Pardon my ignorance but could you describe gong-fu? And of course what is a gawain?
Gong fu is the same word as Kung Fu. Both just mean doing a thing in the most artful way possible. In the west, we associate Kung-fu with martial arts, but in parts of China, it is pronounced more like Gong, so using the correct word in this case helps prevent confusion due to western misconceptions.
Gong fu cha is tea brewed carefully, with intent to make the perfect cup(s). A Gaiwan is a teacup with a lid that is used as a teapot. More tea is used than would typically be expected, but if brewed properly, one gaiwan of leaves can produce between 7 and 25 cups of tea. Because the flavonoids enter solution before the tannins, you can brew over and over without the tea becoming bitter. Or you can brew until you hit a your maximum bitterness threshold, or there is simply no flavor left. The catch is, you must use a proper ratio of tea to water, and use exactly the correct temperature of water, all of which change with every different tea and cut. At first this takes a lot of research, trial, and error.
After awhile, it's all second nature, especially if you are familiarized with the tea being brewed.
In fact, Gongfu brewing allows for a deeper understanding of the tea, much like pipe smoking allows for a deeper understanding of tobacco and how it reacts to temperature, cadence, and pipe selection.
While a very decent cuppa can be brewed from bags, there is no comparison to the depth of flavors that can be experienced with proper brewing of tea cakes and whole leaf teas. Very much like the difference between a pack of nails and tins of high quality pipe tobacco.
I find so many parallels can be drawn between pipe tobacco and good tea, all the way from their exotic origins, imperial propagation, growing regions, production and packaging methods, consumption, and combination of relaxing and stimulating properties.
I could obviously go on all day?