Ode to the Kyusu

[Tsubo]

Perfectly this guy is not the disciple of a man designed as an "Intangible Cultural Property" for nothing

[Alex]

Amazing! Thanks for sharing such beautiful pots!

[Tsubo]

You're welcome !

For those who would be interested by this potter which will be famous in some years, Florent of Japanese Tea sommelier have some to sell on his online shop

[Frisbeehead]

Got my first kyusu from Hojo the other day. Shimizu Ken 120ml Nosaka Oxidation.

I have used it with sencha, gyokuro, and taiwanese oolongs so far. I regularly use it for sencha, as that has been my favorite out of it. The gyokuro is good too, however I would like to try it out of a glazed shibo or hohin to compare. I've been keeping an eye out for an affordable and attractive one . The taiwanese oolongs (I've tried lishan and jinxuan in it) come out nicely too, however the lighter floral notes aren't as powerful as out of my gaiwan. I'm still experimenting with the kyusu, but I think sencha is going to be the winner. Now I just need to order some different types of sencha to try with it. Any recommendations?

[pizzapotamus]

Bit short of Tsubo's collection but I just received a woodfired pot by Shiraiwa Taisuke. I wasn't sure how the unusual shape would work out but in my limited use so far it's worked great even when filling it almost to the top. To get out the last few drops I do have to practically turn it upside but I just gradually work my way there over the length of the pour and it goes without issue.

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[debunix]

What a great surface that one has--variation in color and texture complement each other beautifully. And cool shape.

[Tsubo]

Great addition to your own teaware collection

[Alex]

Yeah lush!



Well done on grabbing that shimzu ken pot as well. He's no longer making them so you got one in good time! and its very cute.

[Frisbeehead]

Has anyone here experimented with teapots made of shudei clay? I've read a bit about it, mostly from this site and from Hojo's site.

How similar, in the effects it has on the tea, is it to hongni?

I've noticed a bunch of shudei shibos and kyusu popping up on Artistic Nippon, and while I'm not interested in buying anything else right now (my wallet already hurts enough...), I thought it was quite rare. But the pieces don't seem to be priced as though the clay was as rare as I've heard.

Edit: Thanks Alex. I'm glad I decided to pick one up. It's a great teapot.

[Tead Off]

Has anyone here experimented with teapots made of shudei clay? I've read a bit about it, mostly from this site and from Hojo's site.

How similar, in the effects it has on the tea, is it to hongni?

I've noticed a bunch of shudei shibos and kyusu popping up on Artistic Nippon, and while I'm not interested in buying anything else right now (my wallet already hurts enough...), I thought it was quite rare. But the pieces don't seem to be priced as though the clay was as rare as I've heard.

Edit: Thanks Alex. I'm glad I decided to pick one up. It's a great teapot.

For what it's worth, Hojo told me some years ago that Tokoname shudei was almost always spiked with iron oxides to create the color. He said you had to look for older pots, maybe 50 years old, to get the pure clay.

Tokoname and Yixing hongni are not made the same way. Plus, the density of the hongni pots seem different as well as the porosity. If I were forced to choose a Japanese clay that really shined, I think Bizen and Shigaraki for teas other than green, and Banko reduction fired for green tea including puerh.

[Alex]

Has anyone here experimented with teapots made of shudei clay? I've read a bit about it, mostly from this site and from Hojo's site.

How similar, in the effects it has on the tea, is it to hongni?

I've noticed a bunch of shudei shibos and kyusu popping up on Artistic Nippon, and while I'm not interested in buying anything else right now (my wallet already hurts enough...), I thought it was quite rare. But the pieces don't seem to be priced as though the clay was as rare as I've heard.

Edit: Thanks Alex. I'm glad I decided to pick one up. It's a great teapot.

As teed said shudei clay is 99% of the time mixed. Fine for health but its performance isn't amazing and in some cases can make a very flat brew. The only natural shudei pots at the moment are gisui,gafu and maekawa junzo. Even these artists use other clays but the natural clays are easy to spot. If you look at the two gisui pots on Tokoname.jp at the moment you'll see how much they stick out with that natural orange tone. Rather then full on saturated red. Performance wise they are actually very netural. Like having a flat eq in music. In comparison hojo clays really tweak certain profiles of the taste.

Ultimately though I find it you stick with a pot you start to filter out the effect of the clay and tea becomes the thing you taste. Its only when switching that you really taste the difference until your palate re-adjusts again.

[Alex]

Some one buy something!

[pizzapotamus]

Having had some time for "wheeeeeeeeee new pot!" to wear off some further thoughts on that Taisuke Shiraiwa kyusu from my last post. The pour is nice and smooth without drips however it is one of my slowest pots to empty which isn't surprising considering the spout is quite narrow(the end of it's spout will actually fit inside the spout of the 250ml Tachi Masaki sitting next to it on my self). Also the shape makes it harder to clean out spent leaves than most. That being said I'm still delighted with it overall, lightning fast pours aren't a concern for me with sencha and the minor inconvenience at the end of each session is a trade off I'm willing to make for the distinctive shape.

Finally per Alex's command a "new" pot for the thread. Another black kinsai kyusu by Maekawa Junzo.

[Frisbeehead]

Very nice, pizza. What kind of tea are you using that pot for?

Also, I think those yunomi with the grass pattern are beautiful.

[pizzapotamus]

Thanks, that Gagyu yunomi is absolutely one of my favorites. I'm highly tempted to get a mug and saucer from the same kiln. I mostly drink japanese greens and as that pot has a sesame filter it moves into my regular rotation when I have a deeper steamed tea open. That particular photo was probably a session of miyabi from o-cha.