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Re: My new yixing teapot

by ImmortaliTEA » Dec 16th, '12, 00:13

bagua7 wrote:
ImmortaliTEA wrote:I have to say that I've personally never bought a piece of Tea-Ware from Dragon Tea House that I didn't feel was up to par (especially their Xiao Pin yixings which I find brew great tea).
DTH: charge foreigners outrageous prices for modern Yixing pottery.

For example:

http://tinyurl.com/c2mf79x

$449.99

Insane. $80 bucks max and I still will be paying a bit too much. Can't stand those birds catered to tourists either. :lol:

Example of how the modern Chinese think and act like Western capitalists.

Back to the topic,

IMO, that pot suit well puerh (except aged stuff since you ought to be using a small pot and preferably pre-80s clay to avoid spoiling "old Qi" with an immature and unwise puppy) or red tea.
That pot is being sold as authentic ZZ Zhu Ni. I second TJ's post and say that if you could find that exact pot for even $200 I'd gladly pay that. I believe those pots that are above the $300 price on DTH are priced that way because of the fame of the artisan & craftsmanship more than the clay quality alone. I once had the same concern so I asked Gordon and that's what his response was. However, the $200 and below pots that I've personally bought and used from them have all brewed wonderful tea and their Xiao Pins especially have great clay!

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Re: My new yixing teapot

by tea_love » Dec 16th, '12, 01:07

ImmortaliTEA wrote:
tea_love wrote:
tingjunkie wrote:bagua7, if you can please find me that pot for $80, I'll gladly send you an extra $20 for a finder's fee. :)

Yunnan Sourcing used to have a few decently valued pots (like 3+ years ago), but I don't really rate their selections anymore. I think I may have been the person who turned people here on to Red Blossom's pots, but now they're all sold out except for one type. I did the same to Zen8's 50ml Shui Pings! Man, I should start charging "finder's fees." :lol:

I hear Red Blossom is commissioning a new group of pots. We'll see if that ever comes to pass. If so, I doubt they will pack the same value. The cost of Yixing is still on the rise, and compared to when I got into this game a few years ago, the deals are harder and harder to come by. Maybe you can call or email them to see what they have to say about new pots? If you do, let us know what they say! :)
Tingjunkie, did you see this pot in redblossom ? http://www.redblossomtea.com/teaware/te ... g-605.html

Do you think it's good for Tin Guan Yin ? If yes I will make order :P
I realize you are asking TJ but I have also used pots from both vendors and I'd have to say that I do not like very many of the clay types from YS (especially Da Hong Pao clay as the real DHP clay would cost thousands so obviously this is not the real thing). I'd say you are much better off going with the great quality Hong Ni pot from Red Blossom. These pots are great for the price just as TJ said but they can be quite porous and rounding so it really depends on if you are talking about roasted Tie Guan Yin or Green Tie Guan Yin because I don't recommend this clay for any floral or light teas as it will eat up all of the aroma and those light green oolongs' primary characteristic is aroma so I think it would be great if you are talking about roasted Tie Guan Yin, unless of course you don't mind the aroma being reduced and you want more vegetal flavors and thicker mouthfeel on the green TGY, although, I personally prefer the more buttery & amino acid profile with high aroma if I am going to drink a green TGY that will be prevalent in either a thin-walled Zhu Ni or Gaiwan!
Those are very thorough info for me. Thanks ImmortaliTea.
So can I say thick wall Zhu Ni is for roasted TGY where thin wall Zhu Ni is for Green TGY ?
Can you also check if the below chart for yixing teapot is accurate ?
chart-selecting-teapot.jpg
chart-selecting-teapot.jpg (25.86 KiB) Viewed 1628 times
I found it from Daniel Lu's article from the below website and think his article is a great introduction to me:
http://www.thechineseteashop.com/how-to ... eapot.html

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Re: My new yixing teapot

by tingjunkie » Dec 16th, '12, 01:27

That article is one of the best I've read about covering the basics of Yixing pots and tea pairing. However, it's very important to know that the best Daniel or anyone else can do, is to make general guidelines about teapots, clay, and pairings, not rules. There are no rules at all, and statements such as "zhuni is best for X tea, and duanni is best for Y tea" are just plain silly. Please don't feel scolded here, I think we have all made these mistakes when starting out. I know I did. :wink:

Please read through the Yixing Showoff thread stickied towards the top of this forum too, especially the first post I stated it off with. You can learn a lot more from hearing about the real pots of others and how they perform, than you can by trying to memorize nonsense "rules" that get proven wrong all the time.

Don't worry, hang in there and you'll be fine. Baby steps. :lol:

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Re: My new yixing teapot

by wyardley » Dec 16th, '12, 02:02

re: pairings, you may want to read through
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=3480

I agree that there aren't really any hard and fast rules. If you look at a set of guidelines written by someone else, chances are that they'll be completely contradictory to the ones linked above. A lot of times, it just comes down to gut feel or following conventional wisdom. Additionally, it's pretty hard to compare between one pot and another objectively, because volumes, pour speeds, etc. vary so much.

In any event, the difference between the same tea tea brewed in one pot vs. another is likely to be fairly subtle in most cases. Spend the time and energy developing your palate, and if you ever get to the point where you can tell that the tea tastes better in one pot vs. another... well, then you don't need expert advice - you can just trust your own taste. I haven't gotten to that point yet, so half of the time, I just brew what seems to make sense in a particular pot.

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Re: My new yixing teapot

by bagua7 » Dec 16th, '12, 20:18

tingjunkie wrote:bagua7, if you can please find me that pot for $80, I'll gladly send you an extra $20 for a finder's fee. :)
Deal! I will find 5 pots, better start preparing a $100 cheque for me. ;)

I will reply to immortal's post to kill two birds with one stone (haha, those nasty birds...).
tingjunkie wrote: I did the same to Zen8's 50ml Shui Pings! Man, I should start charging "finder's fees." :lol:
Definitively. Those small shui pings are awesome. Cheap craftmanship but excellent clay. I got two but should have purchased 2 more back then. I regret now not having done so.
tingjunkie wrote:That's because I brew that tea in a traditional Chou Zhou style which involves crushing some of the leaf, and packing the pot almost to the top.
To tea_love:

The reason is done that way is to produce a thicker and creamier liquour with a long lasting hui gan. Once you start drinking that way is hard to go back to non CZ style of brewing. Dancong teas are particularly suited to this style, and because good quality teas are expensive then smaller pots are used.

I am also a fan of Xiao Pins, except for brewing ripe puerh for which I prefer large pots, as I approach them as brewing a soup. :)
ImmortaliTEA wrote:That pot is being sold as authentic ZZ Zhu Ni.
:shock: Then it is too cheap. They wouldn'd spoil "gold" clay with a printed pic of a bird.

Buying real ZZ zhu ni ONLINE is gambling with the devil himself.

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Re: My new yixing teapot

by ImmortaliTEA » Dec 16th, '12, 23:13

:shock: Then it is too cheap. They wouldn'd spoil "gold" clay with a printed pic of a bird.

Even if it is a new teapot made today with old stored ZZ Zhu Ni?

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Re: My new yixing teapot

by tingjunkie » Dec 17th, '12, 01:27

At least it's a well executed bird, unlike this thing that looks like it came from a Simpson's episode. http://www.houdeasianart.com/images/lar ... zi_LRG.jpg

What happened bagua, did a bird poop on you when you were younger or something? :lol: I happen to like them. Better than dragons or tigers to be sure!

Don't worry about finding me that zhuni pot, but if you come across a 40ml Duo Qiu as nice as this one, made from good purple clay or sand, please let me know. Awesome pot, but not a fan of duanni.

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Re: My new yixing teapot

by ImmortaliTEA » Dec 17th, '12, 12:54

tingjunkie wrote:At least it's a well executed bird, unlike this thing that looks like it came from a Simpson's episode. http://www.houdeasianart.com/images/lar ... zi_LRG.jpg

What happened bagua, did a bird poop on you when you were younger or something? :lol: I happen to like them. Better than dragons or tigers to be sure!

Don't worry about finding me that zhuni pot, but if you come across a 40ml Duo Qiu as nice as this one, made from good purple clay or sand, please let me know. Awesome pot, but not a fan of duanni.
TJ,
Have you tried Qing Duan Ni yet (the grey one you linked)? I think you will be pleasantly surprised if you haven't yet because it brews nothing like any other Duan Ni I've ever used and when I first started buying yixings I bought a lot of different Duan Ni pot. That one in particular is great I have a different shape using the same clay and its very high fired and doesn't even reduce aroma on green oolong. 2 cents!

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Re: My new yixing teapot

by tingjunkie » Dec 18th, '12, 01:05

Never tried it, as far as I know. I'll put it on my list of things to do!

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Re: My new yixing teapot

by bagua7 » Dec 18th, '12, 16:23

tingjunkie wrote:What happened bagua, did a bird poop on you when you were younger or something? :lol: I happen to like them.
I don't have problems with birds but I do on Yixing pots. :D

I am not against decorations on pots but from that ugly Hou De pot you linked above (facepalm) to the following beauty there is a world of difference:

Image

Same goes with:

Image (Oh dear!)

Image

Which do you prefer? :wink:

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Re: My new yixing teapot

by tingjunkie » Dec 18th, '12, 19:33

Low res photo. Poor lighting. Too hard to tell. :wink:

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Re: My new yixing teapot

by tingjunkie » Dec 19th, '12, 02:06

bagua7 wrote:DTH: charge foreigners outrageous prices for modern Yixing pottery.

For example:

http://tinyurl.com/c2mf79x

$449.99

Insane. $80 bucks max and I still will be paying a bit too much.
Just came across this similar style pot. What's your opinion bagua?

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Re: My new yixing teapot

by bagua7 » Dec 19th, '12, 05:30

A hong ni pot. Reasonable price and lovely shape. It would sell "x 3" if the seller were DTH. :mrgreen:

I have purchased several pots from that vendor and happy with all of them. New Yixings with a realistic pricing.

This one brews dream ripe puerh (jiangpo ni is my favourite clay for ripe puerh).

But do you also use <100mL for your ripe stock?

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Re: My new yixing teapot

by Alex » Dec 19th, '12, 08:32

Can't speak for their pots but have used that vendor also for high end gaiwans and they are superb. Both the products and the vendor are great

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Re: My new yixing teapot

by ImmortaliTEA » Dec 19th, '12, 17:23

Agreed on all counts. I've bought a few pots from them and they are definitely "decent" for the price to say the least, although, they are all pretty high fired (this could be good or bad depending on your preferences). However, I definitely do not think that the 100 ml pot you posted TJ is the same clay as the $500 one from DTH (not saying you think so either just needed to clarify that). If you look closely at the one on DTH it has a much more orange/yellow hue and supposedly the genuine ZZ Zhu Ni should be closer to orange than red according to what I've read here on teachat. I'd like to know what you guys think. Oh and by the way I think that this pot, http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chinese-Yixing- ... 4d078bfc94, by you same vendor is closer to Hong Ni than the 100 ml one but I could be wrong!

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