Official/Different Yixing Show Off Topic!

[TIM]

New little pot from JTS arrived today.



40ml Xiao Hong Ni

Teeny tiny. I haven't decided what tea to pair with it yet.

Cute little HongNi pot Mike. Did you boil it first for at least 1 hr? It might help to kick start the little guy Have fun! ~ T

[tingjunkie]

It's weird... I don't like the breast shaped pots, yet I love breasts. Go figure.

[TIM]

It's weird... I don't like the breast shaped pots, yet I love breasts. Go figure.

Well Tingjunkie, that is not really a breast shaped xi shi pot. Maybe thats why?

[tingjunkie]

Yeah, that one's not quite as perky as I normally like them.

[tingjunkie]

Clay: Duan Ni- Medium fired
Size: 90 ml
Age/Year: Modern- 2000's.
Walls: Medium-Thick.
Pour: +/- 7 sec. No drips. Great lid fit.
Source: Bought from fellow NYC collector.
Tea Pairing: Aged Liu An
Info: This is probably the most porous pot I own. As my tea appreciation develops, I'm beginning to understand when a porous pot comes in handy sometimes though. This pot works great with an aged Liu An basket tea that came from a Chinatown shop's basement. It's a good tea, and has a nice comforting and warming qi, but the flavors are fairly simple and hardly on level with a well aged puerh. This pot erases the slight funky basement storage notes of the tea, and really smooths out the mouthfeel into a weighty velvety texture. Yes, the pot kills some of the more complex/subtle notes too, but I really don't drink that tea primarily for the flavors in the first place! Because the tea is dark, the color of the light clay has been changing rapidly. I think once it's seasoned up a little more, the higher flavor notes may begin to show back up again. Time will tell.

[tingjunkie]

Clay: Duan Ni/Bai Ni mix? I'm calling it Beach Sand Medium-High fired.
Size: 120 ml
Age/Year: Modern- 2000's.
Walls: Thick
Pour: +/- 7 sec. No drips. Great lid fit.
Source: NYC Chinatown find
Tea Pairing: Cooked Puerh... for now.
Info: I joined the fishy pot club! This is a copy of TIM's real pot made with some odd clay. The best part is that the vent hole on the lid is the goldfish's mouth! Oh, and the eyeballs move too! I'm really not sure what to call this clay. In these pics it looks like a lighter Duan Ni, but in real life, it looks more like Bai Ni (white clay), and sometimes it even looks a tiny bit pink to my eyes. I'm kind of on the hunt for off-beat clays lately. Whatever it is, makes a good round of cooked puerh. Makes the tea's mouthfeel considerably smoother and brings out a bit more sweetness without having to give up too much of the higher flavor profile. Since I'm totally new to this clay, I am going to see how it does with some white and green teas too. Testing shall continue!

[tingjunkie]

Clay: Hong Ni/Zhuni Mix? High Fired.
Size: 160 ml
Age/Year: Not sure... 80's? Last week?
Walls: Medium
Pour: +/- 9 sec. Little dripping if poured hard. Lid fits a bit loose.
Source: Traded pots with a friend who didn't use it.
Tea Pairing: Young raw puerh
Info: I'll be very interested to hear opinions from our expert board members here. Originally, this pot came from 5000friend on eBay (who we know is generally full of sh*t in their descriptions), but as you can see, it's actually pretty nice. A local Yixing expert here thinks it's an 80's pot meant to be a repro of a Qing era pot. I'd be pleasantly surprised to find out the pot is from the 80's, but it's beyond my expertise level to know. Either way, it brews a nice round of young sheng. The high fired clay preserves most of the flavor profile while taking a little of the rough sting from aggressive young teas. Mouthfeel is smoothed out just a bit too. Whatever the real story with this pot is, I like it! The pot-bellied stove or witch's cauldron shape with the three feet is pretty cool.

[tingjunkie]

So not a teapot, but I wanted to show off my favorite new waste water bowl! I found this sweet bowl being used in a Chinatown shop to hold a bunch of cheap Yixing gongfu cups for sale. The owner was kind enough to let me move the cups to another display container and purchase the bowl for a very nice price. At first I thought it was waxed on the outside, but it's actually polished. After some use, the dull inside is beginning to glow a bit too. I love the shape and the curved bottom.

[TokyoB]

So not a teapot, but I wanted to show off my favorite new waste water bowl! I found this sweet bowl being used in a Chinatown shop to hold a bunch of cheap Yixing gongfu cups for sale. The owner was kind enough to let me move the cups to another display container and purchase the bowl for a very nice price. At first I thought it was waxed on the outside, but it's actually polished. After some use, the dull inside is beginning to glow a bit too. I love the shape and the curved bottom.

Wow! Beautiful bowl. I've been looking for something like that myself. Nice pots too!

[bagua7]

Nice! The last one I posted on this thread was purchased from 5000friend as well.

I just need to put my hands on a decent compact camera, tired of my phone's cam and the pitiful pics it delivers.

[TIM]

So not a teapot, but I wanted to show off my favorite new waste water bowl! I found this sweet bowl being used in a Chinatown shop to hold a bunch of cheap Yixing gongfu cups for sale. The owner was kind enough to let me move the cups to another display container and purchase the bowl for a very nice price. At first I thought it was waxed on the outside, but it's actually polished. After some use, the dull inside is beginning to glow a bit too. I love the shape and the curved bottom.

Very Very Jealous

[tingjunkie]

Nice! The last one I posted on this thread was purchased from 5000friend as well.

I hadn't checked their stock in a long time because they used to have nothing but shoe-polished junk. After seeing this one, I checked their stock a few weeks ago, and they look like they have (sort of) cleaned up their act. The fact that they still claim all their pots are antiques rubs me the wrong way though. I guess there are decent pots to be found there, but ignore the descriptions and only trust your eyes.

[Tead Off]

The 3 legged pear shaped pot is very nice. Pleasing form and color. Same for the bowl. Dating that pot is not easy as opinions will vary and they could easily span 20 years I would think. Nice stuff!

[tingjunkie]

The 3 legged pear shaped pot is very nice. Pleasing form and color. Same for the bowl. Dating that pot is not easy as opinions will vary and they could easily span 20 years I would think. Nice stuff!

Thanks! In my amateur opinion, the smallness and shape of the lid knob, the thin handle and ear profile, and the look of the chop all make me think 80's is a possibility. The pot also feels light in weight which sometimes points to a bit of age [Why this is I have no idea though! TIM mentions this phenomenon at the end of his blog post here.] And of course, I have a lot of faith in the opinion of my Yixing expert friend here in NYC. If chrl42, TIM, MarshallN, or others want to weigh in though, I always enjoy digesting the wisdom they have to share!

[tkellyd]

Hi Tingjunkie:

Love the fish pot! The problem I find, though, is that plugging the vent does nothing to stop the flow of air as it escapes through the moving eyes on the lid. Something to consider in your quest for the perfect pot.

Best,

- T