What should I know about Bizen pottery?

[edkrueger]

I've never seen bizen clay that was coarse. All of my bizen pieces have extremely fine clay. Being made with fine clay and being high fired (maybe someone who knows more can say what temperature) isn't porous. So I wouldn't worry about using it for other teas.

Edit: All of my bizen pieces are on the thinner side as well, but I've certainly seen thinker ones. I've heard from someone that does very bizen-like work that thinner pieces often warp durring firing.

[Chip]

I mean "coarse" relative to say porcelain and the smoothest clays ... but not as course as the very rough sand versions of Hagi

[debunix]

Thanks.

My new baby is soaking now.

[Tead Off]

Awakening this thread to celebrate the arrival of my new Bizen yunomi (no photos yet, just took enough time to unpack it before heading to work), and I'm still a little confused.

Why would you need to soak a yunomi? I guess if it was used, some boiling water through it would clean it. Bizen tend to be high fired and less porous than they look.

[debunix]

I didn't soak it long--couldn't stand the suspense. It feels wonderful in the hand and to the lip. Baptizing it with some traditional roast Dong Ding tonight.



Better shots later in the show off thread--this doesn't begin to capture the subtle shimmer of this one.

[David R.]

I don't soak unless I detect a "kiln-dusty" smell. I have the same kind of yunomi, coming from the same kiln I'd say (I think I recognize this cup from eBay ).

I stick with japanese sencha with it, but this is merely sentimental as it was my very first yunomi when I entered the sencha world. It will smooth a bit your teas, like a banko clay would. I like this kind of effect with japanese green teas and young puerh, but not very much with oolong. Personnal preferences.

Have fun with it, and keep the photos coming !

[Tead Off]

I don't soak unless I detect a "kiln-dusty" smell. I have the same kind of yunomi, coming from the same kiln I'd say (I think I recognize this cup from eBay ).

I stick with japanese sencha with it, but this is merely sentimental as it was my very first yunomi when I entered the sencha world. It will smooth a bit your teas, like a banko clay would. I like this kind of effect with japanese green teas and young puerh, but not very much with oolong. Personnal preferences.

Have fun with it, and keep the photos coming !

I have several cups of varying sizes, no yunomi, though. My beef with Bizen cups and servers is that they don't show the tea very well. They are really too dark to look at the color of the liquor and this is an important part of tea drinking for me. My Bizen teapot is outstanding in brewing tea. For some reason, it does magic to black teas and I would bet that it would do well with sheng puerh, if not all puerh teas.

[David R.]

Go for Hidasuki Bizen !

[Tead Off]

Go for Hidasuki Bizen !

I also have hidasuki. Not really my taste plus the clay is not nearly as red as the Bizen that I like.