Fixing black stains on duanni pot

[theredbaron]

I normally use hot water, a toothbrush and baking soda to remove any tea stains on the outside surface of the pot.

Why would you do that?!?

People spend years cultivating a beautiful patina. Some even give their new pots to a shop where tea is regularly poured over the pot to speed up patina building.

Take a look at the post titled "Mine Have More Tea Stains Than Yours!" on HouDe's old blog(hopefully this link works):

http://web.archive.org/web/200712181317 ... com/?cat=6

I like that deepening and darkening of the color, the added shine the patina adds. I even like some of the staining building around the edges that give it an old look. However this pot in person has a couple just grayish "patches" I'd like to even out.

Different pots stain differently. Duan Ni is rarely shiny. I have seen some old Duan Ni pots, they are very dark. That's how they turn, it's the nature of these pots.
Also, a pot that has only been used since '13 is still a very fresh pot. If you want to even the stain out then you will just have to continue using it, and see what comes. Just be patient - good patina comes with years or decades of use.

[javi_sanchez]

Try everything out for yourself, debates on other people's writings(unbiased or otherwise) are seldom useful and often misleading. (including this post)

It dawned on me that after 3 years of messing around with tea I am just started to learn this. This year I feel like I've gained so much information about tea without actually getting any knowledge and learning. I was tasting a bunch of pu'er samples from YS and I realized I had nothing more to say about them then I did at the end of last year. Perhaps there is nothing more to say about them but I think it's just that I haven't learned much!

I started to use this pot earlier this year to simply brew tea: and it started to build up dark stains due to me pouring tea over it. I then started to rub it with one of those "Yixing Pot" clothes. All the stains were mostly removed but you can see that the dark line of stains still remains on the bottom. This particular pot is zini and claims to be DiCaoQing(who the heck knows!) but it doesn't ever seem to shine. So I would have much prefered to simply kept the staining because it looked so awesome. I've stopped rubbing it and will just let the stains build back up.

[theredbaron]

It dawned on me that after 3 years of messing around with tea I am just started to learn this.

I drink Chinese tea for almost 25 years, and know only a tiny fraction of what my tea teacher knows. But i enjoy.

As to staining - not all clays will be shiny. It just depends. Many tea people frown on polishing. I can't help myself, i do polish once a while, but only very slightly so, a few brief swipes with a cloth, and only when the pot is dry.
I enjoy the stains/patina to build up and change over time.

Just don't take what you read on forums too seriously, especially all these somewhat radical cures for tea pots, and in particular any chemical treatments - which are only and exclusively for pots that are very dirty, and can't be cleaned any other way. Chances are that you destroy more than you do good.

Traditionally people simply drunk from teapots, no overly complex "seasoning", and cleaning just with hot water. That's it. Patina builds automatically over the years and decades. Pairing happens automatically - after experimenting you will see which tea category shines in which pot, and then you just stick with it. And no need for "re-seasoning", the ghosting from previous tea categories will soon disappear.

[javi_sanchez]

And no need for "re-seasoning", the ghosting from previous tea categories will soon disappear.

Yea I've never had issue with this. After every session I will fill the pot with near boiling water and pour out. I have found this warms up the pot and it dries much much faster. Perhaps I undoing any seasoning after every round! The shuiping pot I posted above has been used for higher roasted cliff teas but I tried with a couple shengs and may just start using it with sheng. I am not sure yet. I will getting some higher roasted cliff tea from Tim this week hopefully that I will try in my pots and gaiwans. Maybe this guy will keep the crown So far gaiwan wins for me every time EXCEPT this guy seems make good cliff tea:

http://www.sampletea.com/product/1980s- ... eapot-40ml

[bagua7]

To be honest, I am not a fan of duanni. I like them aesthetically but they don't seem to brew tea that well.

In my experience, the problem with duanni is they take a long time to rise -in my case, 3 years minimum of regular use- but when they do pots made using this clay brew awesome tea. I followed JTS's advice with that regard, but it's also true they perform best with puerh (especially the ripe variety) and greens. I haven't tested them with yellows and whites (also recommended by the HK vendor) since I don't drink these teas.

[Chris418]

We should have a "patina" topic stick to the top haha


i have a duan ni pot i use with aged oolong for 3 years now.

i have "kind of depatinate" two years ago form rubbing the pot hard with hot water and a microfiber tea towel.

for now the patina continue to build up the lid and the overall pot has turn more dark.
And most of all it brew very good aged oolong.
(currently brewing 1989 hualien)

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[bagua7]

Zhi ma duanni right? Yes the tea stains build up quickly in these, I use one for green tea and it isn't too bad, I can imagine what would be like with ripe puerh, a totally different story.

[javi_sanchez]

I followed JTS's advice with that regard...

By JTS do you mean Jing Tea Shop? What was the advice? I bought my pot from there. I believe it to be this one http://www.jingteashop.com/pd-jing-yixi ... ot-bnh.cfm

Chris, I love the darkening of that pot! Btw I've been learning lots from your old posts on teadrunk.org.

[bagua7]

The tea pairing that Jing Tea Shop recommends in each of the pots they put for sale. That's pretty much it, the rest is up to you, to find the tea that matches the pot best.

Btw, this pot is not going to last.

[Chris418]

The tea pairing that Jing Tea Shop recommends in each of the pots they put for sale. That's pretty much it, the rest is up to you, to find the tea that matches the pot best.

Btw, this pot is not going to last.

Damn, i wish i could afford it a the moment, but i can't

[bagua7]

I forgot, that shui ping posted above is a di cao qing pot, no zini there at all, but the truth is that dcq clay is normally mixed with either zini or qing shui ni, in raw form is very dark and non-glossy. These pots are not commonly seen.

[kyarazen]

The tea pairing that Jing Tea Shop recommends in each of the pots they put for sale. That's pretty much it, the rest is up to you, to find the tea that matches the pot best.

Btw, this pot is not going to last.

thats pretty cute.. i mean the name for the clay
weng ge lu....

[mganz42]

Oh my!
I want that pot so much...

I actually have the same pot that Chris418 posted (I think) and I've been using it for roasted TGY... Mine was sold as ben shan but I'm pretty sure it's bai ma zi ni. I can't believe how much the color on yours has changed, it looks way different from mine! I've only had it for a few months.

But now I really want that weng ge lu pot! Is it worth it? I'm seriously considering it... And I adore Jing Tea Shop's red tea...

[mganz42]

Oops I bought it.
Thanks but also I hate you bagua7.

[javi_sanchez]

I forgot, that shui ping posted above is a di cao qing pot, no zini there at all, but the truth is that dcq clay is normally mixed with either zini or qing shui ni, in raw form is very dark and non-glossy. These pots are not commonly seen.

You are right! How did you know? Was it the color and lack of shine? The pot is from here: http://www.lifeinteacup.com/teapots Do you mean the pure dicaoqing is not commonly seen? I don't think I've ever even seen a pure dcq in pictures online.

I thought qingshuini was "pure" zini clay and unmixed. Literally "pure water clay"(清水泥). Is this correct? I then thought DiCaoQing was literally "bottom part clear"(底槽清) meaning it was the lowest, inner part of where qingshuini came. I thought, then, dcq was a very specific grade of zini. Is this at all correct? If so however, does this mean that dcq is different enough that it is just considered an entirely different clay from zini?