New to yixing tea pots - help request

[RunLoganRun]

Hello,

I am new here and this is my first post, though I have come here to read before.

I have been drinking tea for a few years now and have always used a ceramic tea pot for all my teas. I am looking to buy a yixing teapot just for ti kuan yin. I have searched the internet and have found one I like and wanted to ask if anyone has purchased anything from this site and if so what their experience with them was:

http://funalliance.com/tea/yixing.htm

The teapot I like comes in two sizes 11 ounces (330 ml) and 20 ounces (590 ml):

http://funalliance.com/tea/htm/teapot/870901654.htm
http://funalliance.com/tea/htm/teapot/870901653.htm

From what I read, they look good to me. But I just wanted to ask those that have much more experience than I if they thought so as well. Also, I was wondering if one of the sizes is more suited to ti kuan yin than the other.

Pardon my ignorance on the subject and any opinions are welcome.
Thanks

[debunix]

Also, I was wondering if one of the sizes is more suited to ti kuan yin than the other.

Haven't ordered from funalliance, so can't speak to that part of your question. But I do drink a lot of TKY, and as a general rule, smaller is better if you're going to do multiple infusions (gong fu cha) from one set of leaves--unless you have a truly remarkable bladder capacity.

[JRS22]

I've never purchased anything from Funalliance. I was considering doing so but when I searched Teachat I found some postings about Funalliance being non-responsive. They haven't updated their tea page in a year so they might be out of business. One option is to send them an email with questions and see if you get a response.

[tingjunkie]

Welcome to th board RLR. Were you planning on brewing the TKY gongfu style? If so, I would try to look for a pot in the range of 120ml or less. I think that's a good size to accommodate the 7-8g packets TKY often comes in.

[Chip]

I recall some issues with funalliance a while back. Not returning emails.

[RunLoganRun]

Thanks for all the responses, as well as warnings about funalliance. I searched the forum here for earlier posts about them and read about previous no shipment/no contact problems. I am emailing them now before considering my purchase further. I will post if they get back to me and how the transaction goes if I do choose them.

I do not use gongfu style steeping. I currently will steep ti kuan yin in my ceramic pot for 5-7 minutes with boiling water. With ti kuan yin I usually get around 4 steeps out of the leaves this way (sometimes 5 if the fourth was still flavorful). I have decided to go with a smaller tea pot per recommendations though (It is indeed a lot of fluid to be drinking. I have a 20 ounce tea pot now, and at 4-5 steeps I am drinking it all day.) Also, if I get the smaller tea pot, I will be able to try the gongfu style more readily.

Thanks again for all responses, you have been most helpful.

[steanze]

Hi!! Welcome to the board!

I think there are two main factors that we should consider so that you can get the most suitable pot for your use.
I will assume that you brew gongfu stile. I strongly recommend it - I find the tea much more tasty and it is interesting to see how the taste changes from a brew to another.

The first factor in choosing the teapot is size. This depends on how many people will be drinking tea with you, and on how much tea each person will drink.
We have to keep in mind that Tie guan yin will produce 3 or 4 brews, so if you want a total of 400ml of tea, then you will need a 100-120ml pot.
If you are drinking tea alone, and you drink a medium amount of tea, I would recommend a pot around 120-130ml. If you drink quite a lot of tea (I do), then perhaps you need something around 150-180ml. I would definitely not go above 200ml for one person, for instance a 300ml pot would give you 1.2 liters of tie guan yin.

The second factor we have to consider is clay type. Tie guan yin is a green oolong, and its aroma is very important. If you brew it in a very porous yixing pot you run the risk of making it worse than it is in porcelain or glass.
I do not know a lot about Tie Guan Yin, but I know more about Taiwanese high mountain oolong, which is similar in terms of the kind of brewing it requires.
So for Tie Guan Yin I strongly recommend a pot made of Zhu Ni clay or Da Hong Pao clay - it is a kind of yixing pot that can preserve better the aroma of your tea, and therefore it is more appropriate for Tie Guan Yin.

To sum up, if I were you I would pick a pot like
http://cgi.ebay.com/Spotted-Deers-Zhu-N ... 35a45bc3f4
or
http://cgi.ebay.com/Yixing-Zisha-Zhu-Ni ... 414d021a6b
or
http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... roduct=747

At first glance, the pots you linked are very porous. Also, to me the quality of the clay of those I linked seems a bit better

Well, there are other things one can consider when choosing a teapot (shape, speed of pour)- but for Tie Guan Yin a fast pour is not super necessary and I think the shape of those I linked would work well.

I hope this helps!
steanze

[RunLoganRun]

I guess I didn't know there were so many clay types and that each type would impact the flavor differently. I will keep da hong pao and zhu ni clays in mind in my searches. I like a lot of the pots available at the three sources you provided and will likely eventually purchase from one of those.

If you don't mind, on one of those sites I found a yixing pot made of Tuan Ni and Qing Hui Ni clays:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Yixing-Tuan-Ni-Qing ... 3efcefd109

Do you know if those are too porous for ti kuan yin like the ones I initially picked? Or should I try to stick to da hong pao or zhu ni clays as they accent ti kuan yin better.

Again, thank you for helping introduce me to yixing tea pots!

[tingjunkie]

We have to keep in mind that Tie guan yin will produce 3 or 4 brews, so if you want a total of 400ml of tea, then you will need a 100-120ml pot.

Good quality TGY should produce far more than 3-4 brews when brewed gongfu style. Some will often last for 3-4 days or more!

[Cyphre]

Call me crazy but after going to that fun alliance website, I just don't trust the quality of those yixing teapots. Not saying that they have to be expensive or even high quality but I would just be worried about what all is in the clay.

[Herb_Master]

That teapot looks awfully complex and it is still 200ml, it may look appealing now but may teachatters find after a year or less that they wished they had gone for smaller and plainer teapots. The beauty of the unadorned shape grows on you after you have made several purchases.

If you are going to use the teapot year after year for the same tea type (green oolong) then the fact that a porous duanni may rob you of fragrance will be a drawback for some time but after you have used it twenty or thirty times it should gradually rob you of less and then less, and after a year or more it will start adding back into the tea.

[RunLoganRun]

I have been looking at the recommended Yunnan Sourcing website at Da Hong Pao clay yixing tea pots. I have fallen in love with so many! I am having a hard time making a choice now. I find the dark red-brown hue appealing and this site provides many pictures of each tea pot plus descriptions about the clay, tea pot build, good tea pairings for clay (this site says that Da Hong Pao is a good match for ti kuan yin too and so I am sticking with it), and the artist as well.

Thank you for this resource Steanze. I think I am going to wind up buying two at this time , I am thinking of getting one for wuyi oolongs as well.

This is the tea pot that I am pretty much set on getting for ti kuan yin:

http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... roduct=503

My only concern now is the small size. I had just measured out 150 ml in a measuring cup and poured it into my tea cup and it only fills it half way . And with tea leaves in the pot I would get even less than 150 ml. I realize I will be getting multiple steeps out of the tea, but I would kinda want at least one tea mugful of tea between steeps. Do any of you use a larger pot? This is making me lean towards this larger tea pot even though I find the design a little less appealing:

http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... roduct=944

It is 230 ml (close to 8 ounces) and will fill my mug a bit better.

[edkrueger]

Call me crazy but after going to that fun alliance website, I just don't trust the quality of those yixing teapots. Not saying that they have to be expensive or even high quality but I would just be worried about what all is in the clay.

I have received a very nice, but large, duanni tea pot from them. Both good clay and good construction. I have, however, also received from them a rather scary bright yellow teapot –which I lost.

[chrl42]

I guess I didn't know there were so many clay types and that each type would impact the flavor differently. I will keep da hong pao and zhu ni clays in mind in my searches. I like a lot of the pots available at the three sources you provided and will likely eventually purchase from one of those.

If you don't mind, on one of those sites I found a yixing pot made of Tuan Ni and Qing Hui Ni clays:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Yixing-Tuan-Ni-Qing ... 3efcefd109

Do you know if those are too porous for ti kuan yin like the ones I initially picked? Or should I try to stick to da hong pao or zhu ni clays as they accent ti kuan yin better.

Again, thank you for helping introduce me to yixing tea pots!

Is it Zisha? not sure, but certainly not for TGY..

[RunLoganRun]

I decided not to get that one based on guidance from people here on the forum. This is the one I am getting for ti kuan yin. A yixing da hong pao clay 230 ml pot.

http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... roduct=944