New Zealand 1

We've all survived another week of the zombie apocalypse that is 2020. Yet again, I find myself writing something to post on Sunday morning because, well, life. This morning I had an extra reason to not want to get out of bed. I checked my phone, and the weather said rain/snow. SNOW? It's the middle of friggin October! 

NO NO NO NO! The news said that this was going to be an exceptionally bad winter as far as cold and snow (don't they say that every year?). I guess mother nature isn't messing around. Maybe this year is mother nature's revenge for the election 4 years ago. 

It's not supposed to snow until Halloween night when all the kids are out trick or treating. Of course that's being discouraged this year, so maybe the weather is just as confused as we all are. What day is it? Does it matter what day it is? Which of the 3 outfits I rotate wearing to work should I wear today? Now that we're in the new office, the dress code is even more relaxed. Maybe they should try to recruit for second shift and overnight by making a policy that anyone who works between 8 PM and 8 AM is allowed to just wear pajamas to work. Yeah, suffice it to say that work is really busy given the fact that more and more people are leaving the department.

So, let's travel to a land where COVID-19 is under control, it's spring, and life is mostly normal. New Zealand! I think I'm going to do several posts about them because I found some great information about tea there, and why not pretend I'm somewhere that is warming up, and has a government that seems to be working out for the populace. Specifically, we're going to the Zealong tea estate. It is the only tea estate in the country. From their website, it looks very posh and polished. Unlike tea estates in poorer countries, they have venue spaces for weddings, formal tea tastings and a restaurant, and groomed gardens with copper statues walking you through the history of tea. While I have enough empty Amazon boxes in my basement, I could probably make a 4 foot teapot sculpture out of cardboard, I don't want to think about the challenges of either living with something so massive and useless inside of my house, or trying to throw it out once I proved that I could make it. Maybe I should start making cardboard furniture where layer after layer of corrugated cardboard gets glued together into furniture so hideous college students wouldn't even use it. 

Back to New Zealand. I've found a couple of videos from people visiting Zealong. They brew their tea in different styles of white porcelain vessels. They have traditional gaiwans like the ones I have. they have taller gaiwans with the removable ceramic insert that strains the leaves out (I have not felt the need to own such a thing, although I've seen them around), and they also have smaller, Chinese style tea pots. They talk about having pouring contests in their tea tastings to see who can pour tea the fastest without spilling it all over. So today we're going to talk about how to pour out of a gaiwan. 

Yes, that's snow on the grass outside! 

I have 2 slightly different styles of gaiwan, and I actually use both methods of pouring depending on which one I am using. The knob on the top makes all the difference for me, although either method can be used with any style of gaiwan. I'm just showing you what feels natural and comfortable to me. 

The basic method of pouring is the same. You tip the lid of the gaiwan slightly to the side to leave a gap for the water to come out, but small enough for the tea to stay inside. This said, people often pour through a strainer of some sort to make sure there aren't any leaves in the tea you are about to drink. 

Then, you grasp the upper edge of the cup with your thumb and middle finger. This part of the gaiwan is cooler because the hot water is in the bowl, not up by the brim. 

You use your index finger to hold the lid on, and here is where the style can differ. You can either place the tip of your finger on the knob on the top of the lid. 

Or you can lay your index finger across the knob on the top of the lid. 

If you look closely, you will see that the depth of the indentation on the knob on top of the lid differs, and that is why I use different techniques for holding the lid. I feel like I have more control with the tip of my finger in the deeper indentation, but I lose that feeling of control when I use the gaiwan with the more shallow indentation. 

Then you simply tip your gaiwan to the side to pour. 

Technically you would be pouring into a cup. As you can see, I'm demonstrating with empty gaiwans because I'm taking the pictures myself, and I would never be able to photograph pouring without the assistance of someone else.  Now you can show up at the tea estate in New Zealand knowing how to pour your tea from a gaiwan. Now go out there and practice pouring your gaiwans, and if you don't have one of those, start contemplating what cardboard sculptures you would make out of old Amazon boxes. Note, I do not recommend making a cardboard gaiwan as cardboard and water don't generally mix. Okay, CR used to have the great cardboard boat regatta on the river for the 4th of July events, but they weren't necessarily waterproof, and the shellacs and adhesives used certainly weren't food safe. Have a good week, and here's hoping things get better soon.