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Re: Guide to Yixing Clay Teapots

by TIM » Dec 1st, '12, 11:10

needaTEAcher wrote:I was just looking through a book about older zisha with a huge zhuni pot from the qing dynasty.
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Original 300 ml Zhuni pot. 朱可心

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Last edited by TIM on Dec 2nd, '12, 02:09, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Guide to Yixing Clay Teapots

by ImmortaliTEA » Dec 1st, '12, 13:00

TIM wrote:
needaTEAcher wrote:I was just looking through a book about older zisha with a huge zhuni pot from the qing dynasty.
Image
Original 300 ml Zhuni pot.

Image
Oh wow that looks very similar to a Tiao Sha Zhu Ni I saw that was made by Zhu Dan, although, this one is almost double it's size and obviously is pure Zhu Ni. Beautiful pot yet again Tim!

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Re: Guide to Yixing Clay Teapots

by bagua7 » Dec 25th, '12, 20:15

I just came across this clay I never heard before:

Image

"Isinskoy Zhu Hu - Chiu Li Zhu Sha. This subspecies Zhu Ni, which in very small amounts are found in the bottom of the mountain mines Vyrobotok Ju Lee. Because of the extremely high content of iron, tea has a dark, almost black color and metallic luster, and natural bright red blotches which gives a unique color contrast and pleasant to look at."

Any ideas about this particular clay?

Note: Sorry for the accompanying text, I had to use Google translate since it was a Russian blog.

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Re: Guide to Yixing Clay Teapots

by Drax » Dec 25th, '12, 21:07

Bagua, that pot kind of reminds me of this type of pot from YS -- the pots are redder than the pictures show, though not quite as red as the one you have pictured.

I can't say much beyond that vague similarity.

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Re: Guide to Yixing Clay Teapots

by Ambrose » Dec 26th, '12, 14:59

I had one of those YS pots :)
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Re: Guide to Yixing Clay Teapots

by TIM » Dec 26th, '12, 15:23

bagua7 wrote:I just came across this clay I never heard before:

Image

"Isinskoy Zhu Hu - Chiu Li Zhu Sha. This subspecies Zhu Ni, which in very small amounts are found in the bottom of the mountain mines Vyrobotok Ju Lee. Because of the extremely high content of iron, tea has a dark, almost black color and metallic luster, and natural bright red blotches which gives a unique color contrast and pleasant to look at."

Any ideas about this particular clay?

Note: Sorry for the accompanying text, I had to use Google translate since it was a Russian blog.
Image

Purple Grape Sand?

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Re: Guide to Yixing Clay Teapots

by Exempt » Dec 26th, '12, 15:47

Ambrose wrote:I had one of those YS pots :)
What did you think of it?

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Re: Guide to Yixing Clay Teapots

by Ambrose » Dec 26th, '12, 15:58

Exempt wrote:
Ambrose wrote:I had one of those YS pots :)
What did you think of it?
Nicely made, poured very fast, didn't alter the flavor much, a touch smoother, retained the highs. Treated me very well and was a fantastic first pot for all teas for me.

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Re: Guide to Yixing Clay Teapots

by bagua7 » Dec 29th, '12, 19:55

Drax wrote:Bagua, that pot kind of reminds me of this type of pot from YS -- the pots are redder than the pictures show, though not quite as red as the one you have pictured.

I can't say much beyond that vague similarity.
Yes I also saw that but YS sells them for less than $100 bucks as opposed to the Russian blog. Anyway here's the link.

Last year they had an amazing selection of old zhu ni pots...the problem was the pricing, as usual. :cry:

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Re: Guide to Yixing Clay Teapots

by bagua7 » Jan 2nd, '13, 16:33

General information about the topic discussed in here (in Chinese):

http://www.360doc.com/content/10/0221/0 ... 9618.shtml

According to that source, why are essentially old pots superior to the new ones:

"Gazing at the works of masters, they applied artistic practices without relying on modern technology I think is also very important. They passed on spiritual and flavour of live forms with the entire use of hand-molding. The aesthetic value orientation of traditional culture was heavily placed during the craft. Teapots were made according to the "kao gong ji" (考工记) guidelines, that is Taoist principles such as balance, beauty, cunning work...Yixing pottery was a mirror of Traditional Chinese Culture."
bagua7 wrote:2.2 Manufacture
The process of making a Yixing teapot explained in the following link (with photos):

http://living-stone.idv.tw/tea/9-teapot.htm

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Re: Guide to Yixing Clay Teapots

by margo » Jan 6th, '13, 16:57

Having decided to buy my first Zhisha for brewing sheng pu, I cannot find sufficient information about the origin of Da Hong Pao clay.
The question is which sort of clay it refers to: Zini, Hongni or Duanni? As shengs sometimes have certain astringency and bitterness, I'm looking for Zhini clay (am I right)?
ps Scott (YS) says that DHP pot is suitable for light and heavy roasted oolongs and various puers, that may mean that DHP clay probably refers to Hongni.

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Re: Guide to Yixing Clay Teapots

by bagua7 » Jan 6th, '13, 21:22

Hi,

DHP original clay from Huang Long Mt is related to zhu ni clay (a high contraction rate ~ 30% during firing). It is quite expensive according too chrl42 as discussed in here.

More info about this clay (Chinese source):

http://www.51pot.com/shop/muds-detail-dahongpao.shtml

I would not purchase any of the YS's DHP pots because the quality is not good. I had one of those pots as well, and it had chemicals tossed in with God knows what sort of clay mixture. It is now resting in peace in Yixing cemetery. :lol:

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Re: Guide to Yixing Clay Teapots

by margo » Jan 7th, '13, 01:11

bagua7,
Since it's Hongni does it mean it's worthless for shengs?
As for authencity of DHP pots in YS, I have no illusions about that. I'm not ready to pay USD500 for geniune Da Hong Pao pot. I just want inexpencive zhisha that should be chemical free and work more or less well, and suitable for shengs to reduce bitterness. I'm looking for "training" pot to figure out how it works, if it realy improves test of some shengs (or if I'm able to get this difference), and if I need to buy sth more expencive in future.
As for chemicals, did you make chemical analysis of the pot?

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Re: Guide to Yixing Clay Teapots

by Adstadigt » Jan 9th, '13, 15:53

Hi all, I figure this would be an appropriate place to ask this... anyway, here goes: I'm fresh-born to the world of Yixing teapots (and still in my infant-stage when it comes to tea in general),but I just wanted to get some opinions. I recently purchased this: http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... roduct=574, a "Bao Lan Zhu Ni" teapot by Zhu Xinnan productions. I've read some mixed reviews of Yunnan Sourcing, but for one of my first clay pots, I figured what the heck and bought the pot. Unfortunately, soon after the buy, I saw a photo on a similar thread of a YS "Yixing" with a broken spout. The clay on the outside didn't match that of the inside! This pot, however, looks halfway decent, though my judging is that of a complete novice. It doesn't have any chemical scent about it, but does emit the well-known "hot sand" smell when filled with hot water. Can anyone verify the authenticity of this pot (doubtful, as I hear genuine teapots made of similar clay go for upwards of $200), take a guess at the level of quality, or at least put my mind at ease and tell me there are not any chemical additives? Thanks!

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Re: Guide to Yixing Clay Teapots

by bagua7 » Jan 9th, '13, 20:54

margo,

I never said that. Any clay is good for any tea but ultimately is the pot that chooses the tea, you have to play with this variable quite a lot until you find the correct pairings. It is a slow process. You are nor rushing, aren't you. Just enjoy this game.

If you want quality inexpensive zisha for sheng puerh tea look into zi ni clay. There are several vendors out there which have been discussed in this forum many times already. I can recommend you this pot as an example because it is older clay and the vendor is a serious tea lover. If you think it is too big for you, he also stocks a smaller shui ping (85mL).

Then you won't have to buy any other pots because you realised what you bought is not what you were expecting. I would call any of those two a high entry level pots.

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