My first Yixing teapot

[tingjunkie]

Stating the obvious, but Gary Oldman is the man.

My green tea goes in a gaiwan, unless it's Japanese, then it goes in Tokoname or a glazed banko kyusu.

Glazed Banko? Perish the thought.

Not when it's the original Meji-era white banko done almost egg shell thin.

Do you think it would be better than a good, unglazed, Banko clay teapot?

Never tried an unglazed grey/silver/purple banko, but it's on my to do list. My pot (and set of 5 cups) are very similar to porcelain, it's just that the underlying clay is white banko. I will say, whether it's due to their shape or glaze, that the cups are my favorite cups for oolong. They just let the tea's sweetness shine through, and hold on to the fragrance in ways modern porcelain just doesn't. If I had to speculate as to why, I would guess that micro cracks (or crazing) in the glaze probably creates nucleation sites. On the other hand, I could be talking completely out my a$$. To modify a Bob Marley lyric, "Who tastes it, knows it!"

[bagua7]

Thanks guys, I know all about Chao Zhou pots, I thought that the zhu ni was a subtype of these. So it's basically a way of referring to them Chao Zhou red clay or Chao Zhou zhu ni clay. Cool!

[chrl42]

well..Zhuni is just a word..no one qualifies to define what's what. But Yixing followers seem to be careful at using 'Zhuni' word,

For example, old Taiwanese used 3 words calling Yixing red clay..Zhuni, Hongni and Hongtu

Zhuni is that delicate red clay with a high pitch sound. During old time Yixing people called it 'ShiHuangni',

Hongni is high-quality red clay..today's Huanglongshan Zhuni is rather like old usage of Hongni.

Hongtu is red zisha..porous one..is today's Hongni

during 5~60's Factory1 made Hongni ShuiPings. Porous yet high-pitch sound..around ROC had those clays too...is more like halfway between Zhuni and Hongni (in today)..it was depleted in 70's

since 70's they used Hongtu (Huanglongshan Hongni) instead..this clay is same with zini except for color..I give these examples just to talk about how other people outside Teachat view this issue

[tingjunkie]

Awesome info as usual Chrl42. Here's something I don't quite understand though. If Hongtu is more porous than the Hongni of the past, would it be possible to grind Hongtu down to a finer particle size and cause it to be less porous? Couldn't grinding/pulverizing even be done with Duanni clay and arrive at something approaching a particle size of traditional Zhuni? Maybe the cost of grinding the clay down to that size is too prohibitive?

[chrl42]

Awesome info as usual Chrl42. Here's something I don't quite understand though. If Hongtu is more porous than the Hongni of the past, would it be possible to grind Hongtu down to a finer particle size and cause it to be less porous? Couldn't grinding/pulverizing even be done with Duanni clay and arrive at something approaching a particle size of traditional Zhuni? Maybe the cost of grinding the clay down to that size is too prohibitive?

grinding or filtering won't change the basic quality of clay. Mid-Qing Zhunis were processed to a bigger particle size..yet still forms a very delicate skin. That's because base clay was high-quality Zhuni.

Nowadays Zhuni potters sometimes produce 2 versions of Zhuni..bigger particle one and delicately-processed one..demand is not different..depends on personal taste..

Many famous masters hand-process Yixing clay, which eventually gets bigger particle..they believe hand-making (as old time) earns more natural skin and seasoning effect. Point is basic quality of clay, then adequate firing...grinding is last choice...

[bagua7]

Please stop buying yakkie chemical pots B7. As to quote from your own quote:

"See, now you have to spend extra money when you could have done the right thing from the beginning."

Oops, sorry I knew there was a question that I wanted to answer but I forgot back then, so here we go:

Yes Toki, you are right...but sometimes one must bite the dust more than once when buying Yixing online: enhanced pics, fake descriptions, there is a lot of BS coming out of China nowadays that is hard to know what's real. Also with certain clays like Ben Shan, duan ni, lu ni, pin zi ni and hei ni it's easier to buy a fake than the real deal.

This is can be a very expensive business, I can't even imagine what is like if one decides to venture into master's work. I would end up heart broken if I were to pay 15,000 grand for a fake.

Gerard.

[Tead Off]

So, why do you continue trying to buy yixing online if you admit that your knowledge is deficient? Is it just the idea that yixing is something above and beyond everything else? At your price range it is not. It is not a topic you can really learn without seeing and touching the real things. And, you need a teacher to help you understand what you are seeing and touching, someone to educate your eye. And, when you think you have some understanding of the subject, you might realize that you don't have the money to buy what you think you want. And, what you want, is also sought after by millions of Chinese dealers and collectors and the chance of you getting some kind of gem gets smaller and smaller.

Okay, it's not that bad. You can still buy good commercial pots for $200-$300 that will brew good tea. If I were you, I would save my money and ask someone like Tim or Chrl42 to help you find something. Otherwise, it's the blind leading the blind. Or, you can get your kicks buying $20 pots and hoping they're not going to poison you. (They probably won't).

[bagua7]

I stopped buying cheap ass pots (except for the zen8tea odd one which are good for the price, no chemicals added) a while ago. But you still can get ripped off with pots priced over $100 bucks (see zishayixing.com, they have good pots but also bad ones). Today I only source my pots online from:

1. Shouzhen
2. JTS
3. Tea Masters

And the vendor mentioned first.

I just wanted to address TIM's question.

To me is not about being poisoned (it's worse the processed food you eat around the corner or the air you breathe in an industrial area) but the total lack of 'spirit' of a chemically-treated pot. Typical eBay pot that fits this category:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MagicStore-Valu ... 4aaf32572e

And not necessarily selling at $20 bucks.

Lots of fakes out there which digital photography makes them look very good:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chinese-Yixing- ... 4cffd47e9f

And stick a certificate of authenticity on top and you'll have a winner!

Good commercial pots have less of that spirit but if the clay used is sound, well at least they got some Qi.

[TIM]

[tingjunkie]

Okay, it's not that bad. You can still buy good commercial pots for $200-$300 that will brew good tea.

Dear god, I should hope so!

The market has gone crazy though. I got into Yixing through friends and this forum about 2 1/2 years ago. Back then, the general consensus was a 70's/80's commercial zhuni pot could still be had for around $200 if you got lucky, and a very basic modern (but still "real") zi ni pot began around $25 and up. Nowadays, I still love hunting for the cheap "forgotten" pots: the dusty ones discovered and pulled from the warehouses of small Chinatown stores, the ones mixed in a random assortment of Asian brick-a-brack in suburban Antique stores, the mislabeled lucky finds on eBay. That's a fun hobby, but if you want a decent basic pot from a safe online store, you'll be hard pressed to find one at $50, and most are around $100 and up. Makes me glad I've been accumulating my lucky finds, and curious to see where the market will top out!

[gingkoseto]

Okay, it's not that bad. You can still buy good commercial pots for $200-$300 that will brew good tea.

Dear god, I should hope so!

The market has gone crazy though. I got into Yixing through friends and this forum about 2 1/2 years ago. Back then, the general consensus was a 70's/80's commercial zhuni pot could still be had for around $200 if you got lucky, and a very basic modern (but still "real") zi ni pot began around $25 and up. Nowadays, I still love hunting for the cheap "forgotten" pots: the dusty ones discovered and pulled from the warehouses of small Chinatown stores, the ones mixed in a random assortment of Asian brick-a-brack in suburban Antique stores, the mislabeled lucky finds on eBay. That's a fun hobby, but if you want a decent basic pot from a safe online store, you'll be hard pressed to find one at $50, and most are around $100 and up. Makes me glad I've been accumulating my lucky finds, and curious to see where the market will top out!

Indeed yixing has become more and more expensive and money is more and more worthless nowadays
This is a picture book on antique yixing, published in 2001. The author kindly included the estimated price (at that time probably quite accurate estimation) of each teapot in order to "give the readers some reference prices". I guess year after year, the readers either feel more and more amused or jealous about the given reference prices.


On the other hand, I think even today it's still quite possible to get authentic yixing below $50, but of course it always depends on one's criteria and depends one whether one wants to spend money to save time or spend time to save money, or spend either just for fun.
I still like my $25 (or so) shui ping from Yunnan sourcing in its ebay days. Funny thing is, later I met a Chinese man who bought a similar teapot in China, about the same time, by the same craftsman, and he spent much more than $25.

[Tead Off]

Authentic=made in Yixing.

Armed with this information, we are now experts!

Just having some fun, Gingko.

[Hannah]

Authentic=made in Yixing.

Armed with this information, we are now experts!

Just having some fun, Gingko.

Hahaha this made me crack up

[bagua7]

Could you be do kind to let us know what do you mean by 'spirit' in a yixing pot? A pic perhaps from your collection?

Unfortunately I don't own such pots for more than obvious reasons but I can only imagine the feeling of holding one. Yixing master pots have much in common with works of other fields of art. Let's see:

[Tead Off]

Can you explain what the painting and the yixing teapot have in common?