Essence of Tea new yixing

[jayinhk]

Just bought two 170ml F1 hongni pots. This darn thread has cost me a lot of money! LOL. I've bought seven F1 pots and one F5 so far.

I'm very grateful to EoT for making these pots available. I'll probably use them for the rest of my life!

Whenever I fear that I've gone overboard in my purchasing I just have to read your posts and I'm reminded that there are folks like you with worse TAD issues than myself. Thanks Jay!

*bows* thank you! I bought an extra 40ml and an extra 170ml for later sale. The price will definitely rise. We can't go back to the 90s for more hongni and these pots cost more in HK than they did from EoT!

[impromptuandy]

Anyone get one of the private order pots? Those seem to be going faster even than the Lu Wei Fangs.

I got one of the very first two private order pots back at the begining before he started adding so many of them

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCiszS9FaV1/

the clay of these first two looks a bit finer than the rest of the PO's added later and subsequently it was about twice the cost. Very beautiful clay though! It had an initial shine and became very lustrous after only a couple uses. Brews great sheng. Softens without sacrificing anything. I've been tempted to get one of the other PO's but have so far resisted that urge.
I imagine one reason they are selling faster than the lu Wei fang pots is because there are more smaller sizes available. He adds a 70-110ml pot and it seems to sell out within hours

Aha, I remember those first two. Looks nice! I like the shape, seems like it'd handle well.

I see you got one of the tiger plates -- those reminded me of the drawing Rafiki does of Simba in The Lion King.

[CWarren]

Just bought two 170ml F1 hongni pots. This darn thread has cost me a lot of money! LOL. I've bought seven F1 pots and one F5 so far.

I'm very grateful to EoT for making these pots available. I'll probably use them for the rest of my life!

Whenever I fear that I've gone overboard in my purchasing I just have to read your posts and I'm reminded that there are folks like you with worse TAD issues than myself. Thanks Jay!

*bows* thank you! I bought an extra 40ml and an extra 170ml for later sale. The price will definitely rise. We can't go back to the 90s for more hongni and these pots cost more in HK than they did from EoT!

I never bought one of the smaller last batch as I had one I had bought from Tony but I did buy one of the 170ml this time around plus one of the 160ml NeiZiWaiHong pots. Sadly they've been stuck in "Origin Post is preparing shipment" for over a week, the longest I've ever had an EMS shipment stuck between customs so it might be a while before I see them.

[jayinhk]

Just bought two 170ml F1 hongni pots. This darn thread has cost me a lot of money! LOL. I've bought seven F1 pots and one F5 so far.

I'm very grateful to EoT for making these pots available. I'll probably use them for the rest of my life!

Whenever I fear that I've gone overboard in my purchasing I just have to read your posts and I'm reminded that there are folks like you with worse TAD issues than myself. Thanks Jay!

*bows* thank you! I bought an extra 40ml and an extra 170ml for later sale. The price will definitely rise. We can't go back to the 90s for more hongni and these pots cost more in HK than they did from EoT!

I never bought one of the smaller last batch as I had one I had bought from Tony but I did buy one of the 170ml this time around plus one of the 160ml NeiZiWaiHong pots. Sadly they've been stuck in "Origin Post is preparing shipment" for over a week, the longest I've ever had an EMS shipment stuck between customs so it might be a while before I see them.

Since I'm in HK, EoT's system gives me free EMS shipping when I buy over GBP 100 of merchandise. Pos Malaysia is slow, though--it still takes four to five working days for my packages to get here from EoT, which is ridiculous, considering the distance. I suppose I should just be grateful they get here in 4-5 days in one piece, and free shipping is pretty nice. I've sent myself large packages back from Malaysia by surface mail, and while cheap, it still takes three months for them to get my packages here! I've had surface mail from the US get here in four months (when USPS still offered surface mail).

[Psyck]

I got free EMS to India too. I tried out the pots. While 170ml Hongni had the quality of clay and workmanship you would expect for a F1 yixing at that price, the lid leaks, so I cannot recommend it - good that I dedicated this to hongcha where this is not as much of a concern.

The 105ml F5 Qing Shui Ni is well made and does a good job of rounding off the roast in the yancha to enhance the other flavours, from what I remember of how the tea tasted earlier. It seems to be a great value for that price - tempted to get another of it

[jayinhk]

I got free EMS to India too. I tried out the pots. While 170ml Hongni had the quality of clay and workmanship you would expect for a F1 yixing at that price, the lid leaks, so I cannot recommend it - good that I dedicated this to hongcha where this is not as much of a concern.

The 105ml F5 Qing Shui Ni is well made and does a good job of rounding off the roast in the yancha to enhance the other flavours, from what I remember of how the tea tasted earlier. It seems to be a great value for that price - tempted to get another of it

Try pushing your F1 pot's lid forward or back. That may stop the dribble. Pouring at just the right rate prevents that too. I forgot you were in India; did you get hit with tax?

[LouPepe]

I got free EMS to India too. I tried out the pots. While 170ml Hongni had the quality of clay and workmanship you would expect for a F1 yixing at that price, the lid leaks, so I cannot recommend it - good that I dedicated this to hongcha where this is not as much of a concern.

The 105ml F5 Qing Shui Ni is well made and does a good job of rounding off the roast in the yancha to enhance the other flavours, from what I remember of how the tea tasted earlier. It seems to be a great value for that price - tempted to get another of it

Yes, that's the unfortunate side of those hongni pots. And we all know functionality is very important and a big part of a pots value (to the user). One reason I haven't sprung for another.

The best way to use that pot is as a "fairness pitcher", brewing in a gaiwan and transferring it. Pouring out of it without leaves is much easier not to get the dribble. The stream has a free flow and no back pressure from leaves. You can try the pushing lid forward with leaves in it but it messes with your habits and comfort if you are used to proper fitting lids. But, if you are used to using a cha hai then brewing with gaiwan and pouring in pot fits right into your routine. I think that will especially be advantageous to you since the pot is bigger and transferring to cha hai (pot) will help cool the tea down quicker.

The one I got has the same issue, so looks like it's a trend amongst these batches. Although it's not uncommon among F1's.

[jayinhk]

Why would you want your tea to cool down faster?

Admittedly I'm used to loose lids...my first ever pots had em!

[Psyck]

<...>
Try pushing your F1 pot's lid forward or back. That may stop the dribble. Pouring at just the right rate prevents that too. I forgot you were in India; did you get hit with tax?

Yeah basically the lid is noticeably smaller than the opening, so when I saw the tea dribbling out, I pushed the lid forward to the edge near the spout. This minimised the leak, but did not completely eliminate it. I should probably practice pouring slower. Still it is something I can live with for preparing black teas, and so will continue using it as such rather than trying it as a cha hai.

The high customs tax for tea in India is probably only on paper, I've never had to pay tax for tea (I have paid say something like 30% for electronic items) - though I take care not to order large amounts in a single shipment and I suppose it also helps that most companies 'fudge' the customs declaration...

[impromptuandy]

Try pushing your F1 pot's lid forward or back. That may stop the dribble. Pouring at just the right rate prevents that too.

Yeah, pouring more slowly is what I've been doing. Took me a minute to get used to this (the first time I made tea I was spilling it all over the place), but it doesn't dribble at all when pouring a little slower.

[LouPepe]

Why would you want your tea to cool down faster?

Admittedly I'm used to loose lids...my first ever pots had em!

Why would you not? Especially if your thirst for tea is mighty . And at 170 ml with boiling water you can either spend a couple of minutes waiting for it to cool in your cup or a simple transfer and high pour will cool it down 10-20 degrees. I find the taste to be muted when too hot.

You still get the clay affects when pouring tea into from gaiwan, in fact maybe even more so if you are using gongfucha size cups and the tea sits between fillings. I just hate dribbling messes, but that's just me. Slow pours just add brewing time that you need to control. And when 'snugging' forward the lid doesn't work good enough you are not left with many other options.

[thirst]

Why would you want your tea to cool down faster?

I don’t want to get esophageal cancer

[stevorama]

I've heard that shui ping pots stop leaking over time as they're used and residue builds. I have a hong ni shui ping that seems to leak less over time. It started with a decent lid fit, but was dribbly. I use it infrequently, about once a week, so perhaps it needs more time. Any other experiences with this?

[CWarren]

I've heard that shui ping pots stop leaking over time as they're used and residue builds. I have a hong ni shui ping that seems to leak less over time. It started with a decent lid fit, but was dribbly. I use it infrequently, about once a week, so perhaps it needs more time. Any other experiences with this?

I've had absolutely no issues with my Qing shui ni shui ping from Tony in all the time I've had it. Pours beautifully.

[jayinhk]

I have a pin zini F1 pot that got better with time. I have two identical pots and I used to tell between them by the fact I could stop the air flow on one with the airhole. Now it works on both!

I asked about the cooling thing because in gongfucha with oolong, tea is supposed to be consumed as hot as possible because it changes as it cools. Gotta slurp it out of the cups! I do use a cha hai, so the lid fit should be a non issue.