Stupid newbie question...

[osadczuk]

So consider yourself warned.

Pour?

As in "the pot has a good/bad/indifferent pour."

Um, what defines these, and why would it matter?

(Hey, I said the question was stupid!)

[Wesli]

One thing is pour speed. The quicker the better.

Another is the soggy-bottom issue.
That link is just for kyuusu.

[Chip]

And sometimes it is just the tea itself making for a bad pour.

Yutaka Midori, a Japanese sencha from Kagoshima, gave me fits this year because it was so much finer than last year, particle size wise. This ruined more than one pot of sencha for me.

This was alleviated somewhat with a pot with a better pour, but even then, careful pouring was required or the screen would clog up completely and instantly.

[scruffmcgruff]

I tend to prefer quicker pouring, but it's not always better. It mostly has to do with Yixing pots and the like, for gong fu tea preparation. Quicker pours are said to work better for teas with "high" flavors, while slower pours sometimes emphasize "low" flavors.

It mostly matters for gong fu because, unlike with regular brewing, gong fu often measures infusion lengths in seconds, thus making a 5 vs. 20 second pour a significant issue. When you measure infusions in minutes, 5-20 seconds doesn't matter too much.

Also, sometimes it refers to the smoothness of the pour; whether it can be controlled well, if it dribbles or is inconsistent, etc.

Hope this helps!

[jogrebe]

Also some pots are poorly designed/made so regardless of what you do it will dribble heavily when you pour making a mess and wasting tea.