Separate raw fresh Sheng from aged Sheng?

[VanFersen]

I was talking with a tea friend via Instagram about this topic some days ago and I was wondering what your experiences lead you to and what you prefer.

I was wondering if it is really necessary to have two teapots one for raw young Sheng and another one for old aged Sheng - what do you say?

Within our discussion we also came to the point that it seems sometimes quite hard to say when it is really considered as old - some humid storage could age a tea quite fast instead of a dried storage. 10 years of humid storage would be considered as old but would this also count for dried storage?

So in general I would like to know if you separate them and at what age and storage.

[William]

I was talking with a tea friend via Instagram about this topic some days ago and I was wondering what your experiences lead you to and what you prefer.

I was wondering if it is really necessary to have two teapots one for raw young Sheng and another one for old aged Sheng - what do you say?

Within our discussion we also came to the point that it seems sometimes quite hard to say when it is really considered as old - some humid storage could age a tea quite fast instead of a dried storage. 10 years of humid storage would be considered as old but would this also count for dried storage?

So in general I would like to know if you separate them and at what age and storage.

I personally use different teapots for the only reason that young and aged puerh have different necessities, e.g. with young puerh I usually prefer clays with really low porosity, while with aged puerh, since there are always small or big issues linked with their storage, I prefer to use porous clays (not too much, eh!).

If you like using the same kind of clays of both, nothing wrong with the use of the same teapot, methinks.

I personally consider a puerh to be "aged" when it reaches the mark of 7/10 years (and beyond), but it also depends from the storage (the number of years required could be higher or lower), so no general rules, in my opinion.

[mr mopu]

Definitely keep the storage apart. Two different processes for each one to mature. If using clay pots you would probably want to do the same as a good clay pot soaks up and accents the brew over time.

[steanze]

I think that it's best to have one reasonably porous (say zini or qingshuini) pot for aged sheng (10-15 years+, and as you say depending on storage). For younger sheng, a porcelain gaiwan works well.

Personally, I like to use different pots for young vs aged sheng, and depending on storage two pots for teas with clean storage (a more porous one when I want to push the thickness and qi, a less porous one when I want to preserve more nuances), and a porous pot for teas with more storage flavors.

[chrl42]

I was talking with a tea friend via Instagram about this topic some days ago and I was wondering what your experiences lead you to and what you prefer.

I was wondering if it is really necessary to have two teapots one for raw young Sheng and another one for old aged Sheng - what do you say?

Within our discussion we also came to the point that it seems sometimes quite hard to say when it is really considered as old - some humid storage could age a tea quite fast instead of a dried storage. 10 years of humid storage would be considered as old but would this also count for dried storage?

So in general I would like to know if you separate them and at what age and storage.

That's what I do, too.

Porous Duanni/Lvni for young Sheng (not Gushu), and Di Cao Qing/QSN for older Sheng...

because young Shengs are often astringent, Duanni/Lvni pots round out that flavor quite well...

[kuánglóng]

I was wondering if it is really necessary to have two teapots one for raw young Sheng and another one for old aged Sheng - what do you say?

Depends on what your pots are made of. With regards to clay almost all of my xy clay pots are pretty high fired and not too porous/absorbent but I keep two of them reserved for aged shengs with funky warehouse flavors and two others for shengs with stronger smoke notes like e.g. Xiaguans.

Within our discussion we also came to the point that it seems sometimes quite hard to say when it is really considered as old - some humid storage could age a tea quite fast instead of a dried storage. 10 years of humid storage would be considered as old but would this also count for dried storage?

I wouldn't call a 10 year old sheng 'old', no matter how it has been aged but in case of more humid storage I've had teas with as little as 3 years wet storage (aka express composting) that have lost almost any of their original character in the process - not my cup of tea - YMMV.

So in general I would like to know if you separate them and at what age and storage.

Nope - apart from above mentioned exceptions.

[VanFersen]

Thank you for your advices and opinions ^^

Had anyone of you ever tried raw or aged Sheng with Jianshui or Nixing teapots?

Because I was planing on using a Nixing for aged Sheng.

[jayinhk]

Thank you for your advices and opinions ^^

Had anyone of you ever tried raw or aged Sheng with Jianshui or Nixing teapots?

Because I was planing on using a Nixing for aged Sheng.

Nixing is good for dry storage aged sheng or anything without flavors you want to hide. Jianshui is even less absorbent and good for younger sheng or even very clean tasting aged shu (sweet and aromatic).