The unofficial/official HAGI topic!

[woozl]

Ok, here we go.......Maybe I got carried away but they's so photogenic
As Jimi Hendrix would say "I sure got the bluez today"







Wow the loquat is off the hook.....Gnarly .THIS is your brain on Hagi

[Victoria]

Oops! I guess it's better to post here!!

The Seigan blue pic looks like a swimming pool!
I could dive right in!

Nice Biwi too, congrats!

[CynTEAa]

Whoa! Nice pics of those gorgeous beauties. Congrats and many happy cups!

[woozl]

Thanks,
the vendor snapz don't do justice
Very nice warez sayz woozl.

[Chip]

Great shots of great wares, Woozl!

I have to pick my Biwa everytime I walk by it, it really calls to me.

[Seeker]

Regarding the intense leaking of my new Biwa... very happy progress,
and no "treatment" necessary!!!
1st - Here is a pic of my Biwa in action!


So, here's the scoop - if you've been following, you may remember I received my biwa several days ago. What you don't know (I was pm-ing with Chip only) is that when I received it and went to set it up with its first water exposures (first pouring in hot water, then placing in pot of warm water and bringing almost to a boil, turning off and letting sit overnight), I noticed that it leaked literally like a strainer/seive! (this is NOT an exageration, the biwa was half empty from full in a matter of seconds)

I immediately pm'd Chip to get instruction as I had read there may be a need to "treat" with some method to seal. Chip and I began to exchange pm's. As Chip was firming up a technique to share (over the course of 2 or 3 pm's) I went to show my sweetheart the seive effect, and it had totally abated (this was about 2 or 3 days later, and the biwa had been sitting out on a cooling rack to dry)!!! Only a single drop of water appeared on the side-bottom. This was yesterday (and I had been preparing myself to undergo the cornstarch treatment methods, both hot and cold - preparing emotionally & patience-wise).

Well, based on this very interesting abatement development, I was bold and decided to have tea this morning out of my new loquat biwa! The pic above is my sharing of my mornings tea in biwa with you (btw, the tea is Shincha Hatsumi from O-Cha). I love this biwa!!! It feels so wonderful in my hands, against my lips, and it is so cool to gaze upon throughout the course of the tea infusions.

I share this rather long post for all who participated in the Hagi Offer #4, in case you experience(d) strong leakage - my discovery is that no treatment was required other than with plain, filtered water (all the water I used was from my RO system (that's reverse osmosis).

Cheers!

[Seeker]

I beg your collective pardons, but I must post again - now that I am officially a Hagi guy, and actively using my Hagi, I am forming questions - the questions of a novice. So a query for you Hagi adventurers further along on the path than I...

1. Due to the porous nature of Hagi, is there any danger of leaching clay and/or glaze elements into the tea (I imagine so, so perhaps the better question is - are the elements used in Hagi creation safe? I'm hearkening back to Raku here, and some of the discussions about safety and Raku).
2. Again, due to porousness, should a specific piece of Hagi ware be used with only a single tea?
3. Over time, how does one deal with the odor that can develop with a tea patina? (I have noticed this with a couple of yunomi purchased as well as a stainless thermal travel mug I use for tea - a brown patina develops that can smell 'sharp' & 'off' and I find really detracts/distracts from the freshly infused tea aromas; with the yunomis and SS mug, I had to scrub firmly - the SS lost it's odor, but due to the porous nature of the yunomis, the odor persists ).

Gramercy fair Masters and Maidens!
Cheers.

[Chip]

Thanks for sharing, Seeker.

The Hagi Special Offer #4 will be memorable for several reasons. First the Biwa-s are absolutely stunning! I am really quite happy that I got more than one, and am still looking at the one or three that are still available. Two are on reserve pending receipt of the order form. But #22 is really beautiful.

Secondly the leakers. I had one leaker as well, though I jumped in with the corn starch method since I wanted to have some precedent to share with other participants of this Special Offer. The corn starch method worked ike a charm. Not even a drop has leaked in 15 minutes!

I am at a loss why Seeker's healed itself ( I am hearing this from another participant as well. Haunted Hagi?

[Chip]

In partial answer to your questions.

1. I would not put Raku and Hagi in the same boat. Raku simply has a lot of potential issues, especially "Western Raku."

I may be wrong, but I have not heard of any danger issues with Hagi. I a sure if there was a danger, we would all hear about it. There are a lot of clay teaware items on the market, generally they are pretty safe coming from Japan. Most Kyusu-s are clay.

2. I would certainly consider dedication to a particular tea, or set of teas. I would think you can use the same cup for almost all japanese teas with the exception of the roasted types which would likely pass on their rather persistant toastiness to your Hagi.

3. I dip my Hagi everytime in Hot water before and after use. I would think this is going to reduce that problem, but maybe that problem will never occur. If you are getting a raised up kind of patina, that is likely tea stained scale deposits. Maybe?

[Intuit]

Porous pottery + water => clay pore rewetting and filling, reduced leakage. Condition is probably temporary, depending on usage, local humidity. Tea oils may also 'heal' porous hagiwara.

I hesitate to use the term "wetting expansion" for this pottery, as it is often described as high-fired. The 'softness' of expansion is more likely due to the rough clay mixtures (not highly refined, for reasons of earthy texturizing). More likely, this is a case of pore water uptake and temporary pore interconnection, before minerals are released into pore space, changing surface tension and pore connection path resistance during prolonged soaking.

Recommend using cornstarch method, just to be safe, as it will be a durable fix to excess clay wall leakage.

Porous pottery + water post-change in porosity, not so prone to tea organics uptake and retention. Even less of an issue post-cornstarch treatment.

Hagi glaze is not like raku (metallic, very low fire, reactive).

[Seeker]

Thanks Chip.

If you are getting a raised up kind of patina, that is likely tea stained scale deposits. Maybe?

I use RO water and have been for a couple of years now, so no scale. I get virtually zero scale in my kettle. Thus my sense that is a purely tea patina?
Another factor perhaps, my SS travel mug goes to work and on drives and vacations with me where the tea may sit for hours before I drink it all (typically I've had morning tea, and I'm being a tea whore and want more, but don't actually drink it all - and end up rinsing out the cup at the end of the day; however, this is not the case with the yunomis).
I've actually wondered if there is a minute fungus or mold that likes tea dregs and gets in there, but I don't know. I mean the yunomis get rinsed right after every use. Puzzled about this one. Just have to wait and see.

Oh, I will say that my SS mug and the yunomis of which I speak held many types of tea - puerh, greens (both J and Ch), and Oolongs. They were our every day vessels for a while.

Peace.

[Chip]

ahhhhh...

You should not have this so much with greens. I cannot say about the others, but if you are rinsing well right after use, you should be OK.

[Intuit]

I made the mistake once of brewing tea and toting it for about 2 days in a new stainless steel thermos, on a long stint of sampling field work with little access to potable water. I rinsed as best I could, but by day 3, the empty thermos began to smell of mold.

I have been unable to completely get the smell out, despite long soakings with baking soda slurry. Even dry, it has that unpleasant odor.

[Victoria]

I have had no such problems with oolongs! Sometimes I soak my Hagi before use, sometimes I do not. I have no residue smell whatsoever.

[Victoria]

Yum, nothing like a steaming bowl of cornstarch gruel to start your day!

My Biwa was a leaker, emptying the entire bowl in less than 3 minutes. However the second time around with just plain water I saw a major improvement. Now doing the cornstarch rountine just to really speed up the process.