Salsero - nice pot! Is it newly made or older? What parameters did you use for the Shan Lin Xi? I've recently tried 30s then several 20s and then longer and longer.Salsero wrote:I just tried a shan lin xi oolong in a half-full zhuni pot I got got from Nada, and it seems to work quite nicely. This is a old photo of the pot with a different tea in it.
TokyoB
Jul 11th, '09, 15:17
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First, Salsero, that's a lovely looking pot. How does it brew that Shan ling Xi compared to another type of pot? Can you taste a difference? I like this tea a lot.TokyoB wrote:Tead Off - is that considered unusual or somewhat commonly done in China? Just curious...Tead Off wrote:I often use a larger pot and do not fill it up. I have a 240ml zhuni pot that I fill half way or so with water. Brews great. Maybe it allows the leaves to open up fully and extract more flavor? I only know it works.
Also, is there any way to tell from looking at a pot that it is made from zhuni clay?
TokyoB, I think most people don't use a bigger pot half full but I've met some who do. I don't think it takes anything away from the tea if you follow the same parameters you would for a smaller pot. I don't believe heat loss is an issue.
If you notice the wet look of Salsero's pot combined with the redness, this is a characteristic of zhuni. Zhuni has a glow to it. The shrinkage is very high during firing and many pots show 'crawling' of the clay. You can also see the joins on some pots, especially where the handle is. Billy Mood's site talks a lot about zhuni and what it looks like over the years. The problem I encounter is not knowing how mixed a zhuni pot is. I am not expert enough to simply look at a pot and know what clays have been added. And, of course, there are those pots that have artificial color added to the mix. Generally, the zhuni have nice rings when the lid is scraped against the pots when lifting off. High fired pots will have higher rings.
Chrl42 will know more about these clays than I. Having a vendor you trust is important no matter where you live. Hope this helps.
Jul 11th, '09, 15:26
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Tim, Hopefully the cousins will meet some day: Everyone winds up in NYC eventually. I never thought about how difficult it must be to fashion the legs for a pot.
The pot is indeed from Nada, as eagle-eye Betta ID'd it perfectly. It was a new pot, one that he found in a store in China and that's about all he knew about it. It is one of the nicest I own, but it was not expensive. Nada gives excellent value.
TokyoB, I have been gravitating toward a quick rinse for gao shan then doing a first infusion for 40 s to 45 s. This particular one had been sitting around since last year's harvest, so it was well past its prime, but still good tea.
The pot is indeed from Nada, as eagle-eye Betta ID'd it perfectly. It was a new pot, one that he found in a store in China and that's about all he knew about it. It is one of the nicest I own, but it was not expensive. Nada gives excellent value.
TokyoB, I have been gravitating toward a quick rinse for gao shan then doing a first infusion for 40 s to 45 s. This particular one had been sitting around since last year's harvest, so it was well past its prime, but still good tea.
Jul 11th, '09, 15:28
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TIM
pb2q wrote:Both are great looking pots. What are the volumes?TIM wrote:Love your pot Salsero. What a beauty! I always fancy a pot with legs... very hard to made.
I also fancy a pot with legs. I bought one in Hong Kong from the wrong tea shop. The pot looks great but so far it makes bad tea.
Thanks pb2q - An Updated shot. This is somewhere between 350 ml.
Tead off - Just from my experience, if you can see the crawling from a distance and its very prominent.... it's mostly modern zhuni or toilet tissue zhuni
http://amateursdethechinois.blogspot.co ... -pots.html
Last edited by TIM on Jul 11th, '09, 15:46, edited 2 times in total.
My, that pot has sexy legs!TIM wrote:pb2q wrote:Both are great looking pots. What are the volumes?TIM wrote:Love your pot Salsero. What a beauty! I always fancy a pot with legs... very hard to made.
I also fancy a pot with legs. I bought one in Hong Kong from the wrong tea shop. The pot looks great but so far it makes bad tea.
Thanks pb2q - An Updated shot. This is somewhere between 350 ml.
And I identify it wrongSalsero wrote: It was a new pot, one that he found in a store in China and that's about all he knew about it.
Thank you and Tead-off to suggest using not-full pot for brewing tea. I'll do that with my larger pots. I was hesitate to use larger yixing pot as it requires a lot of tea leaves. Now I will use it half-full or 75% full. Thanks once again!
@ Tim: please stop.. I'm drooling now...
Jul 11th, '09, 16:00
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Jul 11th, '09, 20:39
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I am not sure if this was made clear, tingjunkie, but DHP or Dahongpao clay is a form of Zhuni. There are many colours of Zhuni which range usually from a shade of yellow through orange to the deeper red of DHP. Sometimes there are some brownish ones as well.tingjunkie wrote: I am also intrigued by the 130ml Da Hong Pao (sp?) teapot going for $55 on the site by the same artisan. Not as many people seem to have experience with DHP clay for me to gain much of a knowledge base about it though.
Many of these Zhuni clays have more specific names which are mostly hard to remember. We can all remember DHP on teachat because it is also the name of a famous tea.
I have 2 DHP pots I got for about 12 dollars each from the manufacturer's shop. They are nice and thick (perhaps thicker than some zhuni) so they do make a difference for brewing oolongs, even if its just that they keep your water hotter for longer. I like them, and buying a $50 one, you'd probably get a better one than I have.
I think Zhuni is a subject even potters in Yixing get complicated at.
And it also has many places being mined,
Traditionally Mt. Zhaozhuang was famous for high-quality Zhuni, very hard to see on the market, since 50's neibouring Mt. Huanglong called Xiao Mei Yao came along. Zhaozhuang Zhuni and Xiao Mei Yao Zhuni are 2 greats of Zhuni I think.
Zhuni is made from very delicate clay that is in high amount of iron, clay itself looks yellow-ish but after firing it turns red with a shrinkage appx. 20~30%.
Here I wanna comment on is color and wrinkle.
Most of Lao (old) Zhuni I've seen shows a hint of orange-ish tone to it, however iron oxide or copper oxide-contained Zhuni would rather shows down-right red or orange. It's very hard to explain, but trait of Yixing clay is that its color can be defined as none
Tim's postings were examples of Zhuni, you can feel 'density' coming from shrinkage and also lots of wrinkles, these ones usually sounds metal tone after tapping and heavier than other clays. Faking wrinkle is also done sometimes, but wrinkle is more simple and only seen on special places, has no dynamic or strong feel to it that is coming from high shrinkage and amount of iron.
Salsero's pot looks to be contained mesh clay for exhibition quality (Tiao Sha) and also feeling is different from Tim's pots.
Oh and DHP clay, it's one contained iron oxide powder..Wang Jian Ying and Fan Yue Hong made a lot of money in China with DHP clay though most of feedbacks were negative...
And it also has many places being mined,
Traditionally Mt. Zhaozhuang was famous for high-quality Zhuni, very hard to see on the market, since 50's neibouring Mt. Huanglong called Xiao Mei Yao came along. Zhaozhuang Zhuni and Xiao Mei Yao Zhuni are 2 greats of Zhuni I think.
Zhuni is made from very delicate clay that is in high amount of iron, clay itself looks yellow-ish but after firing it turns red with a shrinkage appx. 20~30%.
Here I wanna comment on is color and wrinkle.
Most of Lao (old) Zhuni I've seen shows a hint of orange-ish tone to it, however iron oxide or copper oxide-contained Zhuni would rather shows down-right red or orange. It's very hard to explain, but trait of Yixing clay is that its color can be defined as none
Tim's postings were examples of Zhuni, you can feel 'density' coming from shrinkage and also lots of wrinkles, these ones usually sounds metal tone after tapping and heavier than other clays. Faking wrinkle is also done sometimes, but wrinkle is more simple and only seen on special places, has no dynamic or strong feel to it that is coming from high shrinkage and amount of iron.
Salsero's pot looks to be contained mesh clay for exhibition quality (Tiao Sha) and also feeling is different from Tim's pots.
Oh and DHP clay, it's one contained iron oxide powder..Wang Jian Ying and Fan Yue Hong made a lot of money in China with DHP clay though most of feedbacks were negative...