A quiet precision tool, sized for one
Kettles are a smaller line for Gao Liuzhou than her gaiwans, but the same instinct drives them — she never liked kettles that hid the water. Cast iron and stainless steel bodies always felt like a disconnect between the heating and the pour, so once her gaiwan bench was established, she began blowing a handful of kettles a year on the side.
The 0.8L size is built for personal sessions. The smaller volume reaches a boil faster, and the transparency lets you read the water the way you’d read a leaf — shrimp-eye bubbles at the base, then the fish-eye stage, then a full rolling boil, each one suited to a different tea. She tunes her own pour timing this way, watching the bubble sequence rather than reaching for a thermometer.
The result pairs naturally with a glass gaiwan or a simple tasting cup, keeping the whole session — water, leaf, liquor — visible from kettle to cup. No metal touches the water at any point, and no coating dulls the view.