Yixing teapot as Cha Hai and/or drinking from spout?

[DANK_MEMES]

Hi everyone,

Just registered although I've been on this forum for a long time.
I tried to find topics anywhere on the internet and this forum about people using yixing teapots as a cha hai (tea pitcher) or drinking directly from the teapot's spout.

I've seen people drinking from the spout in some Chinese movies which situated during the Qing dynasty or slightly after it. I know people used to drink directly from gaiwan too but I could never found any info on people drinking from the yixing teapot. Did they used it as a tea pitcher and then drank from it? Did they keep the leaves inside the teapot? Used little amount?

I'm really interested in this topic. Anyone willing to share some info or history in great details on how it works or any kind of techniques they used to drink directly from the pot?

Also, saw some videos that some people still currently use, although rarely, yixing teapots as pitchers. Anyone does that? Any suggestions?

Thanks y'all!
-Denis

[CheekyChipmunk]

[/quote]
Also, saw some videos that some people still currently use, although rarely, yixing teapots as pitchers. Anyone does that? Any suggestions?
[/quote]

Hi Dennis,

I can't comment as to the socio-historic aspects of the use of Yixing teapots as cups etc.

Used as a cha hai, I can't say that I have done such a thing. However, I see no reason why you couldn't. There are plenty of examples of purpose built cha hai's made from Yixing clays. My only reservation would be the particular effects of the clay on the tea. That is to say, if you presumably have brewed the tea in a particular Yixing pot because of its effect on the type of tea you are drinking and then you poor it into a second Yixing as a cha hai, the tea may be changed further as a result of sitting in the second Yixing pot.

However, if the pots have complimentary effects this might even be a reason to implement such a practice. Additionally, I would imagine it might be a good way to incorporate more pots into regular rotation as a way to keep more pots developing patina and regularly absorbing tea oils etc.

Cheers,

CC

[tingjunkie]

Drinking directly from the spout was definitely done back in the day. My understanding is that it was not gongfu style with boiling water, as that would lead to some burned mouths pretty quickly.

The only time I'll do it is if I'm alone, and I'm drinking a cold overnight or very long infusion, and I've already cleaned the teacup I had been using.

[DANK_MEMES]

Drinking directly from the spout was definitely done back in the day. My understanding is that it was not gongfu style with boiling water, as that would lead to some burned mouths pretty quickly.

The only time I'll do it is if I'm alone, and I'm drinking a cold overnight or very long infusion, and I've already cleaned the teacup I had been using.

I have a purple clay square shaped yixing teapot that resembles the ones that were used to drink directly from it. So I want to try and use it as a "cup".

How exactly do you do it? How do you brew in a yixing teapot to drink directly from it? And do you know how it was used back in the old/ancient days?

Thanks for the reply!

[DANK_MEMES]

Also, saw some videos that some people still currently use, although rarely, yixing teapots as pitchers. Anyone does that? Any suggestions?
[/quote]

Hi Dennis,

I can't comment as to the socio-historic aspects of the use of Yixing teapots as cups etc.

Used as a cha hai, I can't say that I have done such a thing. However, I see no reason why you couldn't. There are plenty of examples of purpose built cha hai's made from Yixing clays. My only reservation would be the particular effects of the clay on the tea. That is to say, if you presumably have brewed the tea in a particular Yixing pot because of its effect on the type of tea you are drinking and then you poor it into a second Yixing as a cha hai, the tea may be changed further as a result of sitting in the second Yixing pot.

However, if the pots have complimentary effects this might even be a reason to implement such a practice. Additionally, I would imagine it might be a good way to incorporate more pots into regular rotation as a way to keep more pots developing patina and regularly absorbing tea oils etc.

Cheers,

CC
[/quote]

Thanks for the reply! I had the same hypothesis for the usage of a second clay teapot.

[tingjunkie]

How exactly do you do it? How do you brew in a yixing teapot to drink directly from it? And do you know how it was used back in the old/ancient days?

Thanks for the reply!

Either by brewing green tea that requires much lower temperatures like 140-160F, or by brewing other teas with long western style infusions so the tea has time to cool significantly by the time you drink it. As far as the mechanics, just tilt the pot and sip from the spout like a straw.

[DANK_MEMES]

How exactly do you do it? How do you brew in a yixing teapot to drink directly from it? And do you know how it was used back in the old/ancient days?

Thanks for the reply!

Either by brewing green tea that requires much lower temperatures like 140-160F, or by brewing other teas with long western style infusions so the tea has time to cool significantly by the time you drink it. As far as the mechanics, just tilt the pot and sip from the spout like a straw.

What is the leaf ratio? And how big a pot is used? In the movies, they were somewhere 200ml. Wouldn't the tea get extremely bitter and undrinkable?

[steanze]

I have done the pot as chahai thing a few times out of curiosity but I don't do it regularly, I prefer to not have too many lids lying around

[theredbaron]

I have seen people drinking directly from the sprout of pot 24 years or so ago in China. I think the pots were a bit larger, and if i remember correctly it was somewhere in central China.

[tingjunkie]

What is the leaf ratio? And how big a pot is used? In the movies, they were somewhere 200ml. Wouldn't the tea get extremely bitter and undrinkable?

At this point, I gotta ask... do you want to drink tea, or just look like some cool dude you saw in a movie about China?

Use whatever size pot you want, but brew western style with way less leaf than you'd use for gongfu style. Or, brew high quality green tea at lower temps. There's really no recipe. Experiment and see what works.

[Balthazar]

From "Two Stage Sisters" (worth watching!)

[cwj]

Wow this is interesting, I always enjoy reading about different tea traditions.
But personally I'm very grateful for the invention of cups

[Chris418]

Maybe you'll fin some info in this book. http://www.chawangshop.com/index.php/bo ... nming.html
on the picture#2 you can see an old man sipping tea from a teapot

best,

Chris

[chrl42]

What do you mean by 'drinking from spout'?

If it means drinking without a pitcher, it's what they originally have been doing, even these days,

drinking without a cup like that film...quite new


Using Yixing as a pitcher also has a historical usage, one of traditional Wuyi Yancha brewing also use 2 Yixing (one as a pitcher)..some collectors use Yixing with lost/broken lid, subsitute to use as a pitcher as well.