So, I have a general understanding of yixing and its function and importance. But, I do have one small question. Though, I know and understand why you should only use one type of tea per teapot, I do not know what the scope of 'type' is. How specific is 'one type of tea.' If I use a teapot for something like a li shan, is it best to only brew other li shans, or is just brewing lightly oxidized oolongs enough?
Thanks, and sorry if this has already been answered, but I couldn't find any other topics.
-Ethan
Sep 23rd, '11, 22:41
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Sep 23rd, '11, 22:54
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TIM
Re: Quick question about yixing.
Yixing dedication to a single cultivar 'Should' be for people whom have been collecting (more then 7 good, real yixing), using and understanding the way of tea for a much longer period. For new enthusiasts, dedeciating Yixing for one of the seven catagory is sufficiant enough. Learning and drinking tea that you love 'Should' be in the main focus, until someone is more comfortable to those tea, then they can move on to the narrower directions. Getting well practice with a basic vessel is essential.
Re: Quick question about yixing.
Because of the excellent article posted by Ginkoseto I'm going to rephrase your question by replacing the sentence "Though, I know and understand why you should only use one type of tea per teapot ... 'type' is." with "Though, I know and understand why you could only use one type of tea per teapot ... 'type' is."
Now that I got that out of the way, I wanted to offer my opinion, which differs from TIM's. Whether you are a new tea drinker or an experienced tea master, to appreciate tea you must start from a strong foundation, and I believe that is to respect your tea. Without tea there would be no tea to appreciate. I personally dedicate one tea to one yixing. I used to use multiple teas of similar characteristics in one yixing, but I felt like I was whoring (for lack of a better word) out my yixing. I believe in respecting my teas and tea vessels. It feels right to me to make one tea exclusively in one yixing. Because yixing is porous your pot will start to have a mix of smells and flavors after brewing multiple different teas.
Now to address your question more directly. A type of tea (in this case Li Shan) can vary from as large as Oolong's to Taiwanese Oolong's, light roasted* Taiwanese Oolong's, Li Shan Oolong's or Li Shan Varietal (I'm not sure if Li Shan is the varietal or if it is a sub varietal or if it is a completely different varietal altogether), to a single farm's Li Shan.
*I'm assuming it's light roasted because I've never had a dark roasted Li Shan, but replace light roasted with dark roasted if it is necessary.
If I chose to brew Li Shan in my yixing. I would only brew one farmer's Li Shan in that yixing. I would consistently buy from the same farmer (and if I didn't have that luxury, from the same vendor, and reassure myself from time to time by asking the owner if the current crop is from the same farm as the previous crop).
One important thing to remember is it's okay to make mistakes (since we're posting inspirational ideas, might as well post this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJAq6drKKzE). You can easily reset your yixing by soaking it in hot water and then you can start over with a new set of teas or one singular tea. There is something great about experimenting anyway.
A little long winded I know, but I hope this helps.
Now that I got that out of the way, I wanted to offer my opinion, which differs from TIM's. Whether you are a new tea drinker or an experienced tea master, to appreciate tea you must start from a strong foundation, and I believe that is to respect your tea. Without tea there would be no tea to appreciate. I personally dedicate one tea to one yixing. I used to use multiple teas of similar characteristics in one yixing, but I felt like I was whoring (for lack of a better word) out my yixing. I believe in respecting my teas and tea vessels. It feels right to me to make one tea exclusively in one yixing. Because yixing is porous your pot will start to have a mix of smells and flavors after brewing multiple different teas.
Now to address your question more directly. A type of tea (in this case Li Shan) can vary from as large as Oolong's to Taiwanese Oolong's, light roasted* Taiwanese Oolong's, Li Shan Oolong's or Li Shan Varietal (I'm not sure if Li Shan is the varietal or if it is a sub varietal or if it is a completely different varietal altogether), to a single farm's Li Shan.
*I'm assuming it's light roasted because I've never had a dark roasted Li Shan, but replace light roasted with dark roasted if it is necessary.
If I chose to brew Li Shan in my yixing. I would only brew one farmer's Li Shan in that yixing. I would consistently buy from the same farmer (and if I didn't have that luxury, from the same vendor, and reassure myself from time to time by asking the owner if the current crop is from the same farm as the previous crop).
One important thing to remember is it's okay to make mistakes (since we're posting inspirational ideas, might as well post this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJAq6drKKzE). You can easily reset your yixing by soaking it in hot water and then you can start over with a new set of teas or one singular tea. There is something great about experimenting anyway.
A little long winded I know, but I hope this helps.
Re: Quick question about yixing.
DDJ- I'm intrigued by your level of dedication to Yixing pairing. How long have you been drinking tea? As someone who has been using Yixing pots for only 2 years myself, I have a hard time detecting much tea flavor in water which has passed through an empty pot- even pots which I have used probably 50+ times. Of course, the clay will change the quality of the water, but not really add flavor to it. How long does it usually take you to season a pot until you feel it adds additional flavor to a tea? Also, if dedicating a pot to a particular farmer's tea, you must notice differences in each "vintage" due to different weather and growing conditions from year to year?
Re: Quick question about yixing.
I've been drinking tea for around six years. But, you give me more credit then I'm due. I just did a taste test and I could not tell the difference between hot water and hot water that had been lightly steeped in a seasoned yixing. I've been told that the legend says that if you steep 10,000 pots of tea in your yixing when you pour in hot water out will come tea.
Your last sentence isn't really a question, more of a statement, but I will try to answer it based on what I believe you are asking. I do not think I would be able to tell the difference between two different seasons of the same tea from the same farm. But, my teacher would be able to. She has told me that she has a palate memory, meaning that she remembers the exact flavors of any tea (or any food, but I will use tea as an example) from a specific crop from a specific farm. It is like perfect pitch, but instead of tones it is flavors.
Some of my beliefs come from drinking tea, but a lot also come from personal experience. A great movie to watch, which is related to this discussion, is called "I AM", it hasn't been released to DVD yet, but here is a clip from the director of the movie and you can also check out the trailer from the link inside the videos description. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zD4mXnaVKc
I am not able to answer all your questions, but I hope I was able to shed some light.
Your last sentence isn't really a question, more of a statement, but I will try to answer it based on what I believe you are asking. I do not think I would be able to tell the difference between two different seasons of the same tea from the same farm. But, my teacher would be able to. She has told me that she has a palate memory, meaning that she remembers the exact flavors of any tea (or any food, but I will use tea as an example) from a specific crop from a specific farm. It is like perfect pitch, but instead of tones it is flavors.
Some of my beliefs come from drinking tea, but a lot also come from personal experience. A great movie to watch, which is related to this discussion, is called "I AM", it hasn't been released to DVD yet, but here is a clip from the director of the movie and you can also check out the trailer from the link inside the videos description. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zD4mXnaVKc
I am not able to answer all your questions, but I hope I was able to shed some light.
Re: Quick question about yixing.
Wow... lucky her!DewDropofJade wrote: She has told me that she has a palate memory, meaning that she remembers the exact flavors of any tea (or any food, but I will use tea as an example) from a specific crop from a specific farm. It is like perfect pitch, but instead of tones it is flavors.
That's a great gift to have. I guess it gets back to the whole "there is no should" point. The level of strictness in Yixing pairing/dedication really depends on the palate of the drinker. If you will be able to detect prior Li Shan notes in a pot used for Da Yu Ling, then you might need to invest in a lot of pots! I'm doing an experiment myself soon. I have a pot I pretty much dedicated to Da Yu Ling, but I decided to brew a 5 year old Chin Shuan in there recently. I tried this once in the past, and when I went back to brewing the DYL, it tasted a bit off for the first session. Of course there are umpteen reasons a tea could be off on any particular day, so I'll see if the same thing happens the next time I brew the DYL in that pot.
In my experience, very heavily roasted oolongs and puerhs with a damp storage flavor (cooked or raw) tend to leave the most aroma behind in a Yixing. Simply for the fact that I own enough pots, I try to dedicate different pots to different vendors high fire TGY for this reason. I think the pot will need more seasoning before I can tell the difference though.
