I love steeping this in the gaiwan, now. When I brew this Western style I find you can’t really risk more than two steeps before the result gets both thin and sharp. But in the gaiwan with short steeps you can get a half dozen quality steeps.
As an aside, I’ve discovered that you can do gongfu style steeping in the small size (2 cups) Beehive teapots if you want more than a thimble full of tea with each steep. Sure, you’re committing a fairly large wad of tea leaves, but getting 6-20 steeps of 2 cups each is a lot of tea to drink, so it works out pretty well. I especially do this when I engage the “gongfu madness” to make a large batch of a tea (usually because I need to take a big thermos of it with me out to the disc golf course or ultimate field) and the results have been fantastic. Combining several short steepings produces a wonderfully complex cup.
