TeaChat

Ha ha.. Ok.. Got it. Tks !!

dilettante wrote:Ha ha.. Ok.. Got it. Tks !!

It doesn't mean you can't use it and enjoy it even if it is a cheapo.

Clay: Lu Ni. High fired.
Size: 60 ml
Age/Year: Mid 90's
Walls: INSANELY Thin
Pour: +/- 8 sec. Multi-hole filter. No drips. Good lid fit.
Source: Friend and fellow collector.
Tea Pairing: Still testing. Aged raw puerh perhaps?

Going with the sage advice from a tea friend and mentor, I'm at the stage in my collecting that any new pot I get should be selected on purpose, not only for the craftsmanship and clay quality, but also because the pot should be a teacher. I think this pot definitely will be. For one, I've never owned a pot in which the walls are so incredibly eggshell thin. In the third photo there is a penny for comparison, and the walls of the pot are hardly any thicker than the coin. Also, I've never owned this kind of green lu ni clay before. I'm usually wary of "unnatural" clay colors, but this pot passed all the important tests and does not have any funny smells, or tastes, or odd throat-feel at all. Finally, I'm a bit sheepish to admit that after 5 years or so of using Yixing pots, I've always held and poured them in the western way, with my index finger looped through the handle and my thumb on the lid. The handle of this pot is so small that it forces me to hold and pour the pot in the traditional "correct" way of pinching the handle with thumb and two fingers, and using my index finger on the lid. Time to step up my tea aesthetics game!

You know, I've never thought about how I held the pots until you mentioned it. I've always held them the way you describe 'traditional'. Maybe I just unconsciously adapted this way from my early experiences in Hong Kong.

BTW, that's a nice looking pot. With a mouth like that, it would beg some yancha or other longer leafed oolong. Possibly roasted oolongs, too. I'd be interested to know how the clay performs and whether you have any luck with the sheng.

What a pretty little thing!

tingjunkie wrote: Clay: Lu Ni. High fired.
Size: 60 ml
Age/Year: Mid 90's
Walls: INSANELY Thin
Pour: +/- 8 sec. Multi-hole filter. No drips. Good lid fit.
Source: Friend and fellow collector.
Tea Pairing: Still testing. Aged raw puerh perhaps?

Going with the sage advice from a tea friend and mentor, I'm at the stage in my collecting that any new pot I get should be selected on purpose, not only for the craftsmanship and clay quality, but also because the pot should be a teacher. I think this pot definitely will be. For one, I've never owned a pot in which the walls are so incredibly eggshell thin. In the third photo there is a penny for comparison, and the walls of the pot are hardly any thicker than the coin. Also, I've never owned this kind of green lu ni clay before. I'm usually wary of "unnatural" clay colors, but this pot passed all the important tests and does not have any funny smells, or tastes, or odd throat-feel at all. Finally, I'm a bit sheepish to admit that after 5 years or so of using Yixing pots, I've always held and poured them in the western way, with my index finger looped through the handle and my thumb on the lid. The handle of this pot is so small that it forces me to hold and pour the pot in the traditional "correct" way of pinching the handle with thumb and two fingers, and using my index finger on the lid. Time to step up my tea aesthetics game!

nice pot
i reminds me of this pot that i had retired into storage



200ml+... and extremely thin
the funny thing was that for the past fifteen years i was incredibly rough with the pot and there was no mishaps

Tead Off wrote: BTW, that's a nice looking pot. With a mouth like that, it would beg some yancha or other longer leafed oolong.

That was my first thought, but I have two lovely 70ml pots dedicated to yancha already. Ultimately, I'll have to listen to what the pot wants, but I'm hoping it wants aged pu!

Thanks for the compliments everyone. This pot had a twin that had been used for the past 17 years, and the clay develops very nicely. Looking forward to raising this one from a "baby."

Nice one, Mike.

brandon wrote:Nice one, Mike.

Gracias, B!

kyarazen wrote:
nice pot
i reminds me of this pot that i had retired into storage
the funny thing was that for the past fifteen years i was incredibly rough with the pot and there was no mishaps

kyarazen, I've been meaning to ask... why did you "retire the pot into storage?" Did you just outgrow it, but can't bare to let it go or sell it? I've only been collecting Yixing pots for 5 years or so, but I'd think after 15 years of using one, I'd have a lot of pride in the patina and want to keep using it.

tingjunkie wrote:

kyarazen wrote:
nice pot
i reminds me of this pot that i had retired into storage
the funny thing was that for the past fifteen years i was incredibly rough with the pot and there was no mishaps

kyarazen, I've been meaning to ask... why did you "retire the pot into storage?" Did you just outgrow it, but can't bare to let it go or sell it? I've only been collecting Yixing pots for 5 years or so, but I'd think after 15 years of using one, I'd have a lot of pride in the patina and want to keep using it.

i retired it to reduce the risk of breakage, and also to allow for other pots to get some tea drinking time.

the pot had already developed a nice patina and a nice creamy "jade like" feel/texture, it has since then become a mission for me to slowly turn all my other pots into seasoned beauties.

with over a hundred at the moment, I'm working my way through the better clays and the optimally fired ones first

Interesting. You'll have to let us know if the pot loses any luster or glow from not being used, or if it just needs an occasional use for "regularly scheduled maintenance." A Yixing oil change, if you will.

Clay: No clue. Listing says zhu clay but I know it's not. Hard and heavy, with lots of visible pores and different colored flecks. Medium fired??
Size: 160 ml
Age/Year: New
Walls: Medium-thick
Pour: +/- 12 sec. 5-hole filter. No drips. Great lid fit.
Source: Ebay I'm such a garbage collector
Tea Pairing: Immature (4-10 year) sheng

Given the fact that I paid $0.01 (no joke) for this pot, I didn't really expect much. But I'm pretty happy with it. It really mellows the bitter/dirty tastes of my teas - but it also flattens some of the more nuanced flavors. That's improved a lot with use, so hopefully seasoning will help this become a useful brewing tool. It was a more dusty/ashen color when I first got it, it's gotten a little darker and browner after about 30 uses.
I know bats are a pretty common motif on pots, but I like it a lot. The smell of rocks and pu-erh remind me a lot of the limestone cave where I work so the theme is pretty cool

Can anyone tell me what this shape is called? And also what kind of clay this is? (wouldn't be surprised if it's really low-quality, lol). I seem to remember a pot posted by ImmortaliTEA about two years ago that had a similar-looking clay, but it was never identified. This probably isn't the same but I'm still curious.

Better photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/125297318 ... 637194514/

Tingjunkie, wouldn't a pot with that wide opening and thin clay be well suited for dancongs? I don't know anything about whether lu ni would like that though.