Hello Everyone,

Today was the day I’ve been eagerly anticipating, as I’ve been experimenting with new sources for my teaware. Although it’s not the most elegant option, one of the more affordable sources I decided to try was AliExpress.

Let’s review what I received, comparing my expectations with the actual products:

IMG-8233

We’ll start with the “360 degree gaiwan” or whatever that means. It’s supposedly a gaiwan that you can rotate for easier steeping, featuring a small filter at the bottom.

Expected:

Screenshot-2024-04-28-000311

And what I got:

IMG-8229

Not only were the cups incredibly small, but they were also of very poor quality… and the gaiwan itself arrived broken…

Next up is this “ceramic” tea tray:

Expected:

Screenshot-2024-04-28-000946

What I received was this:

A brass, incredibly heavy but acceptable quality tea tray. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a nozzle and doesn’t resemble the photo in the description. :(

IMG-8231

Then we have this snail tea pet:

Expected:

Screenshot-2024-04-28-001611

And I basically received the same, but broken :/

It’s adorable, though!!!

IMG-8234

And another 360 degree gaiwan:

What I ordered:

Screenshot-2024-04-28-001950

And what I got:

IMG-8238

Yeah, I only received the gaiwan. I was supposed to get a set with it, but honestly, I’m glad they protected it very well during shipping, and at least this one didn’t break. Either way, the cups would’ve been too small, haha.

I also treated myself to this teaset from Touthé in Lausanne, a teashop that sells a lot of Palais des Thés stuff. They sold the following:

Expected:

Tasse gaïwan dragon bleu, porcelaine fine

And here it is on my table:

IMG-8240

It looks and feels quite nice, definitely the most high-quality teaware out of all the ones I’ve presented today!

Oh well, that was all for today!

See you guys! :0

- yaro