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$14 “Yixing” Teapot (Music City Tea) – Is This Really Yixing?

by SuperTonic » Apr 14th, '17, 23:10

Hello – total tea newbie here!

I’m brand new to these forums so my apologies if anyone has asked about this particular pot already, but it (hopefully) couldn’t hurt to make sure.

I recently bought a tea pot for $13.95 that was advertised as a Yixing pot from Music City Tea’s Amazon Store. I’ve seen good things about their teas on these forums but nothing about their tea ware, so I figured that I’d cough up $14 and see what I get. At first glance, it doesn’t seem to raise any immediate alarms – no chemical smells or overly glossy exterior – but I’ve also never been within 5 feet of a real Yixing pot, so my observations probably don’t count for much. Thus, I’ve decided to go ahead and upload some pictures of the pot and see what more experienced posters have to say, so fire away!

(Also, it would be greatly appreciated if someone could translate/decipher the four characters on the bottom of the tea pot. Unfortunately, my proficiency in the Chinese language is far too low to figure it out myself.)

Amazon Listing: https://www.amazon.com/Yixing-Tea-Capac ... 5QF9WX09QV

Pictures (Sorry for the lighting – if it’s abhorrent enough that the pictures need to be retaken just let me know): http://imgur.com/a/xLQyv

Thanks in advance!

Apr 15th, '17, 00:29
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Re: $14 “Yixing” Teapot (Music City Tea) – Is This Really Yixing?

by steanze » Apr 15th, '17, 00:29

Hi SuperTonic! Welcome to the forum!!

As you might suspect from the price you paid, the pot you bought is not an Yixing pot. It is also clearly wheel thrown, and I am not entirely sure that it would be safe to drink from it. I would avoid making tea in that pot - a simple porcelain gaiwan will brew much better :) perhaps you can use the pot as a flower vase.

Don't be discouraged though! We all have bought some "tuition" pots. I strongly recommend to use a porcelain gaiwan and in the meanwhile study what pots made of yixing clay look like, to distinguish them from the fakes. Your best bet is to start with a pot from the TeaSwap section of the forum, or from some of the more reliable vendors that you find discussed in the forum. Expect to spend in the ballpark of $80 and upwards for a Yixing pot that is worth using.

With respect to your other question, the characters on the bottom of the pot are 中國宜興, which means, China Yixing. That doesn't make the pot an Yixing pot though!

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Re: $14 “Yixing” Teapot (Music City Tea) – Is This Really Yixing?

by stevorama » Apr 15th, '17, 00:41

Perhaps you can do a return through Amazon if you don't want to keep the pot.

This store is mentioned frequently on teachat as a source for decent inexpensive teapots: http://www.ebay.com/usr/lukevecent There are other vendors too of course.

I think you would see an obvious difference between a zini teapot from the above store and the one you just purchased.

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Re: $14 “Yixing” Teapot (Music City Tea) – Is This Really Yixing?

by William » Apr 15th, '17, 05:59

steanze wrote: Hi SuperTonic! Welcome to the forum!!

As you might suspect from the price you paid, the pot you bought is not an Yixing pot. It is also clearly wheel thrown, and I am not entirely sure that it would be safe to drink from it. I would avoid making tea in that pot - a simple porcelain gaiwan will brew much better :) perhaps you can use the pot as a flower vase.

Don't be discouraged though! We all have bought some "tuition" pots. I strongly recommend to use a porcelain gaiwan and in the meanwhile study what pots made of yixing clay look like, to distinguish them from the fakes. Your best bet is to start with a pot from the TeaSwap section of the forum, or from some of the more reliable vendors that you find discussed in the forum. Expect to spend in the ballpark of $80 and upwards for a Yixing pot that is worth using.

With respect to your other question, the characters on the bottom of the pot are 中國宜興, which means, China Yixing. That doesn't make the pot an Yixing pot though!
Nothing to add, totally agree! :D

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Re: $14 “Yixing” Teapot (Music City Tea) – Is This Really Yixing?

by SuperTonic » Apr 15th, '17, 12:48

Wow - I was not expecting replies so quickly!

I had figured that the likelihood of it being real Yixing was quite low, so thanks for the confirmation! I had also purchased a little gaiwan set from Music City Teas, so I'll just use that for now. (It does have clay on the outside, but its porcelain on the inside, so I'm not too concerned. Here's the link [if anyone's curious]: https://www.amazon.com/Gaiwan-Tea-9pcs- ... NKS97CQTB7 )

As for the fate of the pot, I'll probably just keep it, seeing I've been looking for a nice tea-related trinket to adorn my bookshelf anyways. I've also taken a look at the ebay store that stevorama mentioned and have my sights set on this pot: http://www.ebay.com/itm/authentic-Chine ... SwHPlWf2sK . I really like the size and shape of this one, as well as the bit of backstory on the craftswoman (and the design is a nice bonus)! Of course - being a broke high school student - I'll probably have to save up a bit before I buy it, so I'll practice with my gaiwan in the meantime!

Thanks again everyone!

-SuperTonic

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Re: $14 “Yixing” Teapot (Music City Tea) – Is This Really Yixing?

by stevorama » Apr 15th, '17, 13:04

SuperTonic wrote: Wow - I was not expecting replies so quickly!

I had figured that the likelihood of it being real Yixing was quite low, so thanks for the confirmation! I had also purchased a little gaiwan set from Music City Teas, so I'll just use that for now. (It does have clay on the outside, but its porcelain on the inside, so I'm not too concerned. Here's the link [if anyone's curious]: https://www.amazon.com/Gaiwan-Tea-9pcs- ... NKS97CQTB7 )

As for the fate of the pot, I'll probably just keep it, seeing I've been looking for a nice tea-related trinket to adorn my bookshelf anyways. I've also taken a look at the ebay store that stevorama mentioned and have my sights set on this pot: http://www.ebay.com/itm/authentic-Chine ... SwHPlWf2sK . I really like the size and shape of this one, as well as the bit of backstory on the craftswoman (and the design is a nice bonus)! Of course - being a broke high school student - I'll probably have to save up a bit before I buy it, so I'll practice with my gaiwan in the meantime!

Thanks again everyone!

-SuperTonic
That's awesome that you're getting into tea while in high school. So much to learn and enjoy, and so much time!

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Re: $14 “Yixing” Teapot (Music City Tea) – Is This Really Yixing?

by MmBuddha » Apr 15th, '17, 13:23

SuperTonic wrote: Wow - I was not expecting replies so quickly!

I had figured that the likelihood of it being real Yixing was quite low, so thanks for the confirmation! I had also purchased a little gaiwan set from Music City Teas, so I'll just use that for now. (It does have clay on the outside, but its porcelain on the inside, so I'm not too concerned. Here's the link [if anyone's curious]: https://www.amazon.com/Gaiwan-Tea-9pcs- ... NKS97CQTB7 )

As for the fate of the pot, I'll probably just keep it, seeing I've been looking for a nice tea-related trinket to adorn my bookshelf anyways. I've also taken a look at the ebay store that stevorama mentioned and have my sights set on this pot: http://www.ebay.com/itm/authentic-Chine ... SwHPlWf2sK . I really like the size and shape of this one, as well as the bit of backstory on the craftswoman (and the design is a nice bonus)! Of course - being a broke high school student - I'll probably have to save up a bit before I buy it, so I'll practice with my gaiwan in the meantime!

Thanks again everyone!

-SuperTonic
I'm new to the world of yixing too, so please follow the advice of those more knowledgable around here and take mine with a pinch of salt, but if I were you I'd follow steanze's suggestions. The kind of very affordable pots you might find on Amazon, and even the more expensive pots from eBay vendors often represent some of the worst value long term, since the more you learn, the more you'll want to own a pot of more verifiable quality/authenticity. Lots of cheap pots you quite quickly graduate from can easily add up to the cost of something more pricey which could last you a lifetime.

The pot you linked to on eBay—I'd have no idea of its authenticity or quality, but on a practical note, it's quite large for one-to-two people if you plan to brew gong-fu style. Many (I think most) around here would probably consider it too big except for very specific uses (i.e. non gong-fu ratios) or for serving a number of guests. For one-to-two people, I personally wouldn't go higher than 120ml, and even that would be a push. Something between 60-110ml tends to be what I look for, but again, I'd turn to the experts.

The type of clay, Duanni, is also a less oft-recommended kind, highly-porous and usually favoured, from what I've read here and elsewhere, only for quite specific teas, if at all.

For now, for what it's worth, I'd say the wisest course of action would be to stick to a gaiwan. I understand the desire to own a collection of beautiful teapots, but a gaiwan is the perfect, neutral tool to expand your tea knowledge and skill, and by the time you're clearer about your preferences, your preferred brewing style and ratios, your favourite teas etc, you'll be in a much better postition to make informed decisions about yixing clay teapots.

Good luck with it.

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Re: $14 “Yixing” Teapot (Music City Tea) – Is This Really Yixing?

by SuperTonic » Apr 15th, '17, 14:50

MmBuddha wrote:
SuperTonic wrote: Wow - I was not expecting replies so quickly!

I had figured that the likelihood of it being real Yixing was quite low, so thanks for the confirmation! I had also purchased a little gaiwan set from Music City Teas, so I'll just use that for now. (It does have clay on the outside, but its porcelain on the inside, so I'm not too concerned. Here's the link [if anyone's curious]: https://www.amazon.com/Gaiwan-Tea-9pcs- ... NKS97CQTB7 )

As for the fate of the pot, I'll probably just keep it, seeing I've been looking for a nice tea-related trinket to adorn my bookshelf anyways. I've also taken a look at the ebay store that stevorama mentioned and have my sights set on this pot: http://www.ebay.com/itm/authentic-Chine ... SwHPlWf2sK . I really like the size and shape of this one, as well as the bit of backstory on the craftswoman (and the design is a nice bonus)! Of course - being a broke high school student - I'll probably have to save up a bit before I buy it, so I'll practice with my gaiwan in the meantime!

Thanks again everyone!

-SuperTonic
I'm new to the world of yixing too, so please follow the advice of those more knowledgable around here and take mine with a pinch of salt, but if I were you I'd follow steanze's suggestions. The kind of very affordable pots you might find on Amazon, and even the more expensive pots from eBay vendors often represent some of the worst value long term, since the more you learn, the more you'll want to own a pot of more verifiable quality/authenticity. Lots of cheap pots you quite quickly graduate from can easily add up to the cost of something more pricey which could last you a lifetime.

The pot you linked to on eBay—I'd have no idea of its authenticity or quality, but on a practical note, it's quite large for one-to-two people if you plan to brew gong-fu style. Many (I think most) around here would probably consider it too big except for very specific uses (i.e. non gong-fu ratios) or for serving a number of guests. For one-to-two people, I personally wouldn't go higher than 120ml, and even that would be a push. Something between 60-110ml tends to be what I look for, but again, I'd turn to the experts.

The type of clay, Duanni, is also a less oft-recommended kind, highly-porous and usually favoured, from what I've read here and elsewhere, only for quite specific teas, if at all.

For now, for what it's worth, I'd say the wisest course of action would be to stick to a gaiwan. I understand the desire to own a collection of beautiful teapots, but a gaiwan is the perfect, neutral tool to expand your tea knowledge and skill, and by the time you're clearer about your preferences, your preferred brewing style and ratios, your favourite teas etc, you'll be in a much better postition to make informed decisions about yixing clay teapots.

Good luck with it.
Thanks so much!

I am working on developing my skills in the gongfu style specifically - I totally forgot to mention that!

You're probably right in terms of sticking to a gaiwan. I'll try and hold off on buying a yixing pot for now (at least until the holidays), and build up knowledge of both tea and teaware in the meantime. (I still do like the look of the store stevorama recommended though - I look forward to doing lots of virtual window shopping through it!)

Thanks again!
-SuperTonic

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Re: $14 “Yixing” Teapot (Music City Tea) – Is This Really Yixing?

by steanze » Apr 15th, '17, 22:30

Hi SuperTonic!

It's great that you are getting interested in tea during high school :)
Do you know already what kind of tea you would like to brew with your yixing pot? When you look for a Yixing pot, you'll want to start from the tea you want to make with it, because different teas might call for different pots.

The one you linked on the ebay vendor looks nice, but it is quite big: with a 180ml pot you can serve 3-6 people. This also mean that if you want to make good tea in it, it will be quite expensive if you want to use a gongfu-like ratio between tea and water. To give you a reference point, I usually use pots around 60-80ml to make yancha for 1-2 people, and around 80-120ml for puerh for 2-3 people.

Another thing about the pot in the link is that it is made of duanni clay. Duanni clay is often quite porous, so it could mute some aspects of the tea.

Depending on the type of tea you would like to make, perhaps we can give you some suggestions of what properties to look for in your pot.

With respect to the gaiwan, the ones with clay outside will keep the heat for longer, so they can be suitable to make aged puerh or roasted oolongs, but for greener oolongs they might hold too much heat, making the tea taste a bit "spinachy". To limit this, keep the lid of the gaiwan open in between infusions :) in the long run you can get a plain porcelain gaiwan that is more suitable for the greener teas.

Going a bit off topic here: since you are so young, perhaps you can consider getting a couple of young classic puerh cakes (for instance Dayi 7542 or 8582) to age ;)

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Re: $14 “Yixing” Teapot (Music City Tea) – Is This Really Yixing?

by SuperTonic » Apr 16th, '17, 00:45

steanze wrote: Hi SuperTonic!

It's great that you are getting interested in tea during high school :)
Do you know already what kind of tea you would like to brew with your yixing pot? When you look for a Yixing pot, you'll want to start from the tea you want to make with it, because different teas might call for different pots.

The one you linked on the ebay vendor looks nice, but it is quite big: with a 180ml pot you can serve 3-6 people. This also mean that if you want to make good tea in it, it will be quite expensive if you want to use a gongfu-like ratio between tea and water. To give you a reference point, I usually use pots around 60-80ml to make yancha for 1-2 people, and around 80-120ml for puerh for 2-3 people.

Another thing about the pot in the link is that it is made of duanni clay. Duanni clay is often quite porous, so it could mute some aspects of the tea.

Depending on the type of tea you would like to make, perhaps we can give you some suggestions of what properties to look for in your pot.

With respect to the gaiwan, the ones with clay outside will keep the heat for longer, so they can be suitable to make aged puerh or roasted oolongs, but for greener oolongs they might hold too much heat, making the tea taste a bit "spinachy". To limit this, keep the lid of the gaiwan open in between infusions :) in the long run you can get a plain porcelain gaiwan that is more suitable for the greener teas.

Going a bit off topic here: since you are so young, perhaps you can consider getting a couple of young classic puerh cakes (for instance Dayi 7542 or 8582) to age ;)
Hi steanze - thanks for the response,

When it comes to the type of tea I'd brew in a Yixing pot, I'd say that it would most likely be black tea, since that's what I drink the most often. I don't know if I need to be super specific (ex. different types of blacks teas or even teas from different vendors), but hopefully that gives some sort of idea. (I used to drink satchelled English Breakfast, so I'm hoping to pick up some loose leaf of that to try. I currently have a bit of Chinese Breakfast that I haven't quite gotten around to trying yet, but from descriptions of the flavors I've gathered online I can imagine myself liking it quite a bit. [I might try and get a few brews of that in tomorrow morning if I don't oversleep :P .] Depending on how similar "Breakfast" teas are, I might just commit my first Yixing to that.)

I'd also be open to looking at pots for oolong teas. Unfortunately, I haven't had as much experience with them, as I just got into drinking oolong, so Da Hong Pao is all I've really tried (but I rather like it).

I can't say I know very much about Pu-erh, unfortunately, but I'd be open to trying and would love some more info on it! All I've really gathered thus far is that it comes in little "cakes" and seems to be aged for lengthy periods of time. The idea of aging a few cakes myself sounds quite fun as well!

As for the size, I see that I probably went quite bit big - probably something around 80-120 ml would be better, as my mom has taken a liking to my tea as well.

For a more immediate goal, I'd be curious as to where I could find a good porcelain gaiwan, as they appear to be quite versatile (and quite gorgeous depending on the maker). Since my current one is 4 oz (approx. 118 ml) I'd probably hope to get something close to that size.

Hopefully that covers everything - thanks again!
-SuperTonic

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Re: $14 “Yixing” Teapot (Music City Tea) – Is This Really Yixing?

by SuperTonic » Apr 16th, '17, 00:48

stevorama wrote:
SuperTonic wrote: Wow - I was not expecting replies so quickly!

I had figured that the likelihood of it being real Yixing was quite low, so thanks for the confirmation! I had also purchased a little gaiwan set from Music City Teas, so I'll just use that for now. (It does have clay on the outside, but its porcelain on the inside, so I'm not too concerned. Here's the link [if anyone's curious]: https://www.amazon.com/Gaiwan-Tea-9pcs- ... NKS97CQTB7 )

As for the fate of the pot, I'll probably just keep it, seeing I've been looking for a nice tea-related trinket to adorn my bookshelf anyways. I've also taken a look at the ebay store that stevorama mentioned and have my sights set on this pot: http://www.ebay.com/itm/authentic-Chine ... SwHPlWf2sK . I really like the size and shape of this one, as well as the bit of backstory on the craftswoman (and the design is a nice bonus)! Of course - being a broke high school student - I'll probably have to save up a bit before I buy it, so I'll practice with my gaiwan in the meantime!

Thanks again everyone!

-SuperTonic
That's awesome that you're getting into tea while in high school. So much to learn and enjoy, and so much time!
Thanks so much - I'm looking forward to it! :)

-SuperTonic

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Re: $14 “Yixing” Teapot (Music City Tea) – Is This Really Yixing?

by stevorama » Apr 17th, '17, 12:22

Black tea should brew well in gaiwan, porcelain teapot or yixing. You could try yunnansourcing.us or yunnansourcing.com for loose black tea and modern gaiwans. There are other vendors, but YS is good place to start for decent quality and price.

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Re: $14 “Yixing” Teapot (Music City Tea) – Is This Really Yixing?

by CheekyChipmunk » Apr 19th, '17, 13:07

Hi there Supertonic (and others),

I would second much of the advice already offered here. Namely, that you might like to experiment with a gaiwan first and that Yunnan Sourcing (YS) might be a good place to pick up some black tea and a gaiwan. If on the off chance you get some birthday money or some such injection of cash and want something a bit more upmarket, I got a nice gaiwan from here:

http://www.mudandleaves.com/store/c13/J ... elain.html

The quality of gaiwans at YS is more than adequate however (the more expensive gaiwans will have little effect on the tea compared with a generic porcelain gaiwan).

As for the idea of "tuition" pots, I'll be the first to tell you that it is quite common place (I speak from considerable experience having many of my own tuition pots) and the best way I'd suggest to start to learn about Yixing, if you are interested, is to find a reputable source, whether it be a tea master or a vetted and trusted vendor and start to get your hands on as many true examples as possible (as in not necessarily buy but physically hold and examine).

On a final note, as a fellow puerh lover, I'd highly endorse Steanze's suggestion of buying some budget-but-well-known dayi or other factory cakes (like xiaguan or nan Jiang) and just forget about them for a while. However, since you seem to be more interested in black teas I'd just put your limited resources as a student towards that for now.

Welcome to the wonderful world of tea!

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Re: $14 “Yixing” Teapot (Music City Tea) – Is This Really Yixing?

by SuperTonic » Apr 20th, '17, 11:15

Thanks CheekyChipmunk and stevorama!

It does seem like the white porcelain gaiwans on YS are a good choice for me, so I'll probably order a couple of those. I'll also try and pick up a couple of younger Pu-erh cakes from there as well.

As a side note, I was wondering if anyone knew anything about painting pre-purchased porcelain gaiwans. I used to paint pottery a bit when I was younger, so I was thinking that might be kind of fun. (Although I guess I'm going pretty off-topic here - maybe I should just start up a new topic in the Porcelain Teaware section?)

Thanks again!
-SuperTonic

(Edit: Grammatical Errors)

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Re: $14 “Yixing” Teapot (Music City Tea) – Is This Really Yixing?

by CheekyChipmunk » Apr 21st, '17, 14:17

Hi again ST,

I really wouldn't know the first thing about painting on porcelain. As long as it isn't on the inside of the gaiwan or lid (I.e. Doesn't come in contact with the tea you are drinking), I'd say go for it! If you do decide to go for some cakes of puerh to store, might I suggest these two:

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/201 ... pu-erh-tea

This one I have a cake of and although it seems like a lot of money, when you realize that you get around 70 good long tea sessions out of it, it helps you realize that it is affordable. I haven't tried this cake yet, but all reports suggest that this one punches well above it's weight in terms of quality for the price. The other I would suggest is:

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/201 ... pu-erh-tea

This one needs a disclaimer. Firstly, it's smaller than the first cake I suggested (and is a mushroom packed shape instead of a cake). I have finished most of one of these tuos. Again, the value for money is very high. I had some great sessions and some average ones with this tea, it all depends on how well you manage to chunk off the tea as the compression level is very high. Too bitsy and it can be bitter but if you manage to get a good chunk in the gaiwan, I think it would be a great tea for you to try as it has already aged beyond its years so will hopefully give you an idea of the sorts of flavours you can expect from young-to-mid aged puerh. Keep in mind however that the spectrum of flavours from aged puerh is extremely broad and dependent on all sorts of factors, so think of it more as a window small window in a much broader landscape.

So yeah I'd try a little of the first one and maybe put it away for a few years and start drinking the tuo straight away in order to get a bit of a feel for puerh. For me personally, a lot of my enjoyment from tea comes from exploring, experimenting and trying what interests me, so if you feel drawn to a particular tea or two, I'd say ignore the teas above and just go for it!

Good luck!

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