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Gaiwan Tea, Cap-cup Tea
Gaiwan Tea, also known as the Covered Tea or Cap-cup Tea, and 盖碗茶 (gai wan cha) in Chinese, is a traditional tea drinking custom among people in Sichuan and other places in China. The Covered Tea Set includes a lid on the top meaning heaven, a tray on the bottom meaning earth, and a bow (cup)l in the middle meaning people. Hence, this tea set is also called "三才碗（San Cai Wan） in Chinese.
It's endless charmful to drink Gaiwan tea. Usually, people put the lid on the cup. If you need the tea to be thicker, you can use the lid to gently scrape the surface of the water, and turn tea in the bowl up and down. If you scrape gently, the tea is light. If you scrape heavily, the tea will become thicker.
Some people who know the tea ceremony are good at the tea. They believe that it is ordinary tea if the tea is not clear, it is bitter tea if it is fragrant but not sweet, it is also not good tea if it is sweet but not clear, and the best tea should be clear, fragrant and sweet.
The Covered Tea was originally created by imperial family in the Qing Dynasty（1645-1911), and then, drinking tea with a cap-cup was the most prevalent way adopted by officials and civilians in
Beijing. Today, because it can keep tea warm, the Covered Tea is popular everywhere in
China.
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