Show Off Your Pots and Cups XI

[Victoria]

Kool Krawl!!!

[tingjunkie]

From http://houdeasianart.com/, a 100 ml Sand Blended Zhu Ni, from the late 70s/early 80s, IIRC. It has very thick walls, and a very thick base as well. I'm going to be using it with medium/light roast yancha. The blended sand, which increases porosity (?), should round out some of the roast while preserving most of the tea's flavor/aroma. Chop is fairly interesting as well.

I'm quite jealous MT. I looked at that listing about 50 times thinking about pulling the trigger. You have to let me know how it brews (especially in comparison to your new Tea Gallery pot)- there is a similar one (in terms of clay) on Hou De right now a little bigger that I have been eying.

[Maitre_Tea]

From http://houdeasianart.com/, a 100 ml Sand Blended Zhu Ni, from the late 70s/early 80s, IIRC. It has very thick walls, and a very thick base as well. I'm going to be using it with medium/light roast yancha. The blended sand, which increases porosity (?), should round out some of the roast while preserving most of the tea's flavor/aroma. Chop is fairly interesting as well.

I'm quite jealous MT. I looked at that listing about 50 times thinking about pulling the trigger. You have to let me know how it brews (especially in comparison to your new Tea Gallery pot)- there is a similar one (in terms of clay) on Hou De right now a little bigger that I have been eying.

I don't think it's really fair to say what clay is better, unless you're comparing within the same "family" of clay, i.e. it's unfair to say that Zhu Ni is better than Zi Ni, because they're inherently different. Zhu Ni (IMO) is better at reflecting a tea's subtler aroma/flavor, while a Zi Ni pot can round out the harshness of a high roasted tea or young sheng. Asking me choose a favorite pot is like choosing a favorite child or something...something one could do subconsciously perhaps, but when confronted with the question in person...well, it's impossible to answer.

That being said, the pot is interesting, and it fits well with what I intend for it. It's sand-blended, so the ringing sound definitely not as good as the Tea Gallery pot, but since the pot is going to medium roast yancha that's not that much of an issue for me. The clay certainly feels nice, and it's very thick and sturdy...for its size, it's the heaviest of all my pots, and I can probably survive a small fall (knock on wood).

When comparing between the pots using a medium roast oolong, the Tea Gallery pot was better at showing off the tea's flavor/aroma (as expected), but some of the flavors were a little sharper than I would like, on account of the roasted nature of yancha. The Hou De pot did a good job at protecting most of the aroma/flavor, while cutting down on some of the sharpness. I suspected that the sand (which increases porosity), has something to do with this...

Don't let the size distract you from considering the other sand-blended pot. It would probably go well with balled up oolong, which expands like crazy...and it's only 5 ml over my threshold of size, and I too was actually considering that pot. It's pretty thick, and taking into account the sand-blended nature...it might do well with medium roast oolong, since most of the flavor will be protected, while some of the roast will be cut down. The thick walls will probably be better with roasted oolong in general.

Just my two cents.

[tingjunkie]

Thanks for the great reviews MT! About to email the TG now to see if they still have that pot in stock- I've managed to save more dough on my vacation than I thought, so it's time for a good yixing investment!v

[Maitre_Tea]

I really hope they do...it would be nice to know where family (pots-wise) is

[tingjunkie]

I really hope they do...it would be nice to know where family (pots-wise) is

Well, cuz, it would certainly seem we have very similar taste in teaware at least!

[Maitre_Tea]

I really hope they do...it would be nice to know where family (pots-wise) is

Well, cuz, it would certainly seem we have very similar taste in teaware at least!

BTW, what are thinking of dedicating the pot to? I have tons of Taiwanese Oolong I can send samples over of if you're thinking of dedicating it to ligther oolong. PM me if you're interested.

[tingjunkie]

Well, I just bought a $25 100ml hong ni pot at a store in Chinatown. It may have been cheap, but the lid fit and pour are perfect, and it has a surprisingly nice ring to it when struck. Only problem is that I only had it for a day before leaving on my vacation, so I didn't have time to test it out. I think my plan for either new pot is to just try different teas in them to see which work best. If the TG pot does a good job with showing off the subtle flavors, then it may be great for the lighter rolled oolongs. I'll just have to figure it out through trial and error I suppose.

[cupioneer]

Hey all. Long time semi-lurker, thought I'd finally post some pictures of various tea items I've collected over the past year or so.

I believe this is a "Please drink Chinese Oolong" pot. I know there's fakes floating around, so no idea if it's real or not. It's about 100 ml, and said to be "xiao hong ni" clay.


The seal on the above pot:


My favorite pot. About 150 ml, qing shui ni, with a Zhong Guo Yi Xing seal on the bottom.


A "modern zhu ni" pot I use for light Taiwan oolongs. About 150 ml.


Sado mumyoi from Hojo's house of overpriced teaware. As Tead Off has already stated, the lid fit is pretty bad. That being said, I love brewing almost any kind of tea in this pot. About 150 ml.


Qing hui ni pot I use for aged oolongs. About 120 ml.


Very thin hong ni pot I use for dancongs. I'm thinking about getting a chao zhou pot and switching this one. 150 ml.


Banko kyusu made by a potter named Jitsuzan.


Tebineri hagi guinomi by Seigan. I use it for tea, not sake.


Thanks for looking!

[Chip]

Cool Mrs. W cup(?), Woozl.

And a real beauty of a Tebineri Guinomi, Cupioneer!

[Tead Off]

Cupioneer,

Nice collection of things. You've done your homework, I can see. The Hojo-God has a new potter of Sado teapots. IICR, Shimizu Ken. Haven't handled the pots so cannot say if the lid fit has improved vs. Tozo's pots. Glad to hear you like the quality of the clay, though. Worshipping at Hojo's temple at least brings peace of mind even if it's more expensive. The vendor is important. They make the effort to seek out, know the product, and, give accurate information about what they sell. 3 bows to Hojo.

[Oni]

Banko kyusu made by a potter named Jitsuzan.


Thanks for looking!

Did you buy this from horaido teashop? I have only seen the works of Jitsuzan there.

[Intuit]

Oni, a source for this teapot (sencha and gyo sized) - a source in Hungary.

http://www.japantea.hu/index.php?pageid ... =27&id=358

Cupioneer, lovely photographic setting for your pleasing collection.

[Tead Off]

Oni, a source for this teapot (sencha and gyo sized) - a source in Hungary.

http://www.japantea.hu/index.php?pageid ... =27&id=358

Cupioneer, lovely photographic setting for your pleasing collection.

This seller has a sophisticated eye, IMO, and the prices look pretty good.

[Oni]

I am Hungarian, so I know the teashop and the site, I started to learn from them, they ordered those from horaido teashop (Nagahiro Yasumori Horaido is the name of the owner), so Horaido teashop has the best prices for those banko, and I saw a few japanese sites selling Jitsuzan`s work, but I wonder where Cupioneer bought it... By the way Intuit how did you come across that site, I see they made an english version of it, but they do not sell outside of Hungary yet, the owner visited many of those teashops himself and he knows their teas well, they have a puerh speciality site in cooperation with Yunnan Sourcing.