Coconut cup and a question about teapot

[clareandromeda]

Chip, it is hard to believe you don't have a banko! I ordered one from AN but it broke in the mail! A new one is on the way though!

[Chip]

Chip, it is hard to believe you don't have a banko! I ordered one from AN but it broke in the mail! A new one is on the way though!

Yeah, stranger than fiction. If it was not for my Coke addiction, I would have tried heroin ... er, I mean if it was not for my Hagi addiction, I would be able to have a hot Banko.

Bummer about the broken Banko ... AN has some nice ones, though most are sold out.

[MarshalN]

Well, I WILL own a good Banko one day, hopefully sooner than later. So I cannot comment on them. I hear all good things.

Porcelain is just a good neutral brewing vessel. They won't mess up my tea and they may not help it either ... it is a bit of a "wash."

I do not like to drink from an unglazed cup, but it can be clay to porcelain, gotta be glazed. I do not care for the feel of exposed clay on my lips at all.

What do you mean by "good"?

[Chip]

What do you mean by "good"?

Just like Yixing pots, there are good and bad Banko ... and points in between. A lot has to do with the clay and the craftsman. But a $20 Banko is not likely to deliver the promised enhanced results of the $70-200 Banko. But does one need the $300 Banko? At what point is there diminished returns? At what point is it more the craftsmanship versus the alleged enhanced results?

One reason I do not own a Banko is because I am not quite in the comfort zone on these issues.

[MarshalN]

Japanese teaware is always a bit of a mystery to me. With Yixing clay, people spend a lot of time debating the quality of clay and the right mixture of clay and sand, etc. Craftsmanship obviously comes into play as well, but a lot of the value of a good yixing pot is in the clay itself.

With Japanese pots I see fewer of these debates. I always wonder what makes one banko different from another, other than the obvious points of craftsmanship and such.

[Chip]

Ditto. But I am easily confused anyway. When in doubt, I do not buy ...

[Rainy-Day]

Chip (and others who might know..), what is a good size of gaiwan for chinese green teas? I ask because every time I tried greens in gaiwan, they came out terrible. I get far better results with two large glass pots (about 24-30oz each). I suspect it's because all gaiwans I used were small, I have a ~6-7oz glass gaiwan and a 3-4oz ceramic one.

[Chip]

I tend to use 3-5 ounce gaiwan. Any bigger and it is hard to use.

Maybe try using less leaf or shorter steeps?

Or just use what works for you.

[Tead Off]

Agreed. That smoothness of a porcelain cup is itself a sensual experience.

I have a couple of bizen guinomi ordered that will arrive soon. I wonder how I will like them since I, too, prefer a glazed cup.

[finddream2020]

Why not use a purple yixing pot for green teas? If reduction fired purple clay is supposed to enhance flavor, it seems appropriate.

Zisha teapot can be used for green tea. But the most important thing is you should make tea without the cover. Because the cover will make your tea smelly.

And the best thing you can use for green tea is ceramic teapot.

[Luthier]

i brew bancha in old duanni flat pot with lid on. nothing fishy. not much difference from my banko but i prefer my duanni. it looks more Japanese.

[Rainy-Day]

I've heard of using gaiwans for greens without the lid. Then I forgot about this advice, and never tried that. And now I don't have any chinese greens and I don't want to order because I have zillions of oolongs and puerhs. I'll have to try the without-lid thing in a few months!

[TokyoB]

Agreed. That smoothness of a porcelain cup is itself a sensual experience.

I have a couple of bizen guinomi ordered that will arrive soon. I wonder how I will like them since I, too, prefer a glazed cup.

Let us know how you like the bizen guinomi. I also prefer a glazed cup and while I like Bizen pots, I don't think I'd like a bizen cup ( I also prefer a white or celadon interior so that I can see the color of the tea.) I do like the look of the bizen cups though...

[Chip]

I have one Bizen cup currently and a few "Yixing" clay ones. Never use them. Just don't like the feel.

Still when I see a nice Bizen, it is tempting.

[Se7en8ight]

Hi All!

Bankoyaki for Green Teas FTW! Being non-porous it really works well with subtler teas, imho. I find that its thinness helps drop water temperature which is good for green... But I still opt to tansfer my water into my pitcher first to cool it before I pour it into my bankoyaki. I also swirl the water in the pitcher to maybe dissolve some oxygen back into it. I kinda feel banko behaves like a thin porcelain gaiwan thermally or even may be slightly better at dissipating heat.


And I just have to mention, coconuts grow in nutrient and mineral rich coastal areas and so I'm not surprised that the hull is hightening whatever flavors are present in the liquid you're drinking by releasing some of those dissolved minerals back into the liquor. Coconuts also are strongly umami!

Mmmmm...coconuts... All of a sudden i feel like having some mango chicken curry with coconut cream. *Drool

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