Proper Teapot for Sheng

[bryan_drinks_tea]

Pretty Soon I will have either amassed enough money to get a teapot and some Sheng Pu. i found a green pot that I like but i'm not sure if it would be suitable. take a look, and tell me what you think.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ben-Shan-Green-Clay ... 637wt_1167

[puerhking]

If you are not versed in brewing puerh I would skip on the tea pot for now. Just get a gaiwan and learn how to brew. Most people seem to prefer using a gaiwan for young sheng anyway. You can get more tea that way.

[tony shlongini]

The mid-priced yixings from YSLLC are good bargains, and the ben shans are beauties. A very good choice, I'd say.

Everyone should have a gaiwan and learn how to use it, but your pu'er collection is incomplete without some yixing. It's all part of the fun.

[DJ3riple]

If you are not versed in brewing puerh I would skip on the tea pot for now. Just get a gaiwan and learn how to brew. Most people seem to prefer using a gaiwan for young sheng anyway. You can get more tea that way.

+1

A gaiwan is definitely what I would recommend...unless you plan to drink a lot of sheng, in which case I'd say a dedicated sheng pot could prove to be very useful.

[jktea]

For less than 10 years old Sheng Pu Er, I would rather not use the Yixing pot, because the water temp inside is too hot to burn the tea leaves or make the liquid too astriengent.

Gaiwan is the best way to brew Sheng Pu Er; you can control the temp, the volume and others as well.

[hop_goblin]

I agree with Tony S. People can scorch the young sheng leaves in a Yixing since generally, it is a green tea. I also recommend a gaiwan for young sheng if that is what you are brewing.

[JAS-eTea Guy]

The Ben Shan teapot is a perfectly reasonable pot for sheng pu-erh. There are advantages and disadvantages of using a Yixing pot for sheng. The advantage IMHO is that the pot when properly seasoned can take the edge off a very young green pu-erh. The disadvantage is that you do not get the full flavor profile of the tea because the tea oils that are absorbed into the pot from previous infusions may mask the true flavors. For that reason, I often opt to use a Gaiwan for young sheng; I am trying to understand the complexities of the tea through the various infusions and as it ages during the early years. jktea also makes an excellent point that should be considered.

[pb2q]

A very thin teapot can mitigate the heat, and with respect to heat management is similar in usage to a gaiwan. It's important to consider pour time. I've always used a thin gaiwan for young sheng, but lately I've been trying to sheng season one of those cheaper Chou Zhou teapots (makeup clay) from Tea Habitat. Those are quite thin.

[bryan_drinks_tea]

Hey, thanks all.

Back in December I wound up with a pretty thin Gaiwan and some basic/classic samples of pu-erh - and yes, they were astringent as hell. Since then I've gotten into some slightly older stuff while letting all the new stuff sit. I might end up buying a yixing for this, but it's more likely that I'll get one for yancha instead.