Opinions about Yixing pots wanted: Benefits vs. Price Point?

[TIM]

... One of my other hobbies is birdwatching. ...

Hey. You live in the city, you like tea and you are a birdwatcher.... are you Michael Plant in disguise

anyhow. TG has a new location uptown. Call to make an appointment is a must. Good luck

[tingjunkie]

Hey. You live in the city, you like tea and you are a birdwatcher.... are you Michael Plant in disguise

anyhow. TG has a new location uptown. Call to make an appointment is a must. Good luck

...and my name is Michael too! I don't know who Mr. Plant is, but he sounds like an all around cool guy!

[beachape]

I would buy a "cheaper" pot to start out with. If you find out you really like yixing pots, then you will have a little experience to guide you to a better pot. I think about 40 bucks is a good price for a decent "cheaper" pot.

When I was first shopping for a kyusu, I thought about going for a nice handmade pot that was about 300ml, but decided to go for a cheap one instead. After getting a little experience I found out that I liked smaller pots and wanted a small handmade pot. I would have regretted buying a nice larger pot. Just something to think about.

[tingjunkie]

When I was first shopping for a kyusu, I thought about going for a nice handmade pot that was about 300ml, but decided to go for a cheap one instead. After getting a little experience I found out that I liked smaller pots and wanted a small handmade pot. I would have regretted buying a nice larger pot. Just something to think about.

Yes, I have been struggling to figure out my size calculations! What I'm thinking is this- if I were to purchase a Yixing pot for gongfu style preparation, I would like the amount of liqueur from a pot to be about 3.5-4.0 oz (100-120ml). That's enough for me to have large size cups on my own, or for smaller size cups if my girlfriend is around. I know this is a larger amount than the norm, but as a big guy, I can handle drinking that much tea! I'm just not familiar enough with gongfu to know how much room the leaves will take up though. If I want 120ml of liqueur, would a 150ml pot be large enough, or should I go bigger?

As for a kyusu, I think I would use that for western style brewing for myself to have a large 8oz cup, or for two people to have smaller 4oz cups. Perhaps a 10oz (300ml) kyusu would work well then?

In both situations, I think I would rather have a little extra room and not fill the pot up all the way, than buying too small and not having a way to work around it.

[wyardley]

Yes, I have been struggling to figure out my size calculations! What I'm thinking is this- if I were to purchase a Yixing pot for gongfu style preparation, I would like the amount of liqueur from a pot to be about 3.5-4.0 oz (100-120ml). That's enough for me to have large size cups on my own, or for smaller size cups if my girlfriend is around. I know this is a larger amount than the norm, but as a big guy, I can handle drinking that much tea! I'm just not familiar enough with gongfu to know how much room the leaves will take up though. If I want 120ml of liqueur, would a 150ml pot be large enough, or should I go bigger?

Depends on how much leaf you use. I would really suggest something a little smaller, though. 80-100ml TOTAL pot volume is a good size for 1-2 people. My rough guideline is that a pot that will fill the cup(s) you're using to the rim when there are no tea leaves in the pot will probably be roughly the right size. If you want to do gongfu style tea brewing, I would recommend using cups of 1-2 oz size max.

No matter how much research you do, I would bet that you'll end up wanting something slightly different later on, so I would suggest spending under $60-70 US for your first pot.

[Proinsias]

If you're making the move from a 26oz tetsubin to gong fu brewing I'd vote for a cheap gaiwan before the yixing, you can pick one up for a few dollars. Or even alongside the first yixing order.

It will give you a better idea of what the yixing is doing to the tea if you can brew the same quantities in the same basic method but in a gaiwan, as opposed to comparing it to the effect of a 26oz pot.

My 60ml plain white gaiwan with no base I got in a travel tea set may well see the most use out of all of my teaware. Even tea which I have yixing for frequently end up in the gaiwan - sometimes to see the difference and sometimes as I can't be bothered giving yixing the attention it needs straight after brewing.

Unless you already have a gaiwan in which case I will feel rather foolish.

[tingjunkie]

I don't currently own any gaiwan, but I have had a LOT of tea from them. I frequent Harney & Son's tasting room in Millerton, NY, and that is what they use to steep their tastings. I can see how useful and easy they are, but they just don't turn me on that much. Perhaps it is something I may look into in the future, but I've got the Yixing and kyusu bugs right now!

[Salsero]

I find myself happy with a 100 ml or slightly bigger gaiwan and typically a 120 ml pot for myself alone, but then my usual cup is 110 ml. Either one will also serve 2 people a reasonable amount if you have company.

The leaves seem not to take up a lot of space. My 120 ml pot is well matched to my 110 (to the brim) ml cup. I think Will has the right idea in his approach to matching sizes.

For sencha, Chinese green, light oolong, and most other tea I usually use larger cups and brewing vessels.

[ABx]

I agree with Pronisias. Yixing is a whole other ball of wax that can get complicated, and tuition can be expensive if you don't spend a lot of time on it. I have a lot of yixing pots that I got when I was new and now never use - at least a couple hundred bucks worth.

IMO it's best to focus on the tea when you're starting out, and then you can start in on yixing when it makes sense to do so. After all, you'd probably regret it if you spent hundreds of dollars on pots only to find that you prefer green tea.

Gaiwans are definitely the way to go until you figure out what you like. Getting a thin one and a glazed yixing (or other very thick) one will cover just about anything you come across and will get you acquainted with the differences in brewing with different materials. While a glazed yixing gaiwan might not do quite as well as a yixing pot, you would at least be able to get an idea of the difference thick clay can make over thin porcelain. You'll also always have a use for the gaiwans, and then you'll probably also find it easier and more natural to jump into yixing pots when you're ready and you know what you like to drink the most.

FWIW, though, my current favorite pot is a $15 one. It doesn't have any collector value, and I have many that are much better made, but to address your original question a pot doesn't have to be an expensive one to be a good one. There are cheap ones that aren't good, though. They can smell like mud or chemicals or have other undesirable traits.

Overall yixing pots will make a difference, but the difference isn't going to be a mind-blowing one. To get that kind of difference you simply need to learn how to brew; a yixing pot isn't going to magically squeeze every ounce of potential out of a tea. That's just something you have to learn, and while a yixing pot can help you do that you will still have to know how. Even then the yixing pot probably still won't make as much of a difference as it might seem by reading some posts on these forums

[Proinsias]

I can see how useful and easy they are, but they just don't turn me on that much. Perhaps it is something I may look into in the future, but I've got the Yixing and kyusu bugs right now!

Go for it, if you don't find this sexy then yixing or kyusu are the way forward atm. Thinking back I got an yixing before a gaiwan mainly because I really wanted to own an yixing teapot.

Do keep in mind just how cheap a gaiwan can be, adding one onto a Yunnan Sourcing order ain't gonna make a lot of difference.

[tingjunkie]

Yes, I agree with you guys that Yixing is a tricky world... I'm finding that out after less than a week of research. That's why I was only going to spend around $40 on a pot.

So to bring it back to my original question Pronisias and ABx... do you feel that a $40 Yixing pot is too "cheap" to make a noticeable difference in the quality of oolongs when compared to a gaiwan/kyusu/glazed ceramic/etc.?

The other option I was playing around with would be to (purists may wish to avert their eyes here) get a small Banko kyusu and use that for gungfu preparation of oolongs. I have not read any reviews/opinions from anyone who has done this, but I have read that Banko will season with use and that they clay is "similar" to Yixing in its iron content. In truth, I do prefer the look and craftsmanship of some of the Banko ware I have seen when compared to many of the Yixing pots. One again though, the final product (the tea) is the important part and I would easily sacrifice looks for results.

[Salsero]

A yixing pot will not make your oolong taste better ... it will make it taste different, probably muting some of the more floral aromas and reducing the astringency. I feel that a reasonably priced pot from a reputable vendor will give you 90% of the effect that a perfectly matched and possibly more expensive pot would give you.

As for me personally, I feel like the main advantage of my pots is that I love to play with them and look at them. If I had none of them, I would still be drinking the same tea. I use a gaiwan at least as much as my pots.

[tingjunkie]

... it will make it taste different, probably muting some of the more floral aromas and reducing the astringency.

Ah, now we get to the nitty gritty and closer to the heart of the question. I have read that red clay Yixing (such as zhuni) can enhance flavor and aroma whereas purple clay will enhance flavor but take away from aroma. Since I am a big fan of aroma, would a $40-$50 zhuni from a reputable dealer have the mojo to enhance flavor and aroma, or would I need to spend more on a higher quality (possibly vintage) pot to get that performance?

As a beginner, I don't see it being a wise move to spend much more than $40, unless some trusted forum member and Yixing expert is having a fire sale!

Thank God I find this research fun, eh? Normal people would crumble in the face of all this minutia.

[Proinsias]

I'd have to pretty much second what Salsero said, it will likely make the flavour and aroma of the tea different but it tough to say if it will enhance it.

When compared to a gaiwan some oolongs may be great in your yixing and some may be not so great. Will one yixing teapot make all oolong tea better than a gaiwan could? No, I don't think so.

I have a nice little yixing I use for wuyi oolong, it's my favourite pot. Some wuyi oolong tastes great in it but some still taste better in the gaiwan. Even if you dedicate a pot to a very specific tea, say high fire da hong pao, you'll still probably find a few examples of the tea that you prefer brewed in a gaiwan. At least in my experience.

I think the solution to this is that you need to buy loads of teaware, this forum is a sort of support group for those who go down that road.

edit: I'd vote for somewhere in the $30-$80 range to start off depending on how flush you are feeling.

[tingjunkie]

I think the solution to this is that you need to buy loads of teaware, this forum is a sort of support group for those who go down that road.

DON"T encourage me.

You know... what really hurts is that I just spent two weeks in Japan, and missed out on the opportunity to shop for Tokoname and Banko ware because I really didn't know anything about them. On the positive side, I did pick up a Mino ware yunomi which I really love. And boy did I get to inspect and handle some truly amazing chawan! Wish I had the dough to take a couple home, but alas, my taste in chawan far exceeds my wealth!