Considering getting this yixing pot for oolong. Opinions?

[bonescwa]

Unless you want to spend a lot of money on a real zhuni pot, you're better off with porcelain for Taiwanese tea.

I am sorry, but that is a rather snobbish comment suggesting that one has to spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars - which a real Zhuni pot will cost at least - to enjoy Taiwanese tea in a Yixing pot.

High fired hong ni pots are perfectly fine for low oxidation oolongs, they give better body than porcelain, and if one is patient and looks around a bit one can still find alright pots for around and maybe a bit below 100 US$.


It is a strange world now. When i started drinking Chinese tea in '91, or so, you just bought a Yixing tea pot with your tea. There were no gaiwan (and i still don't like them, and won't ever like them) other than using them directly as a cup for green tea like in Chengdu tea houses. There was no discussion that Yixing is only for advanced tea drinkers. Yixing pots simply belonged to Yancha and Oolong, simple as that.
If you went to south-eastern China back then, for example (and also in many Chinatowns in SEA), people everywhere drunk tea in front of their shops and houses - a small table with a much used Yixing pot, a couple of cups, and chairs. When you passed by you were inevitably invited for a cup or two and a polite chat.
That is the basics of Chinese tea art and culture, and from which modern tea appreciation developed, and should be kept in mind.

I didn't mean to come across as snobbish. I guess I made an assumption that the OP was coming from the western world, where things are a lot different for us in regards to access to these things than they are to you. You obviously know a lot more than me, and I totally agree that nice pots can be had without spending 100s, I just happen to feel that even good hongni isn't going to give much of an advantage over porcelain in gaoshan, if at all. The body should already be thick if the tea is good to begin with, I've had dayuling that's almost slightly gelatinous in a gaiwan. You say I come off like a snob, but you come off like someone who isn't aware of all the increased access to tea related things you have compared to us in the West, our options are far more limited.

[theredbaron]

I didn't mean to come across as snobbish. I guess I made an assumption that the OP was coming from the western world, where things are a lot different for us in regards to access to these things than they are to you. You obviously know a lot more than me, and I totally agree that nice pots can be had without spending 100s, I just happen to feel that even good hongni isn't going to give much of an advantage over porcelain in gaoshan, if at all. The body should already be thick if the tea is good to begin with, I've had dayuling that's almost slightly gelatinous in a gaiwan. You say I come off like a snob, but you come off like someone who isn't aware of all the increased access to tea related things you have compared to us in the West, our options are far more limited.

Thanks to the internet there are a lot of tea things available without traveling around the world. I have to give you a point, there is far more rubbish than good ware, but that unfortunately is not too different here in tea shops in Asia.

In body i meant not consistency of the tea soup, but regarding taste.

For the original poster i think it is mainly a question of taking time and looking around, and, as he did, ask questions here. Personally i would always prefer to get a commercial pot from the 80's or early 90's, or so, maybe factory 2 (factory 1 is now getting more and more expensive, with many fakes around), or factory 1 from the early 90's, to start, with with good clean clay, and simple workmanship. A shui ping from that era should cost less than 100 US$ on the net.

[Balthazar]

It is a strange world now. When i started drinking Chinese tea in '91, or so, you just bought a Yixing tea pot with your tea. There were no gaiwan (and i still don't like them, and won't ever like them) other than using them directly as a cup for green tea like in Chengdu tea houses. There was no discussion that Yixing is only for advanced tea drinkers. Yixing pots simply belonged to Yancha and Oolong, simple as that.

I expect - although I might be wrong - that there was also less junk on the market in those days, and that spending the same amount of money (adjusted for inflation) would, generally speaking, get you a better quality pot.

Porcelain and yixing clay can bring out and emphasize different qualities of the tea. I'm glad I don't have to choose one or the other.

[theredbaron]

I expect - although I might be wrong - that there was also less junk on the market in those days, and that spending the same amount of money (adjusted for inflation) would, generally speaking, get you a better quality pot.

Porcelain and yixing clay can bring out and emphasize different qualities of the tea. I'm glad I don't have to choose one or the other.

Well, there was also junk out there in those days, but generally speaking, tea pots were a lot cheaper.
However, it is all relative - there were always tea pots one could dream about but never afford I remember lusting over some of the late Qing pots here in Thailand, the glossy ones with metal work. You could get one then for a couple of hundred dollars, which was a lot of money for me then. I wish though i would have bought one...

[bagua7]

Porcelain/gaiwan is your best friend for Taiwan oolongs as already stayed in this thread. The amount of effort (and money) you'll require to find a suitable pot is not worth it unless you have access to a good network in the Yixing underground market (namely F1 pots) like some of the users of this forum , i.e. teaisme, kyarazen, etc. as residents of overseas Chinese communities (Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and HK). Still having one of these collectible items is no guarantee that you'll brew a 'dream' mountain oolong. A gaiwan does that for basically a tiny fraction of the cost of an expensive F1 zhuni and even better.

My advice is to spend your money in good tea and the best water you can find rather than getting carried away with clay.

Cheers!

[Frisbeehead]

Porcelain/gaiwan is your best friend for Taiwan oolongs as already stayed in this thread. The amount of effort (and money) you'll require to find a suitable pot is not worth it unless you have access to a good network in the Yixing underground market (namely F1 pots) like some of the users of this forum , i.e. teaisme, kyarazen, etc. as residents of overseas Chinese communities (Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and HK). Still having one of these collectible items is no guarantee that you'll brew a 'dream' mountain oolong. A gaiwan does that for basically a tiny fraction of the cost of an expensive F1 zhuni and even better.

My advice is to spend your money in good tea and the best water you can find rather than getting carried away with clay.

Cheers!

Thanks for the response! That's pretty much what I've gathered from most of the responses from this thread. I have a small gaiwan (100ml) and a larger celadon gaiwan (150ml) that I love, and beyond that the only other money I've spent so far has been on tea.

I tried my first yancha today and really liked it, it was a 2012 Rou Gui. I know people use their yixing pots for Wuyi oolong, is it really worth it still in that case? I do want to invest in a yixing pot sometime in the future, and I have some good ideas of where I can get one that is at least decent. It may not be factory 1, from 1970, and worth $500, but I at least want to get some yixing pot at some point.

I appreciate all the advice in this thread, and I will be buying teas and developing my palate for a while instead of worrying about getting a yixing pot. However, I do want one eventually, and from what I've gathered, the best thing I can do is find someone that knows what they are talking about, but one from there, and just experiment. The best thing to do is just try the pot with different teas, and if I get a chance, try other pots too.

Sorry for rambling on. I won't worry about finding a yixing now, I think I'm going to wait a bit. But I do want one. I've been checking out the tea swap forum on here, and it seems like there is some decent stuff on there.

For Wuyi oolongs it is worth it, at least from what I've read.

[bonescwa]

I'm just saying that most darker oolong is harder to screw up in a yixing, and gaoshan is very sensitive

[bagua7]

...due to the high altitude these teas are grown; they are unforgiving. Pots are too yin (porous, absorbing, yielding, all yin traits) whereas these teas have a high spirit (yang); therefore you need a hard vessel to keep their uplifting nature. One mistake and you end up with a lifeless 'soup.'

Generally speaking puerh teas and Yixings blend well, have you played with them?

Good luck!

[Frisbeehead]

...due to the high altitude these teas are grown; they are unforgiving. Pots are too yin (porous, absorbing, yielding, all yin traits) whereas these teas have a high spirit (yang); therefore you need a hard vessel to keep their uplifting nature. One mistake and you end up with a lifeless 'soup.'

Generally speaking puerh teas and Yixings blend well, have you played with them?

Good luck!

Right! That's what I'm saying, I wouldn't buy one to dedicate one to high mountain oolongs but for Wuyi oolongs. But either way, I won't be getting one quite yet. Not until the time feels right.

I've tasted a few pu-erhs and I love them too. I have not tried them in a yixing pot before though, but I have heard it's a good combination.

[theredbaron]

I tried my first yancha today and really liked it, it was a 2012 Rou Gui. I know people use their yixing pots for Wuyi oolong, is it really worth it still in that case?

A very clear and loud *YES* - it is more than worth it, especially for Yancha and Pu Erh, but IMO also for Taiwanese Oolong.

As to dedicating pots, you will have to find out which pot goes with which tea best, but Yancha, aged Sheng Pu Erh, and light roasted Oolongs should, if possible have their own dedicated pots. But when i travel i use the same pot for all teas. It's not that a pot gets destroyed by mixing teas, you may have some initial ghosting of a previous tea.

The size of the pots depends on many factors. For one, if you drink mostly alone a pot should not be larger than 80cc, otherwise the amount of tea you drink can get quite overwhelming (some teas, such as good aged Sheng Pu Erh can be brewed 15 times easily). Also, cost factor plays a role - stuffing a 120cc pot with expensive Yancha, for example, is quite costly.

[bagua7]

I've tasted a few pu-erhs and I love them too. I have not tried them in a yixing pot before though, but I have heard it's a good combination.

Definitively, probably the best. Puerh tea screams for Yixing pottery, however there are pots that brew puerh better than others, unfortunately.