My new yixing teapot

[tea_love]

I bought this yixing teapot from dragonteahouse - ebay last week. Not sure what kind of tea should I season with the pot. Can you tell me the clay composition ? is it a good pot to your experience ?

Please guide me through my newbie stage.

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[tingjunkie]

Welcome to the club tea_love! What did DTH's description say about the clay and the size of the pot?

[tea_love]

Hi Tingjunkie, thanks for your welcome. Love your posts for long time. Feel honored to have your post on my first post
The name is : Yu Zhao - Yixing Zisha Clay Teapot - Handmade by Xu Xiaoming. Size is 180 ml.
Zi Ni Clay and medium fire level.
What do you think ? Can you recommend me a tea for it ?

[ImmortaliTEA]

I have to say that I've personally never bought a piece of Tea-Ware from Dragon Tea House that I didn't feel was up to par (especially their Xiao Pin yixings which I find brew great tea). It's a whole different story when it comes to their Tea though as I've never had one example that could compete with a similar variety from other vendors (mostly oolongs). If that pot were mine I would try out roasted oolongs of various origins (Anxi or Wuyi) and possibly aged puerh. What are your favorite teas and do you prefer vessel-packed grandpa's kung fu or leisure-grandma style with long steeps of less dry leaves?

[tingjunkie]

Thanks for the props, but I'm still a small fish here. Guys like TIM, MarshalN, Chrl42 and others are the real experts.

I love the shape of your pot. To my eyes the clay looks pretty nice, but from those two photos it's hard for me to really tell. I'd say it's mostly zini, perhaps with a little purple sand (zisha) mixed in.

The tea pairing recommendations will depend on your drinking style, and how high fired it is. In my experience, medium fired modern zini clay like this (and remember I'm taking stabs in the dark here without getting to see the pot in person) is often good at softening sharp edges in a tea, making the mouthfeel smoother and rounder, and in exchange tends to eat up a little bit of the flavor and aroma.

I'm not sure what types of tea you drink, or if you mostly drink by yourself. At 180ml, the pot is larger than I would normally use, since I most often drink alone or with my wife. It would cost a bundle to fill that guy up with yancha or high fired TGY for example, and then you'd be drinking it for days! If I were to start looking for pairings for the pot, I'd personally focus on young raw puerh, cooked puerh, or bold strong red teas such as Yixing Hongcha. BUT, the pot always chooses the tea!

Since this is your first pot, take this as a learning experience. You won't be ruining the pot if you try a whole bunch of different teas in it [excluding flavored or scented teas of course], so go ahead and see how the pot tends to effect flavor, aroma, and mouthfeel of different teas. A Yixing pot can always be "reset" by boiling it in clean water for an hour or two. If you have a gaiwan or other neutral brewing device (porcelain or glass teapot for example), then try the classic testing method that Brandon outlines in two parts here. In addition to the excellent instructions demonstrated there, I've also come to find that the way the pot's lid smells underneath after it has had hot tea sitting in it can tell you a whole lot about if the pot is a good pairing or not. I find that if the lid smell is clear, focussed, and sweet, then it tends to be an excellent pairing. If the lid smell is weak, boring, and unfocussed, then it's the opposite.

Gook luck, and take your time! Yixing isn't about the destination, but the journey. You'll make mistakes, you'll pay a little tuition, but if you learn from it all, you'll be in perfect shape.

[tea_love]

The pot's lid smell is value tips for newbie like me to know what tea is good pair with the pot. I think will keep that in mind when start my experiments.
Surely a journey but will be wonderful I hope

[gasninja]

Noce post TJ
I have always thought the dragon teahouse pots looked decent but wasn't sure if they where really worth the price tag as I hadn't noticed any reviews of them from someone that knows a good pot.
I thought the zhuni pot with the wooden handle that they had looked really cool.

[bagua7]

I have to say that I've personally never bought a piece of Tea-Ware from Dragon Tea House that I didn't feel was up to par (especially their Xiao Pin yixings which I find brew great tea).

DTH: charge foreigners outrageous prices for modern Yixing pottery.

For example:

http://tinyurl.com/c2mf79x

$449.99

Insane. $80 bucks max and I still will be paying a bit too much. Can't stand those birds catered to tourists either.

Example of how the modern Chinese think and act like Western capitalists.

Back to the topic,

IMO, that pot suit well puerh (except aged stuff since you ought to be using a small pot and preferably pre-80s clay to avoid spoiling "old Qi" with an immature and unwise puppy) or red tea.

[tea_love]

I have to say that I've personally never bought a piece of Tea-Ware from Dragon Tea House that I didn't feel was up to par (especially their Xiao Pin yixings which I find brew great tea).

DTH: charge foreigners outrageous prices for modern Yixing pottery.

For example:

http://tinyurl.com/c2mf79x

$449.99

Insane. $80 bucks max and I still will be paying a bit too much. Can't stand those birds catered to tourists either.

Example of how the modern Chinese think and act like Western capitalists.

Back to the topic,

IMO, that pot suit well puerh (except aged stuff since you ought to be using a small pot and preferably pre-80s clay to avoid spoiling "old Qi" with an immature and unwise puppy) or red tea.

Uhm...good to know....
What about http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/ and http://www.redblossomtea.com/ ? Do you think their pots are more resonably-priced than Dragon Tea house ?

[tingjunkie]

bagua7, if you can please find me that pot for $80, I'll gladly send you an extra $20 for a finder's fee.

Yunnan Sourcing used to have a few decently valued pots (like 3+ years ago), but I don't really rate their selections anymore. I think I may have been the person who turned people here on to Red Blossom's pots, but now they're all sold out except for one type. I did the same to Zen8's 50ml Shui Pings! Man, I should start charging "finder's fees."

I hear Red Blossom is commissioning a new group of pots. We'll see if that ever comes to pass. If so, I doubt they will pack the same value. The cost of Yixing is still on the rise, and compared to when I got into this game a few years ago, the deals are harder and harder to come by. Maybe you can call or email them to see what they have to say about new pots? If you do, let us know what they say!

[tea_love]

bagua7, if you can please find me that pot for $80, I'll gladly send you an extra $20 for a finder's fee.

Yunnan Sourcing used to have a few decently valued pots (like 3+ years ago), but I don't really rate their selections anymore. I think I may have been the person who turned people here on to Red Blossom's pots, but now they're all sold out except for one type. I did the same to Zen8's 50ml Shui Pings! Man, I should start charging "finder's fees."

I hear Red Blossom is commissioning a new group of pots. We'll see if that ever comes to pass. If so, I doubt they will pack the same value. The cost of Yixing is still on the rise, and compared to when I got into this game a few years ago, the deals are harder and harder to come by. Maybe you can call or email them to see what they have to say about new pots? If you do, let us know what they say!

Tingjunkie, did you see this pot in redblossom ? http://www.redblossomtea.com/teaware/te ... g-605.html

Do you think it's good for Tin Guan Yin ? If yes I will make order

[tea_love]

I was thinking either the one above from redblossom or this one from Yunnansourcing:
http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/pro ... roduct=875

[tingjunkie]

Yep, that's the one they have left. I think it's a very nice pot. Clay looks good, great shape, decent craftsmanship. At 175ml it's not something I would personally consider for myself (too big).

I'd say it would probably handle roasted TGY pretty well, but it probably wouldn't be my first choice for greener TGY. Who knows, until you test it and find out, anything's possible.

FWIW, my favorite pot for traditionally roasted TGY is a mere 40ml. That's because I brew that tea in a traditional Chou Zhou style which involves crushing some of the leaf, and packing the pot almost to the top. Even when I make that tea for 3-4 people, the pot I use is just over 100ml. A 175ml pot would be a BEAST for that style drinking. If you are looking to drink a much more relaxed version of roasted TGY, then by all means, give that pot a try. Just don't get mad at me if you find out that pot turns out to be better for puerh or something! The pot chooses the tea.

So, which style of TGY are you wanting a pot for?

[tingjunkie]

Skip that YS pot. You're better off using a gaiwan.

[ImmortaliTEA]

bagua7, if you can please find me that pot for $80, I'll gladly send you an extra $20 for a finder's fee.

Yunnan Sourcing used to have a few decently valued pots (like 3+ years ago), but I don't really rate their selections anymore. I think I may have been the person who turned people here on to Red Blossom's pots, but now they're all sold out except for one type. I did the same to Zen8's 50ml Shui Pings! Man, I should start charging "finder's fees."

I hear Red Blossom is commissioning a new group of pots. We'll see if that ever comes to pass. If so, I doubt they will pack the same value. The cost of Yixing is still on the rise, and compared to when I got into this game a few years ago, the deals are harder and harder to come by. Maybe you can call or email them to see what they have to say about new pots? If you do, let us know what they say!

Tingjunkie, did you see this pot in redblossom ? http://www.redblossomtea.com/teaware/te ... g-605.html

Do you think it's good for Tin Guan Yin ? If yes I will make order

I realize you are asking TJ but I have also used pots from both vendors and I'd have to say that I do not like very many of the clay types from YS (especially Da Hong Pao clay as the real DHP clay would cost thousands so obviously this is not the real thing). I'd say you are much better off going with the great quality Hong Ni pot from Red Blossom. These pots are great for the price just as TJ said but they can be quite porous and rounding so it really depends on if you are talking about roasted Tie Guan Yin or Green Tie Guan Yin because I don't recommend this clay for any floral or light teas as it will eat up all of the aroma and those light green oolongs' primary characteristic is aroma so I think it would be great if you are talking about roasted Tie Guan Yin, unless of course you don't mind the aroma being reduced and you want more vegetal flavors and thicker mouthfeel on the green TGY, although, I personally prefer the more buttery & amino acid profile with high aroma if I am going to drink a green TGY that will be prevalent in either a thin-walled Zhu Ni or Gaiwan!