If you've ever received a tin of tea as a gift from a Chinese friend, colleague, or relative, you may have taken it at face value — a nice, thoughtful present, the same category as a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates. It's worth knowing that in Chinese…

A common assumption when people start shopping for a gaiwan is that price maps directly to quality — that a $15 gaiwan must be a compromise compared to a $60 one. For a beginner, that's mostly backwards. At the budget end of the market, the differences that actually matter aren't…