Are Yixings Overrated?

[theredbaron]

Thats why you use only one yixing to pair with one tea.

I think one tea per pot is a bit over the top. One kind of tea per pot is sufficient - such as one for Yancha, one for aged Sheng Pu Erh, one for younger Sheng, etc.
The cost of pairing each tea with its own pot would be forbidding for most tea drinkers - imagine dozens of good quality pots that can easily cost each several hundred dollars up nowadays.

Unless one is rich, IMHO it is better to have a few very good pots, enough for each category of tea, than dozens of not very good pots.

[theredbaron]

I know Yixing pots are highly regarded and a very important part of Chinese tea history, but I'm curious if anyone doesn't like them. The notion of letting them soak up flavor from other tea seems a bit strange to me.

As a pipe smoker, briar pipes are often reserved for one type of tobacco, much like Yixings, because the flavor of other teas will 'ghost' the pipes and come back to haunt you, especially if you put something like Syrian Latakia (smoke-cured) in your pipe. Many dedicate pipes to a single blend.

Meerschaum pipes, however, do not have this issue, but many prefer briars for traditional purposes. Interestingly, meers are the ones that increase in value with use (like Yixings) as they 'color' from the smoke.

Is it really just tradition that attracts people to Yixings? "Green tobacco" aficionados would never dream of using a dirty glass pipe to taste a new strain, especially if they're judging it professionally. To me it seems that using a Yixing that has been 'ghosted' by previous teas would color the appreciation of a new tea.

I guess, as a pipe smoker, you also know that a pipe smoked well and regularly cleaned gets only better over the years/decades. And with pipes - mostly keeping different categories of tobacco for separate pipes is sufficient.

Neither material is taste neutral, but as with Briar, good Yixing pots do add to the taste. You will also, as it is with Briar and different tobaccos, find that different tea pots work better with different teas, not only because of shape, material, age or wall thickness, but also because of some elusive temperament that escapes description.

[jayinhk]

True, different pipes are better suited to different tobaccos, but the 'cake' in briar pipes must be kept trimmed back to prevent the briar from cracking, so to some degree the 'flavoring' is kept in check.

A bunch of guys on one of the pipe forums found the best indicator of a good smoking pipe was the size of the holes drilled through the bowl and stem! A cheap pipe with well drilled holes can sometimes dance circles around customs costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Also, with briars, the cake covers the briar and the amount of flavor that comes from the briar itself quickly drops off as it is sealed off. I guess it boils down to preference: tradition, art and extra flavoring or taste each tea for what it really is, e.g., using porcelain or glass. Of course, some of the hand painted Chinese porcelain pots and cups I've seen look simply incredible too.

I guess I need to pick up my first Yixing ASAP and decide how I feel once I've given it some thorough testing.

[theredbaron]

I guess I need to pick up my first Yixing ASAP and decide how I feel once I've given it some thorough testing.

To properly smoke a pipe takes often years of trial and error. Learning about Chinese tea takes much longer.
It would be very helpful for you to find a real life tea teacher, which should not be much of a problem for you as you live in one of the world's Chinese tea centers. This can send you right away on the right course and saves you much error (and money).
Online discussion only goes that far, and cannot replace a real life teacher. I think that you may hold back with a Yixing purchase, especially when it involves considerable amounts of money, and wait a bit until you learned from a teacher, and then will know what you are looking for, and have somebody knowledgeable help you select a good pot.

[MarshalN]

I guess I need to pick up my first Yixing ASAP and decide how I feel once I've given it some thorough testing.

To properly smoke a pipe takes often years of trial and error. Learning about Chinese tea takes much longer.
It would be very helpful for you to find a real life tea teacher, which should not be much of a problem for you as you live in one of the world's Chinese tea centers. This can send you right away on the right course and saves you much error (and money).
Online discussion only goes that far, and cannot replace a real life teacher. I think that you may hold back with a Yixing purchase, especially when it involves considerable amounts of money, and wait a bit until you learned from a teacher, and then will know what you are looking for, and have somebody knowledgeable help you select a good pot.

Teachers only take you so far as well, and in many cases, teachers are simply merchants who want to push you things they're selling. There are genuine tea teachers out there, but they are few and far between. Most "teachers" I've met are sellers in disguise.

[jayinhk]

Marshal has kindly suggested a good source for a reasonably-priced pot close by. I do trust I'll get a good pot there because 1. M takes his tea very seriously and 2. the source is a very old and very reputable dealer. You're right, having a guru of sorts does help, but finding a TEAcher locally who isn't a dealer may be tricky.

I haven't met many people locally who are as into tea as the people on here aside from dealers. The lovely woman who sells wholesale tea near me doesn't sell Yixings, but admittedly doesn't know much about them either.

I think a visit to the Tea Museum and a class or two might be time well spent, although most of my friends would think I was nuts if I suggested taking a course on Chinese tea!

[theredbaron]

Teachers only take you so far as well, and in many cases, teachers are simply merchants who want to push you things they're selling. There are genuine tea teachers out there, but they are few and far between. Most "teachers" I've met are sellers in disguise.

True enough. But those types i would not label as tea teachers - they are just merchants disguising as teachers, and, more often than not, are not good at either.

Anyhow, looking at the pictures of pots you posted here on this forum, and reading your elaborations on Yixing pots, i would listen very closely to your advice, where to buy and what to buy, and what to avoid.

[tst]

Thats why you use only one yixing to pair with one tea.

I think one tea per pot is a bit over the top. One kind of tea per pot is sufficient - such as one for Yancha, one for aged Sheng Pu Erh, one for younger Sheng, etc.
The cost of pairing each tea with its own pot would be forbidding for most tea drinkers - imagine dozens of good quality pots that can easily cost each several hundred dollars up nowadays.

This is my idea as well. I am very new to yixing and not anywhere near as knowledgeable or experienced as others around here, but I would think even besides cost, there are downsides to pairing one pot with one specific tea. For example, if you have 25 different specific types of tea you want to pair with 25 different pots, it will take you approximately five times longer to season those pots than it would if you have 5 general kinds of tea used in 5 different pots.

[theredbaron]

This is my idea as well. I am very new to yixing and not anywhere near as knowledgeable or experienced as others around here, but I would think even besides cost, there are downsides to pairing one pot with one specific tea. For example, if you have 25 different specific types of tea you want to pair with 25 different pots, it will take you approximately five times longer to season those pots than it would if you have 5 general kinds of tea used in 5 different pots.

10 to 15 years ago i have bought many pots, but now i have limited myself only to my best 4 or 5 pots, and use two traveling pots (one tiny Shui Ping from the 80's, for small luggage, and the other one a two cup Shui Ping from the 70's). I am quite content with my set up as it is now. I have many qing dynasty cups, which i mostly bought during the early 90's when they were still very cheap, i got a very large old Yixing pot in which i boil my water, and several old plates i use as boats.

I have now come close to complete my Japanese set up - today in the post a lovely small Nosaka side handle pot from Hojo arrived - the right size for the more costly Gyokuro.

I have way too much stuff which i bought in the past and decided that is is not that great to use. I believe though that less is more, when it comes to enjoying tea, and nowadays tend to use only a very limited amount of ware. I do not like pitchers, filters or these bamboo tea tables - i prefer to pour directly from the pot into the cups, and instead of tea tables use an old qing blue and white plate to keep my cups on and an even older bowl as a tea boat. As a waste water bucket i use older vessels here that were made in the villages in Thailand, and which have a lovely uneven dark green glaze. They were in the past used mostly to keep fermented fish, and are about as "Wabi Sabi" as it can get.
For Chinese tea i only use pots with single hole spouts - i think they flow better and are easier to clean when they clog midway.

It is quite rare that i buy any hardware nowadays, and spend instead my money on tea.

[TIM]

Thats why you use only one yixing to pair with one tea.

I think one tea per pot is a bit over the top. One kind of tea per pot is sufficient - such as one for Yancha, one for aged Sheng Pu Erh, one for younger Sheng, etc.
The cost of pairing each tea with its own pot would be forbidding for most tea drinkers - imagine dozens of good quality pots that can easily cost each several hundred dollars up nowadays.

This is my idea as well. I am very new to yixing and not anywhere near as knowledgeable or experienced as others around here, but I would think even besides cost, there are downsides to pairing one pot with one specific tea. For example, if you have 25 different specific types of tea you want to pair with 25 different pots, it will take you approximately five times longer to season those pots than it would if you have 5 general kinds of tea used in 5 different pots.

Hmmm... Not sure why is there a rush fact of seasoning the pots?

It is more important to season the pot right after 2 years of care and love, then to rush seasoning a yixing worth seasoning if the taste is being tinted by other tea. For example, If one of my White Leaf Dancong pot was accidently used for brewing a ShuiXian Dancong from the same area, it might lost the lychee delicate flavor that its so important to the White leaf... Then it might take so much effort to reset the pot or just to get rid of the aroma of a SX. Just my 2 cents.

[jayinhk]

Yep, that's the issue that I find confusing...using a porous pot, even for teas from the exact same plot of land from successive years, seems to indicate cross contamination of flavors. I don't know why I'd want to do that when each tea is absolutely unique!

[theredbaron]

Yep, that's the issue that I find confusing...using a porous pot, even for teas from the exact same plot of land from successive years, seems to indicate cross contamination of flavors. I don't know why I'd want to do that when each tea is absolutely unique!

Even with the same batch of tea you will never be able to exactly replicate the taste of the previous pot.
So many factors influence the experience, other than water and pot also the experience of the person that brews the tea, and also the particular mood you, or the person that brews the tea finds himself/herself presently.

Drinking tea is not exact science. Every single session of brewing and drinking tea is unique itself, not just each tea.

As long as you separate different categories of tea, you will be fine. Good Yixing pots enhance the aroma, no matter what. Yixing is not that porous that whole leaves can hide in a pore, completely throwing off the taste, but tiny microscopic particles, which subtly add to to the taste. The leaves that you fill the pot in will always be the most dominating taste, and secondly to that will be the water you use. Also the vessel you boil the water in, and the heat source will influence the tea. The kind of cup you use will also influence the tea as well.

You will find as well about as many opinions as there are tea drinkers. Don't be confused - just start drinking. You were advised by a very knowledgeable person where to get a good Yixing pot - just buy it, and start using it. As you live in Hongkong, you will easily get into contact with other tea drinkers - one day you may come across a proper teacher - whose hands on lessons will be more useful than any internet discussion.

[jayinhk]

You're right Red, I need to test the ol' Yixing out for myself to see how it adds to, or detracts from, my tea drinking experience. Admittedly they do look pretty cool.

One day maybe I will indeed encounter a mystical cha si gung in a quiet temple out in the New Territories, who will test my gung fu (cha) skills before taking me under his wing as an apprentice. I may have to start off carrying buckets of waste water and spent tea to the kitchen, but one day, I will be ready to battle the evil Mr Lipton of teabag infamy.

I think I've had too much liu'an this morning.

[theredbaron]

You're right Red, I need to test the ol' Yixing out for myself to see how it adds to, or detracts from, my tea drinking experience. Admittedly they do look pretty cool.

One day maybe I will indeed encounter a mystical cha si gung in a quiet temple out in the New Territories, who will test my gung fu (cha) skills before taking me under his wing as an apprentice. I may have to start off carrying buckets of waste water and spent tea to the kitchen, but one day, I will be ready to battle the evil Mr Lipton of teabag infamy.

I think I've had too much liu'an this morning.

I feel that with good tea teacher one should just feel comfortable on a personal level, no painful lessons of endurance, or uneasy and edgy enforced shows of respect, or keeping superficial hierarchies. But that's how i feel.

[jayinhk]

You're right Red, I need to test the ol' Yixing out for myself to see how it adds to, or detracts from, my tea drinking experience. Admittedly they do look pretty cool.

One day maybe I will indeed encounter a mystical cha si gung in a quiet temple out in the New Territories, who will test my gung fu (cha) skills before taking me under his wing as an apprentice. I may have to start off carrying buckets of waste water and spent tea to the kitchen, but one day, I will be ready to battle the evil Mr Lipton of teabag infamy.

I think I've had too much liu'an this morning.

I feel that with good tea teacher one should just feel comfortable on a personal level, no painful lessons of endurance, or uneasy and edgy enforced shows of respect, or keeping superficial hierarchies. But that's how i feel.

Agreed. Now to find a teacher who isn't in the tea business!