Ebay Shuiping teapot

[Senchamatcha]

What do you all think of this? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 1313896978 (I post a link but hopefully not too many of you will be interested in buying it! I haven't purchased it yet).
My purchasing intent is to make a small teapot for my desk at my internship that wont be too... obtrusive... seeing as I am at a reception type desk.
I plan on keeping a flask/sealing mug of hot water in a drawer at my desk that I can poor hot water from to fill the pot, but it will otherwise be out of sight. Right now I have a small cup and large metal infuser but would like something more decorative. I can get good hot water in the break room every now and then.
I'll mostly be brewing loose leaf rolled teas (iron goddess and tung ting).
What are the "secrets" of a good cup of tea from a yixing pot? I'm used to brewing with infusers or a Shiboridashi (which is too expensive to bring to work)

[bagua7]

For $6.90 just get it and see how well it brews tea.

About type of clay, again for that price who really knows!

Personally I would buy it but shipping to Australia is roughly 5 times the price, so I am not game.

[Joel Byron]

50ml might be a little small for Iron Goddess and Dong Ding. Those teas need some room to expand. I think that seller has larger pots in the same style.

I wouldn't expect much from a $10 pot. It may mute some of the aromas and flavors that you get from greener oolongs. I'm assuming that you are drinking the greener ones and not the more roasted ones?

[Senchamatcha]

Yeah greener styles.
Maybe I could force season it? Make some strong tung ting and let it sit in it for a few hours?
Hmmm... About the expansion. I would put too much tea in a small pot like that maybe 5-6 balls? That's ~ 1/8 tsp

[Muadeeb]

I have a couple of these pots and I like them just fine. They season up nice and make decent tea. Well worth the price.

[Joel Byron]

Well, there ya go.

[Senchamatcha]

I shall go order one... or maybe two in case one gets broken.

[Senchamatcha]

I got it in the mail today! It works wonderfully! I cleaned and lightly seasoned it as per internet instructions, went to pour my first batch of tea... and nothing came out! Not a dang drop! It poured perfectly when it had no leaves in it.
...
10 minutes later I realized there is a small air hole in the lid. If you plug the air hole there is enough suction in the pot to keep all of the tea in. Is this a normal feature in Yixing pots? Or is mine an oddball/dud?

I really should have bought two. or more. They are so tiny and cute yet make a Kick-*** cup of dong ding. It tastes better that brewing in a tea infuser set in a tea cup. its so odd about the lid. :/ Not sure how I'm supposed to hold it to pour now.

[brandon]

They really aren't very nice, but I use one at my office. Stranger things than Yixing collectibles have walked off of my desk at work before, so $6.90 is about right for this task.

And yeah, blocking the air hole would cause tea not to come out. Not unusual.

[Joel Byron]

Wow, I'm surprised the lid fits well enough to use the hole to stop the flow of tea! Some yixings do that and some don't. It's not necessarily an indicator of quality. When you pour, you still put your finger on the knob on the lid, just don't cover the hole.

[Senchamatcha]

Wow, I'm surprised the lid fits well enough to use the hole to stop the flow of tea! Some yixings do that and some don't. It's not necessarily an indicator of quality. When you pour, you still put your finger on the knob on the lid, just don't cover the hole.

the hole is on the knob. Otherwise... good to know.

[Joel Byron]

Is the knob so small that you can't put your finger on it without covering the hole?

[Senchamatcha]

Is the knob so small that you can't put your finger on it without covering the hole?

Pretty much.
This will be a two handed pour tea pot

[SpottySipper]

I have a nearly identical pot of what seems to be the exact same clay. I brew medium roast ti guan yin in it. it's an OK pot, but I feel ti guan yin was the wrong move . . it seems better suited to a rich black tea as ti guan yin is taking forever to fully season. a smaller pot is typically best for darker teas with less leaf profile it would appear.

Hope whatever you buy works out for you, though.

[JD]

I bought two of these pots myself. They arrived in the mail today.

My first thought: Very cute.

I cleaned them with a new toothbrush, boiled them for 15 minutes, and seasoned them for an hour with Jade Tie Guan Yin.

The tea they make is very nice. Not as good as pots seasoned for many years but still very nice.