Just thought I'd throw in my 2 centavos-
Zini for me has always been too muting of flavours - my first example was a zini "Ba Le' shape from EoT, sized at 150ml - Made tea taste bland. However I did purchase a pair of 'dark' zini, 67ml(I use that term with a grain of salt, 'cuz i'm not sure exactly what kind of clay they are) and I used one for yancha, and it worked very well for new yancha with a lot of fire taste- it rounded it off enough to be drinkable, but didn't destroy the personality like the EoT pot did.
My other two yancha pots - one is some kind of hongni(original owner claims it is Di Cao Qing, but...), 67ml - that takes a little edge off, but really maintains flavour, body, and aftertaste. my last one was purchased from Kyarazen, and it's the NingGao clay, 67ml which has a super fine particle size, but takes away almost nothing from the flavour or aroma, which I've found to be great for those more floral yancha.
It all depends on what you're looking for, and it takes a lot of patience as well.
Nov 15th, '15, 00:17
Posts: 504
Joined: Oct 7th, '09, 21:31
Location: South Carolina
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bryan_drinks_tea
Re: Yancha
Surprised to hear that William! 
How come?
Yancha is probably the tea I most likely always want to brew in a yixing pot. Either zhuni or zini depending on the tea or my preferences that day.
Not the super light green ones like baijiguan etc. though, for that I would go with gaiwan.
How come?
Yancha is probably the tea I most likely always want to brew in a yixing pot. Either zhuni or zini depending on the tea or my preferences that day.
Not the super light green ones like baijiguan etc. though, for that I would go with gaiwan.
Re: Yancha
I just opened my sample pack from JTS containing their Qi Lan. It was 7g so I just emptied it all into my zini.
I'm on the second short infusion now. This tea is much fruitier than other yanchas I have tried so far, and correspondingly more sweet. This almost reminds me of a roasted TGY but with the signature rock tea flavor. This is really unique, I like this tea. I wish I had more of it so I could compare how it tastes in a gaiwan.
That's interesting William, I have tried a few different yanchas side by side in a gaiwan and my zini, and the zini always gives my preferred taste. And that's just what it is, really, is my preferred taste. The zini dampens the bitterness and sharp highs a bit and gives the tea a bit more low end, around the 50hz range (sound engineer joke..).
Of course I imagine that zinis may differ from one another significantly. It's too bad I don't have a close friend who collects yixings, if only because I want to see how they're all different.
I still haven't tried the other teas I mentioned again, so I will see what happens next time I brew them. For some reason they seemed like they came out with a very subtle and light flavor before, so I'll see if that happens again. Maybe I'll try those in a gaiwan to see how that works too. This qi lan had great flavor, so no problems with this session.
I'm on the second short infusion now. This tea is much fruitier than other yanchas I have tried so far, and correspondingly more sweet. This almost reminds me of a roasted TGY but with the signature rock tea flavor. This is really unique, I like this tea. I wish I had more of it so I could compare how it tastes in a gaiwan.
That's interesting William, I have tried a few different yanchas side by side in a gaiwan and my zini, and the zini always gives my preferred taste. And that's just what it is, really, is my preferred taste. The zini dampens the bitterness and sharp highs a bit and gives the tea a bit more low end, around the 50hz range (sound engineer joke..).
Of course I imagine that zinis may differ from one another significantly. It's too bad I don't have a close friend who collects yixings, if only because I want to see how they're all different.
I still haven't tried the other teas I mentioned again, so I will see what happens next time I brew them. For some reason they seemed like they came out with a very subtle and light flavor before, so I'll see if that happens again. Maybe I'll try those in a gaiwan to see how that works too. This qi lan had great flavor, so no problems with this session.