So I decided I wanted my very own gaiwan. I went online and found the cheapest one I could find, which was a small white one with bamboo painted on the outside from taooftea.com for $15. I got it in the mail yesterday, then later the same day I went to Serenity Art to get some of the silver tip pu-erh he gave me as a sample the last time I was in there.
What's the first thing I see when I walk in the door? You guessed it: the very same gaiwan I got in the mail just hours previously, but for $2.99.
In fact they had a whole big lot of different gaiwans, all for $2.99.
So, feeling cheated, I grabbed another one that's a little different and will brew a little different. When I got home I looked online and found the same one going for $24 on up to $35. Astounded, I've decided I'm not buying anymore teaware online.
For the record, they also have a lot of other teaware there that I've seen sold online for ten times as much. I've seen sites sell the little yixing tasting cups for $11.50 for 3, while Serenity Art sells even fancier ones for $0.85 each! At that price, we even bought some as art supplies. So the moral of the story is that if you have a local Asian market in town, particularly one that sells tea and teaware, check there before you buy teaware online. And take your time looking around, I had been in this store numerous times, and for some reason never saw these gaiwans.
Oh well, lesson learned. At least he gave me about $10-$15 of one of the best jade oolongs (it was a Tie Guan Yin) I have ever had. That kinda makes up for it, even though I'm sucker enough to go buy some more today...
2 comments:
Yeah, gaiwans in particular are a huge rip-off at most online stores. eBay stores tend to be much better (meaning cheaper) for these sorts of things, in my experience.
I believe this is called "paying tuition." :)
Haha! That's a great way to look at it :D
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