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Re: Recent under $50 gongfu sharing thread.

by debunix » Mar 17th, '13, 13:12

When I bought my little 'yixing' pots, one or two at a time, I was always careful to avoid the pots with single hole, because those seemed destined to let a lot of leaf bits into my tea. Do those of you who prefer the single-hole pots always use a strainer for pouring into a cup, or just deal with the leaf bits in the cup?

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Re: Recent under $50 gongfu sharing thread.

by Tead Off » Mar 17th, '13, 13:14

Can be Taiwanese as well as CZ.

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Re: Recent under $50 gongfu sharing thread.

by the_economist » Mar 17th, '13, 13:15

Nothing too annoying about leaf bits, just pour off the residue. Pouring carefully from the pot also reduces the number of bits.

As for the wheel thrown pot shown, I agree with Teadoff, could be CZ or TW.

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Re: Recent under $50 gongfu sharing thread.

by gingkoseto » Mar 17th, '13, 13:24

debunix wrote:When I bought my little 'yixing' pots, one or two at a time, I was always careful to avoid the pots with single hole, because those seemed destined to let a lot of leaf bits into my tea. Do those of you who prefer the single-hole pots always use a strainer for pouring into a cup, or just deal with the leaf bits in the cup?
I can't bear with single-hole. I don't mind leaf bits but I find the strainer gets stuck easily and don't feel like to use a tea needle while I could choose 7-hole teapot without using a tea needle.
But I've heard from somebody that some chaozhou older people like to shake their teapots rather vigorously, and if the shaking style is right, the strainer won't get stuck easily. I can't manage to do it, and the person who told me this said he already lost a few teapots by shaking them out of his hands :mrgreen:
On the other hand, I never have a problem with the ball-shaped filter, which seems to get complaints from quite a few other people. I would shake the pot a bit after pouring tea, not as hard as the above-described style though :lol: The ball-shaped filter seems to be more popular in chaozhou region than other parts of China, and this may have to do with some chaozhou people's habit of shaking the pot.

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Re: Recent under $50 gongfu sharing thread.

by futurebird » Mar 17th, '13, 13:32

I don't get many leaf bit when using a single-hole pot. I thought the point of the rinse was to remove the leaf bits?

The few bits I get stay at the bottom of the glass without any real effort, and I rinse the glass with hot water between each infusion. (I now have a jerry-rigged waste water bucket consisting of a strainer sitting on top of a mixing bowl and it's really improved things for me since I can rinse and dump without running to the sink)

That said the ball strainer in this pot isn't that bad. (though the single hole can get things more dry in there) I'm using it right now and with a good shake the water's all out. When I first got it I had issue with water not draining, but now that it's the current oolong pot the combination of big leaves and good shakes seems to work.

I have, however ordered a strainer since I want to try it out ... leaf bit aren't stopped by 5-hole pots or even balls from what I've seen.

My old roommate who taught me about tea used to scare me the way she whip the pot around. :lol:

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Re: Recent under $50 gongfu sharing thread.

by futurebird » Mar 17th, '13, 13:43

Oh never-mind I found the extra water in the pot. It's really odd since you can't see it if you open the pot and roll it around :?:

But when I turned the pot sideways and upside down like a gaiwan (in the direction of the spot) I found a few drops, could not get that to happen with my 5 hole or single hole pot.

(my husband is watching me and starting to wonder if I've gone mad)

So there is some water trapped in there but where? It's not in the bottom.

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Re: Recent under $50 gongfu sharing thread.

by theredbaron » Mar 17th, '13, 14:38

debunix wrote:When I bought my little 'yixing' pots, one or two at a time, I was always careful to avoid the pots with single hole, because those seemed destined to let a lot of leaf bits into my tea. Do those of you who prefer the single-hole pots always use a strainer for pouring into a cup, or just deal with the leaf bits in the cup?
I never use a strainer, neither a serving pitcher. I think that those are completely unnecessary tools which just clog the tea place. Straight from the pot into the cups is the way how i like it - as simple as possible.
Some teas may have some bits of leaves, especially hard pressed Pu Erh's which can't be separated leaf by leave, such as many Tuo Cha's. Or Yan Cha's when i get close to the bottom and get a high percentage of dust (which actually is very tasty - a percentage of dust mixed with whole leaves, also in aged Pu Erh).
No problem. The bits mostly sink to the bottom of the cup soon, and i pour them out with the last bit.
Most teas though will have little or no leaves in the cup at all.

But if you don't like single hole pots, than you will not be able to use small old pots as all of them are single hole, as far as i am aware. At least i have never seen old pots with a filter other than the very large pots.

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Re: Recent under $50 gongfu sharing thread.

by futurebird » Mar 17th, '13, 15:13

RedBarron, would you say that a "ball filter" is a sign that a pot *cannot* be from before 1990? (I'm asking because I'm looking at pot with dubious dating that has such features)

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Re: Recent under $50 gongfu sharing thread.

by theredbaron » Mar 17th, '13, 15:33

futurebird wrote:RedBarron, would you say that a "ball filter" is a sign that a pot *cannot* be from before 1990? (I'm asking because I'm looking at pot with dubious dating that has such features)
I am not anywhere close to being an expert in tea pots. I might be wrong, but i think the first ball filters in Yixing pots were somewhat introduced in the late 80's or 90's.
For Yixing pots the watershed is more like the late 60's/early 70's. Until then the clay was done in the old way, and wood fired dragon kilns were still used. After that things changed. It is quite irrelevant if a pot was made in the 80's, 90's, or now, as it doesn't make much of a difference.

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Re: Recent under $50 gongfu sharing thread.

by yalokinh » Mar 17th, '13, 17:14

I use a strainer, but its not really necessary, looks cleaner for people who have never had gong fu style tea.
having a multi hole strainer in a pot won't prevent dust and really small particles, but just keeps larger leaves from entering the spout.

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Re: Recent under $50 gongfu sharing thread.

by futurebird » Mar 17th, '13, 17:39

Ok here are my next two "cheap" pots for this thread. (still hoping others post some) These are 50ml and 80ml respectively. They were $6.50 each and $3.50 shipping. I have only been using the smaller one for the past few week... every day.

Image

Image

Image

Image

I love these pots. They are in the shuiping shape. They are tiny. I love them. They do not have strainer holes.

I do wonder about the clay. What is it? The seller said it was "yixing from the 1990s" -- I have no idea if that's true, but whatever it is they work.

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Re: Recent under $50 gongfu sharing thread.

by yalokinh » Mar 17th, '13, 18:40

How is the craftmanship on those?.
Pass the smell test?

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Re: Recent under $50 gongfu sharing thread.

by futurebird » Mar 17th, '13, 19:39

No smells, no real issues. I'm a bit mystified at their low cost. (I bought a few more, because why not)

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Re: Recent under $50 gongfu sharing thread.

by bagua7 » Mar 17th, '13, 20:51

theredbaron wrote:It is quite irrelevant if a pot was made in the 80's, 90's, or now, as it doesn't make much of a difference.
I find very difficult talking to a 5-year-old the way I do with a 75-year-old Chan Buddhist master. :wink:

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Re: Recent under $50 gongfu sharing thread.

by gingkoseto » Mar 17th, '13, 21:23

bagua7 wrote:
theredbaron wrote:It is quite irrelevant if a pot was made in the 80's, 90's, or now, as it doesn't make much of a difference.
I find very difficult talking to a 5-year-old the way I do with a 75-year-old Chan Buddhist master. :wink:
If not talking about collection value, I generally agree with theredbaron on this one. Besides, I generally can't distinguish 80s, 90s and modern ones if they were made to resemble each other. To me, a good pot is a good pot, and the cheaper one among two equally good pots is the better one :mrgreen:

Some of my favorite senior guys are just like kids - the nice kind, not the nasty kind :D

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