I'd consider myself proficient with using a gaiwan now, but I wasn't for the first few years of my tea journey. I was scared of them.
That's not going to filter the tea properly.
That looks uncomfortable to use.
I'm gonna burn myself!
At first, I used tea infusers that sit in your cup. These bothered me for a few reasons: some tea types don't expand and steep well in a confined space; they clogged constantly; and they can be annoying to clean.
I then took my first baby step towards gaiwans - with an "easy" gaiwan. It was a nicer experience, but still had some of the same issues: it tended to clog and was annoying to clean. It has a lip that is difficult to clean under. And it actually lets quite a bit of tea bits through.
Similar to this one:
![](https://possumpat.io/pictrs/image/0e232106-bce5-4bb0-a249-365603906193.png)
After a few years, I got my first gaiwan for cheap, and I'm so glad I did! It was just easier. You can keep the lid mostly closed and it somehow filters tea bits better than my "easy" gaiwan. It's soooo easy to clean. Now, I do actually use a filter sometimes to catch fine tea dust, but I don't actually need to.
I'm sure gaiwans are synonymous with loose leaf tea for many people, but they aren't common where I am in the US. So for anyone who hasn't tried one, I say give it a try!
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PS - One cool looking kind of teaware I have yet to try is a shiboridashi. This looks like a better version of my "easy" gaiwan:
![](https://possumpat.io/pictrs/image/23ee87b0-e0fc-4e64-a691-c9faceee6cc0.png)