The tea collection
Gaiwan and cups for the way you brew
Start with a gaiwan, then choose the cups you want to drink from. Explore different forms and glazes as individual pieces, with current details and availability checked on each listing.
Production origin and personalization options vary by piece; ask us to confirm them for the one you choose.
Gaiwan[8]
The glazes[4]
Crystalline结晶釉
2 pieces here
Zinc and silica stay dissolved in the glaze at peak heat and grow into crystals as the kiln cools — but only if it is held for hours in a narrow band on the way down. Each needle spray is one crystal that started on a seed and grew outward until the glaze stiffened around it.
No two sprays are the same size or land in the same place, and a piece cannot be reordered. Where the crystals are dense the surface goes slightly satin; the glass between them stays glossy.
Reactive窑变釉
7 pieces here
Two or more glazes laid over one another. At melt they refuse to mix evenly: one breaks through the other, pools in the hollows, and pulls thin over every edge. The speckling is that separation happening, not a pattern printed on.
Colour is deepest where the glaze ran thickest, usually low on the body, and palest on the rim and the lid knob. The same two glazes on a different shelf of the same kiln come out different.
Drip rim流釉
1 piece here
A second glaze put on the rim alone, mixed to run. Gravity and heat do the drawing. Where a drip stops depends on how thickly it was laid and how fast the kiln climbed.
Every drip stops at a different height, and that is the whole point of the piece. The colour reads deepest where it pools; the rim edge itself is usually the thinnest and palest part.
Monochrome gloss单色釉
1 piece here
One glaze, melted right out to a smooth glass. The colour is a metal oxide dissolved in it rather than anything sitting on the surface, and the depth comes from how thick the layer went on.
The evenest of the four, though not machine-even — slight pooling at the foot and the odd dip mark are how a dipped glaze differs from a sprayed industrial one.
Not a fault
- Crazing开片
- A net of fine lines in the glaze, from the glaze and the body cooling at slightly different rates. It is in the glass, not in the porcelain: a high-fired body is vitrified and does not absorb, which is why crazing here is cosmetic where on porous earthenware it would not be. Some Chinese wares are made to do it — 哥窑 is collected for it.
- Speckles and pinholes
- Small dark flecks are iron in the clay or the glaze. A pinhole is a bubble that burst on its way out and the glaze did not quite heal over. Both are ordinary on hand-glazed work. A chip, or a crack that goes through the body rather than sitting in the glaze, is not — send it back.
- It does not match the photograph
- Where a piece is one of a kind, the photograph is that piece. Where there are several of a glaze, the photograph is one of them and yours is its sibling rather than its twin. Reactive glaze moves; expect the family, not the frame.
- Care
- Warm the piece with a rinse of hot water before you brew — boiling water into a cold bowl is the one thing porcelain of this thinness does not like. Anything carrying metallic decoration must never go in a microwave; it will arc. Hand-wash those, and treat a dishwasher as safe only for plain glazed pieces.
Why porcelain,
and why this small
A small gaiwan lets you adjust each infusion as the leaves open. Its smooth porcelain surface is easy to rinse, while a light interior makes the tea liquor easier to see.
You can begin simply: one brewing vessel and one cup. Add more cups when you brew for others or want to compare glazes side by side.
About the gaiwanLooking for a different tea form or glaze? Tell us what you have in mind and we can discuss what is possible.
Personalization is available on selected tea pieces; the method and placement are confirmed for each piece. Explore tea personalization. Buying for a tea house or a brand? Discuss a business order.