Specific uses of YiXing teapot

[manyfridays]

I have been making green tea with my YiXing teapot. But have now received gifts of different kind of tea: oolong, pu-erh and white tea. Is it really that important to NOT use my YiXing teapot to brew any other tea?

[debunix]

I used my first yixing for several kinds of tea as I was getting the 'feel' of it, but none of those were particularly strongly flavored or especially delicate--shu puerh, some nice greener and roasted oolongs. It's a matter of flavor carryover from one tea to the next. If you're rinsing it well after use, and not going from a smoky lapsong souchong to a delicate silver needle, and you like the tea you're brewing in it, it's fine.

It makes sense to me to dedicate a yixing pot to a general type of tea, because I found a source of cheap-but-functional pots, and I did notice some slight flavoring of the water when I did a recent 'teapot' hot-water tasting from my most-used pots. But at some point I think the dedication of one pot to one type of tea is simply an excuse to expand the yixing collection--not that there's anything wrong with that.

[manyfridays]

Thanks. I was thinking of getting either a glass or porcelain for all the other type of tea, but just use the YiXing for green tea.

[wyardley]

I'd actually be tempted to brew the green in porcelain to start with.

[manyfridays]

I'd actually be tempted to brew the green in porcelain to start with.

Why is that?

[wyardley]

Why is that?

I don't drink a lot of greens to start with, so that's one reason I don't have any pots dedicated to greens. Personally, I wouldn't use a Yixing teapot for Chinese green teas because:
a) Even if it doesn't hurt the taste, I don't think it will provide much benefit.
b) I would worry that the heat retention of most Yixing pots would be a bit too good for many greens. I would tend to use a thin wall gaiwan or porcelain teapot instead.
c) Zisha is alleged to have some properties of smoothing out / softening the taste of a tea; I think many clays would actually do this a bit too much for a green.
d) While Yixing pots probably were used for green teas a long time ago, these days, they tend not to be for whatever reason.

But don't take my word for it...
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=10888
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=13498
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=8337

To answer your original question a bit more directly, I don't think the world will end if you experiment with using your teapot and different teas and see what you think. Long-term, I think most people would recommend dedicating one pot to one type of tea (how specific you should make that "type" is a more complicated question). I think most would also recommend against brewing any scented / flavored tea in a porous / earthenware pot. But, as I've said before, the Yixing police won't come smash down your door if you decide to use one pot for everything.

[manyfridays]

Thanks for such a detailed response. Much appreciated. Do you recommend a place to get nice porcelain teapots?

[Chip]

Welcome to the forum!

Not specific to Yixing, but to bare clay in general ...

I have extensively used singular Japanese unglazed pots for different unflavored teas and ran into a blending of flavors and aromas that was quite distracting to me personally.

Also, I had brewed a LOT Chinese Long Jing green in a dedicated Yixing, but it dulled the flavor ... again for me personally. I just happened to brew the same LJ in a glazed or glass pot and was astounded by the improvement.

While for the short term, it might not make much difference, ultimately if you are going to brew in bare clay pots, you will want to dedicate to types of teas ... how specifically you want to do this will be up to you.

YMMV ...

[bagua7]

Do you recommend a place to get nice porcelain teapots?

Pick and choose:

1. Dragon Tea House

http://stores.ebay.com/Dragon-Tea-House ... 34.c0.m322

2. Red Lantern Tea

http://stores.ebay.com/Red-Lantern-Tea/ ... 34.c0.m322

3. Yunnan Sourcing

http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... oduct=1386

4. zen8tea

http://cgi.ebay.com/Chinese-Porcelain-T ... 588db8a58a

5. R.J. Tea House

http://cgi.ebay.com/Heng-Tao-Ding-Porce ... 3f07e0bb49

http://cgi.ebay.com/Hengfu-Lotus-Porcel ... 3f07c17492

[Chip]

... or a gaiwan!

[chrl42]

I'd love to use stout-looking, thin-walled yixings for green on every day use, but certainly not for teas like Biluochun..hehe

[manyfridays]

Thanks Chip. This website is great.

[bagua7]

IMO the best vessel to brew a Chinese delicate green like longjing, bi luo chun or a taiping (monkey tea) is a jingde thin-walled gaiwan.

[DoctorD]

My palate probably lacks sufficient refinement, but...I often toggle between a (dedicated) Yixing pot and a porcelain gaiwan for (non-Japanese) greens and frankly often don't find all that much difference. Certain Chinese and Korean greens actually taste better to me in the Yixing pot. Trust your taste buds.