Bought my first Yixing . Questions.

[nicknizinski]

Hello everyone, I'm new and I have been lurking around for about 3-4 months at least. I got a bonus from work and broke down and bought my first Yixing. So far all I have is the Adagio pot and the electric kettle from there.

I ended up buying a Hong Ni Clay "Shui Ping Hu" Teapot of Yixing * 130ml (from yunningsourcing) with 4x Red Zisha 40ml cups (I normally drink alone) and I had a couple questions possible. I did try to find out info via the forums before I asked but did not have to much luck.


Im wondering what would be good teas to drink, I have the Adagio Tea oolong and green tea sampler, I been using a ceramic pot (way to big for just me) So far I have not disliked any of the teas. Im trying to figure out though what teas would be best suited for the pot, that I could get easily and not to expensive. I read to season the pot with just 1 style of tea if possible. I want to use this for dark oolongs I'm leaning towards.

Also I have read I could do Pu-erh's but I have not tryed any. One big question also is about seasoning the pot, any kind of guide or post or help on seasoning it once I pick out a tea. I did also buy a small gaiwan travel set for tasting teas and trying out teas with little samplers. In the end I bought the Yixing, cups, gaiwan set, tea table, yixing stand, Yunnan Wild Arbor "Oriental Beauty and Spring 2008 Phoenix Dan Cong.

I'm very very excited, but at the same time scared, I dont wanna ruin my new pot and all this is still new to me. Thanks also for such a great forums to read and learn from, I been trying to soak up as much as I can daily here.

[beachape]

"I normally drink alone"
...I think you may have a tea addiction. Do you also require a tea eye-opener in the morning?

My main suggestion would be to find an oolong or puerh tea that you like the most and anticipate drinking the most and then dedicate the pot. If that tea doesn't taste good with that pot (not sure why it wouldn't) you can try another and reseason. You should stick with the same type of tea, but if it isn't working out you can try again by boiling in plain water to remove some of the old flavors. Ideally you wouldn't switch from something like a shu puerh (very strong flavor) to a light oolong...because that might taste funny.

Try googling yixing seasoning. You'll get a few techniques. I boiled the teapot in water and then soaked over night. Then I boiled the pot in tea soup for about an hour then let it soak over night. Be careful not to burn yourself or drop/damage your pot in the process.

[nicknizinski]

Thanks beachape. Yeah I did the whole google thing but it really didnt do much but to confuse me more, so many people saying so-and-so is the best way and whatnot.

I have read the boiling methods and also have seen some others (washing it out carefully and just seasoning it by use, or throwing away the first few potfulls and letting it soak in oils via natural use)


Sorry if my first post is hard to read, I'm really tired and have not had a lot of sleep because of work. Tea addiction? I have barely even started

In all truth maybe I jumped the gun and should have just got the gaiwan and much more kinds of tea to try. At least since it was a bonus it didn't really hurt my pocket. Ill order some other teas payday. Does anyone want to give me any ideas on some to try out? Ali Shan seemed a good oolong, I dont mind slight bitterness, but I do really love the teas that have that natural "honey" taste to them. Dont really like the "spinach" taste to some teas.

[teaisme]

If you fear breaking your pot seven cups offers up a teapot prep recommendation that does not involve boiling the pot in water

Does anyone want to give me any ideas on some to try out?

Two really good places to start exploring are jings tea shop (chinese) and ishopo (taiwanese). Both great value for your money in my opinion.
They both have good sized samples so you can get a better feel of the tea before you draw conclusions. Just order a bunch of samples and have fun exploring (as well as fighting the urge to open everything at once )

[Geekgirl]

I've never boiled any of my pots to start the seasoning process, although I might if I purchased a vintage pot. I usually just season first with a good strong brew of a similar kind of tea that I plan on using - such as an inexpensive bai hao for any pot I intend to use for higher fired oolongs.

I don't worry so much about brewing different styles of tea in the same pot, although I do generally adhere to light oolongs in one pot, dark oolongs in another and puerh in another still. (I usually brew chinese green teas in glass or a gaiwan.)

At work, I have one small yixing that I use for both puerh and for darker oolongs. I rinse it very well after each use, so it is not seasoning very quickly, and that's fine with me. Sometime in the near future, I might have two yixing down at my office, just because I can.

At home, I regularly use 3 different yixing pots, but I have two new ones on the way to add to my rotation. One of my old ones is probably "retiring," so I'll have 4 in normal usage. One of those I use almost exclusively for ripe puerh, but I'm not so 1:1 with the other two pots, and use them pretty freely to bounce around between oolong types. I haven't drunk much sheng puerh, and so have generally used a gaiwan only. One of my new pots might be kept just for that.

[nicknizinski]

Two really good places to start exploring are jings tea shop (chinese) and ishopo (taiwanese). Both great value for your money in my opinion.
They both have good sized samples so you can get a better feel of the tea before you draw conclusions. Just order a bunch of samples and have fun exploring (as well as fighting the urge to open everything at once )

Will check them out now, Thank you. also Thanks to geekgirl for the input. I guess if I enjoy this pot I might order some other styles to fit the other kinds of tea and keep 1 style of tea to each pot. As far as I can tell the plan for this first one is just dark oolongs.

I wonder if the gaiwan set I bought is too small though. Gaiwan 60ml, Pitcher 80ml, Cups are 20ml each.

[teaisme]

if you decide to try out kungfu brewing its not too small.
For balled oolongs a lot of people recommend filling brewing vessel 1/4-1/3
and for long straight leaves 1/3-completely full
You will find that is an awful lot of leaf even for something in the 150ml range and your samples won't last very long brewing like this

With your small gaiwan you can kungfu with some potency which for good tea can be very rewarding , just don't expect to quench your thirst instantaneously

[nicknizinski]

if you decide to try out kungfu brewing its not too small.
For balled oolongs a lot of people recommend filling brewing vessel 1/4-1/3
and for long straight leaves 1/3-completely full
You will find that is an awful lot of leaf even for something in the 150ml range and your samples won't last very long brewing like this

With your small gaiwan you can kungfu with some potency which for good tea can be very rewarding , just don't expect to quench your thirst instantaneously

Perfect, thats what I was hoping for, just didnt know if I could have picked TOO small. Im not to worried about lots of cups to quench thirst till after I have found a few I want to get decent amounts of.

Pu-erh still seems weird to me, is it kinda like oolongs in terms of taste/quality. I know it can be expensive, but I will have to try some affordable Pu-erh. Ill have to read up a bit more on it.

[IPT]

I HIGHLY recommend boiling your teapots before using them. After the pot has been fired, many people touch and hold the pots, they might be filled with water that is left to sit, they might be stored and shipped in dusty and dirty conditions. A teapot might be covered in oils, sweat, dust, and dirt. Boiling them will remove it. I boil all of the teapots I have, before I sell them in my shops and you'd be horrified if you saw the stuff that can come out of them, even from famous makers' pots. Of course, not all pots are this way, but a sufficient amount to warrant boiling every one. I'll have to take some photos next time I come back from Yixing.

[TIM]

I HIGHLY recommend boiling your teapots before using them. After the pot has been fired, many people touch and hold the pots, they might be filled with water that is left to sit, they might be stored and shipped in dusty and dirty conditions. A teapot might be covered in oils, sweat, dust, and dirt. Boiling them will remove it. I boil all of the teapots I have, before I sell them in my shops and you'd be horrified if you saw the stuff that can come out of them, even from famous makers' pots. Of course, not all pots are this way, but a sufficient amount to warrant boiling every one. I'll have to take some photos next time I come back from Yixing.

+1. Boiling them for me is a must. I am cleanIng a new group today, after brushing and soaking them in water for overnight. They are being slow boil for 3 hrs at the moment.

[nicknizinski]

Cool, will do then, I will wait to get the teapot and find out what size pot I need to get boil it in. I dont want a lot of extra room in the pot for it to bang around right.

[IPT]

correct. It is important, once the water comes to a boil that you lower the flame.