丨This article was originally written by Xiao Chen Chashi
丨First published in the headlines: Xiao Chen Tea Affair
丨Author: Village Gu Chen
《1》
Many people have had a hot hand experience when they make tea with a gaiwan for the first time.
In retrospect, it is full of "history of blood and tears".
Zhang's girlfriend said that when she was in high school, out of curiosity, she used the bowl at home to try her hands, but the hot problem was okay, that is, she broke several bowls in a row.
Every time I feel a little hot, I immediately shake off my hand. Looking back on that time of training, I don't know how many good things were destroyed.
Another new tea friend shared that there are two parts that are most likely to burn when he uses a bowl, one is the thumb and the other is the palm of the hand.
Before he used a thick tire enamel color bowl to make new tea, when he poured out the tea soup was super hot, he finally endured the heat, after brewing a cup of tea, put down the bowl only to find that his thumb was burned red, and blisters appeared.
There are also old classmates around me who have expressed their inner feelings, novices are not used to it at first, and if they don't find the right method, they will burn themselves 100%.
But it's strange to say, maybe it's out of the instinct to seek advantages and avoid harm, and I slowly learned it after scalding. Just like when you start cycling, you can easily control it with a good sense of balance.
In the end, how can you not burn your hands during the tea making in a bowl?
Before answering this question head-on, you may wish to identify the causes.
Find out the key causes of your own hot hands by making tea in a gaiwan, and find the root cause of the disease, so as to completely solve the problem.
《2》
First, the big bowl is easy to burn when making tea.
Some tea lovers take the difficult route when they first buy gaiwan.
I bought a super large bowl and put it on the tea table to start brewing.
As a result, I was dumbfounded after getting started, even if I repeatedly compared the tutorial, the big gaiwan would burn my hands when making tea.
When the gaiwan is bought, the difficulty of making tea increases exponentially.
Hot hands, shaking hands, unstable grip resulting in slippery hands and broken hands often occur.
To solve this problem, it has to be clearly defined.
What is "big"?
The standard capacity of the gaiwan is 110 ml, does it mean that the gaiwan that exceeds this range is called a large gaiwan?
It can't be so narrow-minded.
If the palm of your hand is large enough and your fingers are slender enough to be easily picked up safely, it is not too big.
The "bigness" of the gaiwan varies from person to person and from hand to hand.
When you get a new bowl, start by holding your thumb and middle finger on either rim of the bowl and try to pick it up with one hand.
As long as the diameter of the bowl mouth does not exceed its own tolerance, it is still acceptable.
If you find that you can hold your fingers to the maximum, you can only barely pick them up.
After pouring the dry tea into the boiling water, the process of picking it up is still a little laborious, indicating that this gaiwan has nothing to do with you, and if you insist on using it to make tea, it will only burn yourself.
《3》
Second, the narrow edge of the bowl, not scalding at all.
Based on the angle of anti-burning, when designing the bowl, the wider the bowl edge, the better.
The wide rim of the bowl is easy to grip.
When using the three-finger bowl method to make tea, the thumb and middle finger are held on the edge of the bowl on both sides, and the index finger is fixed at the top of the lid button to ensure that the angle of the lid opening is not displaced.
The wide rim of the bowl is conducive to anti-scalding.
During the brewing process, pour boiling water into the bowl.
The height of the water line, roughly close to the edge of the bowl.
Affected by the heat of the boiling water, the entire bowl body is hot inside and out.
It seems to be burning red charcoal, but the temperature is extremely high, and it cannot be touched directly.
The rim of the bowl, which extends outward and "skims out", is undoubtedly far away from the center of the heat source and is not susceptible to the heat dissipation of boiling water in a short time.
When you pick up the bowl and pour out the tea, as long as your fingers fall on the edge of the bowl, away from the bowl body and the bowl wall, you will not burn yourself!
On the other hand, if you buy a gaiwan in your hand, the rim of the bowl is extremely narrow.
Even the shape of the rectum and straight belly has no bowl edge that is skimmed outwards at all.
Experienced old tea customers know at a glance that this kind of gaiwan will actually be hot to use.
Unless the amount of water injected is reduced, only three-quarters full.
But in this way, less water and more tea, and it is easy to break the balance of tea taste.
《4》
3. If the water is overfilled, the water will overflow.
New tea lovers just started to use gaiwan, which is easy to burn their hands.
However, the old tea customers are very familiar with it, and the action of making tea is smooth, and it looks easy.
Behind this, it is not that the old tea customers have cultivated the god skill of "not afraid of being hot", but that many improper tea making operations have been avoided.
For example, come leisurely during the water filling.
When filling the lid bowl with water, the reasonable height of the water level is below the rim of the bowl.
Approach the rim of the bowl, but close the lid so that it doesn't spill.
When picking up the kettle and filling it down, focus on the action in front of you.
Once you take care of small talk, or look away.
When I came back to my senses, I found that the inside of the bowl was overfilled.
The moment the lid was closed, a circle of boiling hot water overflowed.
Around the tea tray, a puddle of water was immediately sprinkled.
At this time, no matter how you pick up the bowl, it will burn your hands.
Leave it alone and wait until the boiling water cools down.
After it was lowered to a temperature that was not hot, the tea inside the entire bowl was already stuffy.
Choosing between hot hands and stuffy tea, no matter how you choose, is not the best policy.
The best thing to do is to take precautions, be attentive during the filling period, and avoid pouring too much water!
《5》
Fourth, the gesture of picking up the bowl is wrong.
In many small videos of making tea, you can often see such dazzling skills.
In a handsome position of holding the bowl with one hand, place four fingers under the bowl and use your thumb to secure the lid and cover the bowl.
After directly "copying" the bowl, pour out the tea soup.
Every time I see such a mood, I silently dub these pictures in my heart.
"Hiss, hiss, it's hot! It's hot! ”
In fact, the most suitable technique for novices to practice is the three-finger bowl holding method.
Thumb and middle fingers, grasp on the rim of the bowl on either side.
The index finger is placed on top of the knob.
Be careful, don't press your index finger down and stick it to the porcelain wall at the top of the lid.
Because during the brewing of tea, the top of the lid will also be smoked extremely hot by the hot steam.
If you don't pay attention to it directly, you will also burn your fingers!
《6》
Fifth, the thick bowl is bulky and hot to use.
Buy a covered bowl, buy thin not thick.
The light and thin porcelain wall of the bowl not only looks more smooth and flexible overall, but also makes the actual tea making experience better.
Because it's light enough.
Holding it in your hand will not increase the burden on your wrist in the slightest.
A series of tea-making actions can be easily completed.
Including picking up the bowl, pouring the tea soup, draining the tea, etc.
At the same time, it will also be more friendly to female tea drinkers who are slightly less athletic.
Otherwise, even if you pick up the bowl with hot water with one hand, the weight of the tea itself is not light.
The weight of the bowl itself is reduced, and the burden of making tea is lighter.
Replacing it with a thick bowl will inevitably look too bulky.
Just picking up an empty bowl requires a lot of effort.
After pouring water and starting to make tea, the bulky and thick bowl is not conducive to the action of making tea.
Once the feel is not right, the tea will be made wrong, which will increase the risk of hot hands.
《7》
Finally, let's talk about a detail that many people will overlook.
When using a gaiwan to make tea, you can't blindly brew it.
Because after soaking the cup for a long time, it will also make people feel hot.
This is related to heat dissipation issues.
When boiling water is poured into the bowl, the heat spreads rapidly in all directions.
At this time, take advantage of the soup as soon as possible, pour the tea soup in time and quickly, and the problem is okay.
Select "Stuff to the end", stuff for 30 seconds, 1 minute before making the soup.
At that time, even the original safe oasis, the edge of the bowl, was occupied by heat.
Then follow the same method to make tea, and hot hands are inevitable.
Therefore, when using the gaiwan, you can't blindly soak.
Unless it is the last few tail waters, the tea flavor will completely fade down, and the tea flavor will be increased by being stuffy for a while.
Otherwise, it's better to make the soup quickly.
Brewing tea quickly can not only make the tea taste more refreshing and pure, but also prevent hot hands.
In detail, it's a win-win.
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Xiao Chen Tea Village Gu Chen, column writer, the original new media in the tea industry "Xiao Chen Tea Affairs" chief writer, has published a white tea monograph "White Tea Tasting Notes", and has written more than 4,000 original articles from 2016 to 2020.