Teapot For Pu-Erh

One of the intentionally aged teas, Pu-Erh has a loyal following.


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Feb 26th, '08, 01:16
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Teapot For Pu-Erh

by TaiPing Hou Kui » Feb 26th, '08, 01:16

I have a 7 oz yixing, and I was wondering If I should perhaps get a 3-4 oz one for pu-erh? Any insight is greatly appreciated!

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Feb 26th, '08, 06:06
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by olivierco » Feb 26th, '08, 06:06

I use a 3-4 oz teapot for Puer. I find this size ideal to my taste: I can have 7 to 8 steeps without drinking too much quantity of tea.

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Feb 26th, '08, 14:13
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by hop_goblin » Feb 26th, '08, 14:13

For proper brewing most puerh masters use a Yixing roughly 120cc to 150cc. Anything bigger seems unreasonable. I actually use three pots. For young Sheng, I use a 150cc as this size allows the young sheng leaves expand more easily. Additionally, some young sheng leaves can be more bulky. I prefer a pot with a larger opening as it allows me more room. For slightly aged and aged sheng, I use pots which are 120cc in capacity. I purposely hand chosen pots of this size because it gives me more control over temp. Not to mention, it allows me to use less tea which is good if you buy expensive aged samples.

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Feb 26th, '08, 18:22
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by Salsero » Feb 26th, '08, 18:22

Let your serving size be your guide. For puerh, the serving size is usually on the small side, because of the emphasis on multiple infusions. Measure your gong fu cup(s) and work your way backward.

My signature cup holds 110 ml or 3.7 oz, so, after allowing for the space the tea itself occupies in the pot, I like the 3.5 oz to 4.0 oz range (100 ml to 125 ml). This way I don't have to fool with a fairness cup or serving pitcher, and I can brew many infusions without getting waterlogged. Quantity really becomes as issue with those teas (notably puerh & dan cong) that I will sometimes push beyond 10 infusions. Even with my smallish cup, that's still well over a quart of liquid! A lot of people stick with even smaller sized cups and pots.

For guests, I tend to use the same size pot but shift down in size to the cute tiny cups in the 30 to 50 ml range (1 oz to 1.5 oz). For shu I have a 130 ml (4.4 oz) pot that requires me to shift up to a larger cup. I also have a couple of really dinky pots, 45 ml and 70 ml, that I use for either very small samples or really expensive stuff.

I just finally found a use for the enormous -- 11 oz -- pot that I got by accident: it takes the edge of my Assam teas.

Oh, and ditto to everything Hop said!

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Feb 27th, '08, 03:14
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by TaiPing Hou Kui » Feb 27th, '08, 03:14

I just purchased a 120ml. green zisha clay yixing from "Chinese Teapot Gellery" on ebay. I have heard good things about them, so hopefully this will work well with my Pu-Erh! Thanks for all the advice everyone!

-Nick (TaiPing)

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