At first polishing my yixing pots didn't matter to me, but now i've decided to at least try.
I havea 150ml xi zhi style yixing from red lantern. I've been soaking it in my inexspensive Shui Xian oolong, removing it, brushing it, then letting it dry for a few minutes. i've done that process about 50 times, with little to no results. I'd like to know what I am doing wrong.
Thanks,
Bryan
Jan 5th, '11, 10:53
Posts: 504
Joined: Oct 7th, '09, 21:31
Location: South Carolina
Contact:
bryan_drinks_tea
Re: Need Help Polishing a teapot
I hope you are not expecting the result to be like those sand paper polished teapot... You will not get it no matter how many thousand times you try using your method 
Eg.
*Image not mine.
Eg.
*Image not mine.
Re: Need Help Polishing a teapot
I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to accelerate the shine on a pot, nor would I recommend using a tea that's not the type you're using the tea to brew. While I don't agree with the stuff on the internet about how you have to use a super high-quality tea to "season" a pot (hell, I don't really ever do anything special to "season" a pot other than cleaning it if necessary), I don't think you necessarily want to use a super cheap tea either.
To me, pot maintenance is about patience, and learning the balance between doing enough, but not doing too much. I would just make tea in your pot, and let the patina build naturally.
That said, if you really want to build up a shine quicker, here are my $0.02. Leaving the pot to soak won't (in my experience) build up much of a patina / shine. If you want to get more tea oils on the pot quickly, brew your tea very strong (if we're talking weight, maybe 10-12g in your 150 ml pot), pour what you don't drink over the pot, and then let it sit a little. Then check again and make sure you've gotten every last drop out - you'll probably get some more drops of tea, and this you do not want to waste - pour it over the pot too... it will usually be very concentrated. (If you want, you can save some of the extra tea drops from the first few brews in a separate cup or vessel, and pour it over the pot at the very end.) Do this for the first four or so brews. You'd think that more would be better, but the later brews won't have as much oil in them, so showering the pot with those infusions will actually just wash off all those nice oils that were on your pot.
While I would normally shower the pot with hot water while brewing, skip this in this case, because it will wash the oils you just got on your pot back off. I would say try not using the moist cloth to redistribute the oil - just let the tea oils dry on the pot - it should be visibly shiny in spots. After rinsing the inside of the pot with very, very boiling water, you can very gently use a tea towel (just cotton, not one of the microfiber ones) moistened with some of the strong tea broth to very, very gently rub the pot. This will work with most good teas, whether they're super green high mountain oolongs or heavy-fire ones.
I suggest just doing this along with your normal tea drinking. Given some time, you'll start to notice changes, and with experience, you'll probably have a better sense of what works for you and what doesn't. With some pots (and some teas), you'll probably notice different results. Chaozhou pots, especially, can take a while for much to change, whether or not they have shiny make-up clay on the outside.
To me, pot maintenance is about patience, and learning the balance between doing enough, but not doing too much. I would just make tea in your pot, and let the patina build naturally.
That said, if you really want to build up a shine quicker, here are my $0.02. Leaving the pot to soak won't (in my experience) build up much of a patina / shine. If you want to get more tea oils on the pot quickly, brew your tea very strong (if we're talking weight, maybe 10-12g in your 150 ml pot), pour what you don't drink over the pot, and then let it sit a little. Then check again and make sure you've gotten every last drop out - you'll probably get some more drops of tea, and this you do not want to waste - pour it over the pot too... it will usually be very concentrated. (If you want, you can save some of the extra tea drops from the first few brews in a separate cup or vessel, and pour it over the pot at the very end.) Do this for the first four or so brews. You'd think that more would be better, but the later brews won't have as much oil in them, so showering the pot with those infusions will actually just wash off all those nice oils that were on your pot.
While I would normally shower the pot with hot water while brewing, skip this in this case, because it will wash the oils you just got on your pot back off. I would say try not using the moist cloth to redistribute the oil - just let the tea oils dry on the pot - it should be visibly shiny in spots. After rinsing the inside of the pot with very, very boiling water, you can very gently use a tea towel (just cotton, not one of the microfiber ones) moistened with some of the strong tea broth to very, very gently rub the pot. This will work with most good teas, whether they're super green high mountain oolongs or heavy-fire ones.
I suggest just doing this along with your normal tea drinking. Given some time, you'll start to notice changes, and with experience, you'll probably have a better sense of what works for you and what doesn't. With some pots (and some teas), you'll probably notice different results. Chaozhou pots, especially, can take a while for much to change, whether or not they have shiny make-up clay on the outside.
Jan 5th, '11, 11:18
Posts: 504
Joined: Oct 7th, '09, 21:31
Location: South Carolina
Contact:
bryan_drinks_tea
Re: Need Help Polishing a teapot
nah, not quite like that or the river rock polished teapots either. I've seen a few yixing with a good shine, but they definitely aren't a mirror polish.
Jan 5th, '11, 11:30
Posts: 504
Joined: Oct 7th, '09, 21:31
Location: South Carolina
Contact:
bryan_drinks_tea
Re: Need Help Polishing a teapot
wyardley,
Thanks for the advice. Just to clarify, the soaking i mentioned was very brief. After that I would pour extra tea from the bowl over the tea (it's strong and it matches the tea i'm using in the pot, which is Yancha)
Also, I'm letting it dry as you mentioned, but I'm not using a cloth to gently rub the surface. These teapots had very little natural shine, so from my inexperience I will guess these are either high fired or medium fired.
I will try more of the method of using very strong tea(though it is inexpensive) and reusing the liquor, heating it up sometimes. I shall see what that does for me.
thanks!
Bryan
Thanks for the advice. Just to clarify, the soaking i mentioned was very brief. After that I would pour extra tea from the bowl over the tea (it's strong and it matches the tea i'm using in the pot, which is Yancha)
Also, I'm letting it dry as you mentioned, but I'm not using a cloth to gently rub the surface. These teapots had very little natural shine, so from my inexperience I will guess these are either high fired or medium fired.
I will try more of the method of using very strong tea(though it is inexpensive) and reusing the liquor, heating it up sometimes. I shall see what that does for me.
thanks!
Bryan
Re: Need Help Polishing a teapot
The pot raising really affects my personal tea enjoyment, because besides paying attention to your brew, you need to pay special attention not to get uneven tea stain on your pot.
Should you make this mistake, depending on degree of discoloration, you may need to redo it from zero.
I made an experiment with my zini pots from the same source and material.
The right one is the result of 5 tea sessions, the left one has never been used but cleaned.
Some people claimed good clay (which is expensive) enables fast raising; but those pots cost only about @250HK$, but perform well for puerh even though they drip slightly (which slightly annoys me).
Should you make this mistake, depending on degree of discoloration, you may need to redo it from zero.
I made an experiment with my zini pots from the same source and material.
The right one is the result of 5 tea sessions, the left one has never been used but cleaned.
Some people claimed good clay (which is expensive) enables fast raising; but those pots cost only about @250HK$, but perform well for puerh even though they drip slightly (which slightly annoys me).