These entry level Yixing pots look good to me!

[jayinhk]

Used my new pot with some 'gaoshan' from Chinatown in Saigon, Vietnam. It really brought out the aroma. The tea was two years old and I could taste a little cinnamon-like age in the tea. Pretty nice. I tried using hotter water (95 Celsius) and it made the brew bitter, but I dropped down to 85 and things were much more pleasant. This pot is exactly what I was looking for and I feel it is a definite improvement over porcelain. I'll try it with good gaoshan tomorrow to see how it performs.

[wei301]

What teas would you suggest for this one?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/authentic-Chine ... SwuYVWo26a

[steanze]

What teas would you suggest for this one?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/authentic-Chine ... SwuYVWo26a

duanni -> shu pu-erh. That's very porous clay usually.

[jayinhk]

Interestingly the vendor would suggest lighter-colored teas for lighter-colored clay, so he'd suggest a green or white tea with that pot Might be worth a shot to see how the tea turns out.

A link to make you think:

http://www.cultofquality.com/index.php/ ... xing-clay/

Statements made...yellow clay is fired at the highest temperature and zhu ni is the most porous clay.

And a simple experiment:

http://teamasters.blogspot.hk/2006/02/z ... puerh.html

[BioHorn]

I like your UFO (UBO?)! I'd be curious to see how that profile affected tea since I have nothing at all like it!

Thanks, Jay! I have settled more on Bao Zhong for lower temperature brewing, but am going to continue to experiment. I like the wider opening and being able to see in on the leaf. There is just something cool about it's sensual curvy shape.

[steanze]

Interestingly the vendor would suggest lighter-colored teas for lighter-colored clay, so he'd suggest a green or white tea with that pot Might be worth a shot to see how the tea turns out.

A link to make you think:

http://www.cultofquality.com/index.php/ ... xing-clay/

Statements made...yellow clay is fired at the highest temperature and zhu ni is the most porous clay.

As far as I know, yellow clay is fired at the highest temperature to avoid the "spit black" phenomenon. Maybe some more experienced members can chime in.

I read the article a couple of times but I couldn't find where it says that zhuni is the most porous clay. I'd find it odd because more porous means less porcelain-like, it would smooth the taste more and subtract from the aroma more. We (I?) use zhuni for high mountain oolongs and teas rich of aromas because it preserves the aroma more (those are the teas that also do well in porcelain), instead for aged pu-erh which is more based on thickness/taste we (I?) tend to prefer zini. In my experiments, zhuni is somewhat midway between zini and porcelain, so I'd find it strange to claim that it is the most porous clay

And a simple experiment:

http://teamasters.blogspot.hk/2006/02/z ... puerh.html

This fits with my impression. Duanni is more porous (in the article "softer") than zini, therefore it leads to mellower tea, and it does well with shu pu-erh

Why would the seller suggest lighter-colored teas then? I have actually seen this kind of suggestion multiple times. Usually it is justified in terms of aesthetics - a tea as dark as shu pu-erh will stain more heavily a light colored clay and make it look darker. I think some people feel that this darker color makes it look dirty and don't like the looks of it. So you want to keep this in mind when dedicating a duanni teapot to a dark colored tea. I would make the pick based on taste rather than on color though.

I have a duanni pot that I'm using in this way and so far it's turning out ok IMO:
https://www.instagram.com/p/_fgNFvl9k3/

[.m.]

I read the article a couple of times but I couldn't find where it says that zhuni is the most porous clay. I'd find it odd because more porous means less porcelain-like, it would smooth the taste more and subtract from the aroma more. We (I?) use zhuni for high mountain oolongs and teas rich of aromas because it preserves the aroma more (those are the teas that also do well in porcelain), instead for aged pu-erh which is more based on thickness/taste we (I?) tend to prefer zini. In my experiments, zhuni is somewhat midway between zini and porcelain, so I'd find it strange to claim that it is the most porous clay

I'd imagine that when you talk about porosity, the size and the overall structure of the pores is of considerable importance too, not just the amount of them, giving the clay different characteristics. Perhaps thats whats going on here. But im just speculating...

[kyarazen]

hmm.. if the clay is not fired.. zhuni has the finest particle sizes.. and in a material science perspective, the finer the particle size, the higher the "surface" area.

but zhuni may have an odd characteristic about it, it is not like hong ni nor zisha, where zisha has the strongest "dual porosity" property, i.e. porosity of the particles themselves, and porosity in between the particles. zhuni is the least "dual porous", and often fired to before glassification as optimal, which would also render the clay mild glossy, jade like, creamy textured, and correspondingly less poroous..

I read the article a couple of times but I couldn't find where it says that zhuni is the most porous clay. I'd find it odd because more porous means less porcelain-like, it would smooth the taste more and subtract from the aroma more. We (I?) use zhuni for high mountain oolongs and teas rich of aromas because it preserves the aroma more (those are the teas that also do well in porcelain), instead for aged pu-erh which is more based on thickness/taste we (I?) tend to prefer zini. In my experiments, zhuni is somewhat midway between zini and porcelain, so I'd find it strange to claim that it is the most porous clay

[wei301]

Why would the seller suggest lighter-colored teas then? I have actually seen this kind of suggestion multiple times. Usually it is justified in terms of aesthetics - a tea as dark as shu pu-erh will stain more heavily a light colored clay and make it look darker. I think some people feel that this darker color makes it look dirty and don't like the looks of it. So you want to keep this in mind when dedicating a duanni teapot to a dark colored tea. I would make the pick based on taste rather than on color though.

I have a duanni pot that I'm using in this way and so far it's turning out ok IMO:
https://www.instagram.com/p/_fgNFvl9k3/

I don't mind the teapot colour become darker. I have a duanni pot used for darker oolong, and it gets darker and darker around the lid and under the spout. Does your duanni pot have the same dark marks around these 2 areas?

[whosehair]

Did everyone else get a free cup with their pot?

Yes, I got a free cup for each pot too!

Second! Let me know how you like the ball filter, I've heard people say that they severely stem the flow, but I'm still interested in them as they seem a good mechanism for keeping leaves in the pot.

[jayinhk]

I really like the ball filter actually. The pot pours very well and I never have to unclog the spout or push leaves away from the filter!

I'd like to A/B duanni and zhuni for gaoshan, green tea and pu to see what happens!

[steanze]

I'd imagine that when you talk about porosity, the size and the overall structure of the pores is of considerable importance too, not just the amount of them, giving the clay different characteristics.

zhuni has the finest particle sizes.. and in a material science perspective, the finer the particle size, the higher the "surface" area. [...] zhuni is the least "dual porous", and often fired to before glassification as optimal, which would also render the clay mild glossy, jade like, creamy textured, and correspondingly less poroous..

I'd like to A/B duanni and zhuni for gaoshan, green tea and pu to see what happens!

All great points! I don't really have instruments at hand to measure pore size, number of pores and so on, so I am just talking from the perspective of the perceived effects on the tea. In the end I mostly find that some clays smooth the tea a lot more, reducing bitterness and increasing thickness but also taking away from the aroma, while other clays don't reduce bitterness (or do it less) but preserve the aroma more. I end up calling the fomer "more porous" and the latter "less porous" but I didn't really measure that. So in the end it all comes back to jayinhk's point - it's interesting to make side by side comparisons and try the effects of different clays. There are also matters of personal preference, and I also find myself using different clays to brew the same type of tea on different days depending on the kind of result I am trying to achieve

[steanze]

I don't mind the teapot colour become darker. I have a duanni pot used for darker oolong, and it gets darker and darker around the lid and under the spout. Does your duanni pot have the same dark marks around these 2 areas?

The dark under the spout is usually produced by a drop of tea that flows down from the spout opening after you are done pouring. You can wipe the pot with a soft cloth after pouring to dry and spread that drop and prevent the dark under the spout. The pot does get darker on the body around the lid, but also in this case wiping it with a warm damp cloth while the pot is hot takes care of that. If you use dark roasted oolongs, some darkness can also occur in pots that have a rim where the body meets the lid, like shui pings (even if they are hongni). This happens because a little bit of tea gets trapped in the crevice between the body of the pot and the rim, so that area gets stained. If you don't like that, you can consider gently massaging that part of the pot with a damp cloth with a little bit of baking soda - be very gentle though, you don't want to mess up the whole patina!

[steanze]

This is a fun article about yixing and pores:
https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... to_1911_AD

[kyarazen]

So in the end it all comes back to jayinhk's point - it's interesting to make side by side comparisons and try the effects of different clays. There are also matters of personal preference, and I also find myself using different clays to brew the same type of tea on different days depending on the kind of result I am trying to achieve

its going to be a deeeeeep and dark path will be achievable if the pots are of the same shape so the immediate differences are obvious.

there's also the heat loss factor from diff types of clay and colors which will affect the steep, but generally lower fired pots or more porous pots tend to round very much more significantly, seasoned hongni/zhuni is neutral, new hongni/zhuni is quite sharpening