Sourced by Michael Zhan from Gao Liuzhou’s bench
These cups began as a request from Michael Zhan: a tasting vessel small enough for real gongfu concentration rather than comfort. Gao Liuzhou, who blows the fluted gaiwans this site is best known for, pushed for 25ml instead of the more common 30ml when he brought her the idea — small enough that a cup empties in two or three sips while the aromatics are still loudest.
Each cup is individually mouth-blown from the same laboratory-grade borosilicate as her gaiwans, then annealed overnight and fire-polished at the rim for a seamless lip. No mould marks, no seams — a delicate bowl that weighs only 40g per cup. Because she works to the same tight tolerances as her gaiwan line, capacity varies by less than 1ml across the set.
Michael’s sign-off on this batch came after a side-by-side session with an aged shēng pǔ’ěr, where the cup’s clarity let the tea’s evolving colour show clearly steep to steep. Like the rest of the Liuzhou line, sets are small and irregular in supply — whatever Gao’s bench produces between her main gaiwan runs.