TeaChat

I'm with you yalo.

Anything too much over that and it would be too much tea for me. Although, I have run into the problem of the leaves not having enough room inside the very tiny xiao pin. To me, I can always use fewer leaves in my ~85 ml pots and accomplish the same thing I could using fewer leaves in ~100-150 ml pots. The difference is the volume of water ... I don't need or want >100 mls for each infusion.

I agree tst!

It is fine when brewing with friends but 90% of my tea drinking is alone and I don't want to run to the bathroom all the time

Also, it is an economical thing.

Hi people,

I'm a newbie in this forum. I registered some time back, but have been lurking around reading various topics. Not sure if this is the right place for a first post, but am sharing pictures of a teapot I've just acquired since this thread has been inactive for a whole month. (Sorry for the poor photography and phone camera quality images.)

Would appreciate any comments regarding what the clay is, any possible tea pairings and what the name on the seal is.

- Clay type: No idea (Maybe Tiaosha Zhuni or Xiao Hongni?)
- Size of pot: estimated 170 ml (no measurement made); somewhat larger than I would prefer, but still reasonably sized
- Year: No idea
- Thickness: relatively thick
- Pour:18 sec
- Tea Pairing: Undecided, possibly pu-erh or aged oolong...

That's one of my favorite handle styles! Nice pot!

needaTEAcher wrote:That's one of my favorite handle styles! Nice pot!

Thanks for the affirmation (if you are referring to the pot I've posted ).

Thé Addict wrote:

needaTEAcher wrote:That's one of my favorite handle styles! Nice pot!

Thanks for the affirmation (if you are referring to the pot I've posted ).

I was! Where did you get it?

needaTEAcher wrote:

Thé Addict wrote:

needaTEAcher wrote:That's one of my favorite handle styles! Nice pot!

Thanks for the affirmation (if you are referring to the pot I've posted ).

I was! Where did you get it?

A small tea shop, Shang Pin Xuan, in Singapore's Takashimaya Shopping Center. Can't remember if the shop actually has an English name...

So I b(r)ought some clay pots during my travels.

At this point I don’t really care if using one makes a *better* cup; I’m more concerned about them making a *worse* cup than a regular gaiwan (I’ll try this out) and them, after what I’ve read on TC, being hazardous to one’s health (I can’t try this out).

They were cheap (I know, I know ): around 27$ each for the three on the right side; the leftmost I can’t remember, but similar. The second from the left I have no idea because it’s my parents’ from back home, but it’s probably unlikely to have been expensive. The small ones (leftmost, middle, rightmost) each have a capacity between 42 and 44 ml (surprised me, really – they look tinier to me).

Generally, I just bought them because I liked the aesthetics and they were cute, so even if they just sit on my shelf I don’t mind . They’re clearly commercial grade – is there anything worth saying about the seals? I could only decipher the zhongguo yixing on the black pot (not pictured).
I’ll attach more detailed pictures of the pots next

continued 1/2:

continued 2/2:

Thirst, where did you get them? Just because they were cheap doesn't mean they won't perform very well! They look beautiful. Let us know how they brew.

needaTEAcher wrote:Thirst, where did you get them? Just because they were cheap doesn't mean they won't perform very well! They look beautiful. Let us know how they brew.

Thanks!
I got the small brown one at Yixing Xuan in Singapore and the three rightmost ones at the Chang Naimiao Memorial at Maokong, Taiwan. They had about a dozen each of these small ones at the memorial. The wife of the grandson of the latter speaks English and was very nice. I should have asked her more questions!

I haven’t actually used or even cleaned any of them yet – yixing as a topic is pretty intimidating, haha. I guess I’d like to devote one pot for green oolongs like baozhong or jade tgy and one for fenghuang oolongs, but I don’t know which pots yet. One of my staple drinks is dianhong though so perhaps that could be an option, too. Pu er is a topic that I haven’t explored much yet…

Plus, only two of them are large enough for having tea sessions with friends, another thing I need to consider. They’re probably also worse than the small ones. Hm…

Off topic and an experienced tea drinker would probably point out how it’s all wrong, but the bajiguan from Teaspring tasted relatively similar to their fenghuang dancong – is that a thing, or just their particular bajiguans and fenghuangs as a result of similar oxidation and roast levels or something like that?

thirst wrote:
Thanks!
I got the small brown one at Yixing Xuan in Singapore and the three rightmost ones at the Chang Naimiao Memorial at Maokong, Taiwan. They had about a dozen each of these small ones at the memorial. The wife of the grandson of the latter speaks English and was very nice. I should have asked her more questions!

I haven’t actually used or even cleaned any of them yet – yixing as a topic is pretty intimidating, haha. I guess I’d like to devote one pot for green oolongs like baozhong or jade tgy and one for fenghuang oolongs, but I don’t know which pots yet. One of my staple drinks is dianhong though so perhaps that could be an option, too. Pu er is a topic that I haven’t explored much yet…

Plus, only two of them are large enough for having tea sessions with friends, another thing I need to consider. They’re probably also worse than the small ones. Hm…

Off topic and an experienced tea drinker would probably point out how it’s all wrong, but the bajiguan from Teaspring tasted relatively similar to their fenghuang dancong – is that a thing, or just their particular bajiguans and fenghuangs as a result of similar oxidation and roast levels or something like that?

When you want to pair tea pots you just try different teas in the pots, and see which pots work best for each category of tea. Just play around a bit. There is no need to devote a single tea to each different pot, but categories of teas. Such as green oolongs for one pot, Wu Yi for another, young Sheng (if you like it) in one, aged Sheng Pu Erh another one again. Internet forums make it seem a bit intimidating at times.

I have have a pot that at first i used with Yancha, but it somehow suppressed its subtleties, no matter what i did. When i switched it to aged Sheng it suddenly began to sing.

As to baijiguan, yes, there are certain similarities with fenghuang dancong, and the reason why baijiguan is the only Yancha i am not a great fan of. I do not particularly like fenhuang dancong.

I totally agree with theredbaron about just playing around with them and see which teas and pots choose each other. In my experience, it doesn't really matter if you drink the wrong tea in the wrong pot from time to time. It takes many, many brews to build the patinas.