Recommend a yixing!

[trent]

I'm looking for a yixing pot to gong fu high roasted oolongs in.
I'm looking in the $40-$50 price range.


What are your recommendations?

[devites]

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-CHINESE-YIXING- ... m153.l1262

This is 8 with shipping and I have been gong fuing like crazy with it, but its 4oz. It has been just great. I've never seen any real difference between gong fu pot that cost 40 to 50 or 10-20 and I tried expensives out at the tea shop I go to. I posted this pic in the teaware forum, but here it is again.

[chrl42]

I don't know, but why not raising your price range?
Yixings can be as horrible as not buying at all, sometimes..

[MarshalN]

I think it's best, actually, to go with what looks right to you (since you're probably not in range of a shop that lets you feel stuff).

That could mean the pot's $10, or $100...

$40-50 is kinda constraining, and the pricing is all over the place. Just because something's priced higher definitely doesn't mean it's better.

[tenuki]

Marshal is right bout this. My favorite pot I got for 12 bucks online, my least favorite pot I spent 80 bucks on and handled extensively at the shop. That probably says more about me than pots though.

[trent]

thanks Marshall,

I actually am in range of a good shop, but they're small, so they don't have the widest selection of yixings. However, they have some pots from the 80's that I *might* buy.

I didn't mean to constrain it between 40 and 50, just that I wouldn't go much higher than that.

I'm liking these pots quite a bit... do you think they're real zhuni? $25 seems too cheap to be real.
http://stores.ebay.com/5000friend

[tenuki]

your first pot should not be real zhuni, that would just be wrong!!

[trent]

2nd pot = real zhuni sounds great to me... I already have a wuyi pot.

[wyardley]

I'm liking these pots quite a bit... do you think they're real zhuni? $25 seems too cheap to be real.
http://stores.ebay.com/5000friend

I don't think that you'll get a "real" (old) zhuni pot for his prices, and definitely not one from the time periods he is claiming his pots are from. They are good fakes (the look and sound is pretty close), though (though they put a lot of junk on them to make them look old). No one has *conclusively* proved that the 5000 friends pots are fake, but the bottom line is that you're simply not going to find Qing dynasty zhuni pottery for those prices, especially in the quantities he is selling them in. And the way that they're aged seems strangely similar in a lot of cases. Strangely, I haven't seen anyone conclusively prove that the pots are fake, mostly, I think, because the people who want to believe want to believe, and the people who know you can't get something for nothing don't bother with him.

But I picked up some pretty good fake zhuni pots in China - one cost about $10 US or less, and is almost identical to a pot I have at home that I'm reasonably certain is real. The vendor told me that one was a fake, and sold me two others that he swore were real "lao zhu ni" (I'm pretty sure they're not, though). Anyway, my point is that the Chinese are very good at faking things, and if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

My picks in that price range would be either something from Stéphane at Tea Masters (he's got a couple of Taiwan made zisha pots for maybe $60 or so; the clay is pretty nice for a recently made pot; the xishi pot is probably a good choice for this sort of tea), or the Silk Road Trade pots. I like this one (bought it used), and have a small one; the price is a little high for what it is, plus I'm not a huge fan of the "logo" looking chop, but again, it's pretty good clay, and somehow, I use it more than a lot of my pots. It's a classic, simple style, and it's got a ball filter, which is nice with some sorts of tea. I am not sure if htey have multiple sizes anymore; the one I have is very small (maybe 70-90 ml) http://cgi.ebay.com/YIXING-ZISHA-TEAPOT ... dZViewItem

You could also email Jing and Hou De. Sometimes they may have some stuff that's not on their site that will fit your requirements and come in close to your price range (maybe $60-$75, anyway). I don't know if they have any more to break off separately, but I know they broke off a few pots from one of these sets:
http://www.jingteashop.com/pd_yixing_dragon.cfm
for a price that's not too far from your range. I have one and like it pretty well. I have some other #1 Factory stuff that was more expensive; I haven't ever had an expert examine any of them for authenticity.

Some folks here in LA really like Yunnan Sourcing's "Zhu ni" pots. Scott himself is rightly skeptical about the claims about the clay type. To me, they seem a little large and very "solid" - maybe to the point of being a little clunky, but the price isn't bad

Here's one of them; he's got a few in different shapes
http://cgi.ebay.com/Yixing-120ml-Teapot ... dZViewItem

[betta]

Since you live in USA, I'd strongly recommend you to have a look at Rishi's stuffs

I'd agree with chrl42, sometimes it's better to spend more on real one than buying the fake or inferior one.