishing that speaks to the craft rather than industrial uniformity.