Using a Second Clay Teapot as a Chahai

Tea lovers have been decanting their brew from one teapot to another for ages so this post offers nothing original. However, when it comes to gongfu style tea preparation, it often seems like I, and everyone I drink tea with, always uses a decanting pitcher (aka chahai, fairness cup, etc.) or we'll just pour the tea directly into our cups.

Lately I've been experimenting with using two clay teapots, one to brew and one to serve, while drinking Chinese tea.

In the cases where I already have two well-seasoned teapots that hold similar volumes of tea, this method has yielded some wonderful results. High quality clay teapots are always such a pleasure to use... so it makes sense that having two on your tea tray at the same time may "double your pleasure."

Some other possible benefits include: quicker seasoning of your clay teapots and the second teapot's lid can, if desired, be used to keep your tea much hotter than a typical decanter.

Please comment if you have any more information or personal experiences regarding this technique.