Used Yixing

[depravitea]

I was brewing some Golden Monkey, several short steeps.

[wyardley]

Hold that lid down while you're pouring!

[depravitea]

Hold that lid down while you're pouring!

Typically, I do, but I was manning a camera at the same time...

[hop_goblin]

Tom, took your advice once more, and boiled the pot in tea. I just brewed some Golden Monkey and I'm still alive, so it looks like I have a fully functional, pseudo-Yixing, teapot.
Thanks for the help and advice everyone.

I wouldn't be too quick to call it a pseudo-Yixing pot. After all there are degrees to quality. It may be just a mass produced pot. Enjoy it! I still have my first which I paid very little for made of cheap clay.

[Tead Off]

After you boil the pot with tea leaves, you should take a towel and rub it smooth. Then, every day, take the flash brew (the first one you toss out that opens the leaves), and, pour it over the teapot. In this way, you can build up the patina on it. Then when your session is finished, empty the leaves and wash in very hot water and polish again with your tea towl. Don't use white. Enjoy.

[depravitea]

I wouldn't be too quick to call it a pseudo-Yixing pot. After all there are degrees to quality. It may be just a mass produced pot. Enjoy it! I still have my first which I paid very little for made of cheap clay.

That's true, I guess I've heard so much about there being no way it could be Yixing that I stopped thinking of it like that, even if I didn't stop treating it like it was.

[depravitea]

After you boil the pot with tea leaves, you should take a towel and rub it smooth. Then, every day, take the flash brew (the first one you toss out that opens the leaves), and, pour it over the teapot. In this way, you can build up the patina on it. Then when your session is finished, empty the leaves and wash in very hot water and polish again with your tea towl. Don't use white. Enjoy.

I did exactly that, this morning, following your advice. I like having a use for the flash as you called it. It always kind of bothered me pouring that bit off. I like being able to do king of a maintenance or ritual each morning. Thanks very much!

[HeinzFrick]

Is anyone still reading this thread? I just bought three "old" pots off eBay and had them shipped to my work place. On the day they arrived, while driving home after work in my 2001 E320, I had the brilliant idea of actually taking the lid off one while sitting at a traffic light. For the first 2 seconds that the lid was off and I was looking into this dark, dusty/musty hole, everything was just absolutely wonderful; the sun was starting to go down, the traffic wasn't too bad, it was Friday and I was on my way home from a long week at work--absolutely wonderful. T-Minus 3 seconds into the opening of said vessel; looking up to check traffic light status--it hit me. A 50ft tsunami bringing 5 thousand years worth of China's best, dusty ghouls and skeletons and ghosts and setting them loose inside my Mercedes all floating on a pungent tang that bit into the leather seats! I shut off the AC as fast as I could to prevent damage to the "crazy expensive" charcoal cabin filter. Has anyone survived a similar experience?

[tingjunkie]

Has anyone survived a similar experience?

Nope. But if that had happened in my 1996 Honda Accord, I could just solve it with a "crazy cheap" pine tree dangling from my rear view.

Scrub those bastards out as best you can, boil them in hot water for a couple hours, repeat a the process a few times, and let them soak in a bleach solution for a week or so. If they aren't clean by then, start the whole process over.

Better yet... post some pics so we can tell you if the pots are worth the trouble before you spend all that time and effort.

[fire_snake]

Is anyone still reading this thread? I just bought three "old" pots off eBay and had them shipped to my work place. On the day they arrived, while driving home after work in my 2001 E320, I had the brilliant idea of actually taking the lid off one while sitting at a traffic light. For the first 2 seconds that the lid was off and I was looking into this dark, dusty/musty hole, everything was just absolutely wonderful; the sun was starting to go down, the traffic wasn't too bad, it was Friday and I was on my way home from a long week at work--absolutely wonderful. T-Minus 3 seconds into the opening of said vessel; looking up to check traffic light status--it hit me. A 50ft tsunami bringing 5 thousand years worth of China's best, dusty ghouls and skeletons and ghosts and setting them loose inside my Mercedes all floating on a pungent tang that bit into the leather seats! I shut off the AC as fast as I could to prevent damage to the "crazy expensive" charcoal cabin filter. Has anyone survived a similar experience?

I really must see this pot . . .

[IPT]

Pictures would be great.

[HeinzFrick]

Wow, I seriously thought my "first post ever" on this forum would be the ending note on this thread...

NOTE: I am a noobe; been into the Chinese culture for about 5 years now, trying to learn to speak the language, and for the last month, reading about Pu-erh, and the Yixing teapots...which led up the the events that occurred at the traffic light.

I'm at work now and just so happen to have my small Canon powershot with me, the pots are still in the trunk of my car (in a sealed plastic container, in lockdown as per the girlfriend). Below the eBay links to each pot, all from the same seller. I really didn't care if they were authentic or not because for the cheap price I paid it was a non issue, I just thought they were somewhat interesting and would be nice to have. He gave me a good price when I asked him to give me a good price if I bought all three. I see there he says they are form 1800-1859 but that has to be a typo and I really didn't expect that to be true, and didn't care. Anyway, here are the links, and if they don't work I will post the pics.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... MEWNX%3AIT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... MEWNX%3AIT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... MEWNX%3AIT

Cheers,
Heinz

[Chip]

Yes, please post the pics. This way every viewer does not have to go to the trouble. The links will expire soon anyway.

Thanks!

[TomVerlain]

I am very very cynical as a person. So take what I have to say with a grain of salt. Or a mountain of salt.

They look like what I call "Shoe Polish Specials". The first one is listed as being from 1800-1849. Besides having the exact same patina as the other two, I am pretty sure 150 year old tea pots do not sell for $11.00 in Beijing. Currently teapots from the 60's can fetch hundreds if not thousands of dollars, so true Qing Dynasty tea pots would not sell on ebay for $11.00.

I bought some teapots from ebay when I was starting out, and have expeience like this. Look at this as tuition.

Of course, If I am completely wrong, Christies and Sotheby's have record breaking sales each year in Hong Kong. You might be able to retire .....

Here is a link to a 2 million dollar teapot from 1948

http://teatrekker.wordpress.com/2010/07 ... 2-million/

[HeinzFrick]

Working on those pics now...

H