Help needed from experienced tea drinkers/makers

[nkovacs]

Hello, I am new to this message board. I have to admit I originally had very little interest in making or drinking tea before I found this board. I began researching tea and how to prepare it because of my Chinese girlfriend. She always mentions how she wants a teapot, but she never gets around to buying one. I figured I would buy her one online from an American made artist that makes them by hand for Christmas. That was until I discovered the art that is tea making.

I am very interested in purchasing a Yixing clay teapot being that they are made from her home country. I know very little about Yixing teapot retailers and would like to hear from the experts. I would ask her family for advice however I do not speak Cantonese.

Im sure this question gets asked all the time. I have found myself overwhelmed with the amount of different places to purchase a Yixing teapot and would like to hear some suggestions of who and where to buy from so that I may have her gift here in time for Christmas.

Ideally the pot would need to serve 2-5 people and be under $300.

All help is apreciated!

[kyarazen]

Hello, I am new to this message board. I have to admit I originally had very little interest in making or drinking tea before I found this board. I began researching tea and how to prepare it because of my Chinese girlfriend. She always mentions how she wants a teapot, but she never gets around to buying one. I figured I would buy her one online from an American made artist that makes them by hand for Christmas. That was until I discovered the art that is tea making.

I am very interested in purchasing a Yixing clay teapot being that they are made from her home country. I know very little about Yixing teapot retailers and would like to hear from the experts. I would ask her family for advice however I do not speak Cantonese.

Im sure this question gets asked all the time. I have found myself overwhelmed with the amount of different places to purchase a Yixing teapot and would like to hear some suggestions of who and where to buy from so that I may have her gift here in time for Christmas.

Ideally the pot would need to serve 2-5 people and be under $300.

All help is apreciated!

what tea does she drink?

[nkovacs]

Hello, I am new to this message board. I have to admit I originally had very little interest in making or drinking tea before I found this board. I began researching tea and how to prepare it because of my Chinese girlfriend. She always mentions how she wants a teapot, but she never gets around to buying one. I figured I would buy her one online from an American made artist that makes them by hand for Christmas. That was until I discovered the art that is tea making.

I am very interested in purchasing a Yixing clay teapot being that they are made from her home country. I know very little about Yixing teapot retailers and would like to hear from the experts. I would ask her family for advice however I do not speak Cantonese.

Im sure this question gets asked all the time. I have found myself overwhelmed with the amount of different places to purchase a Yixing teapot and would like to hear some suggestions of who and where to buy from so that I may have her gift here in time for Christmas.

Ideally the pot would need to serve 2-5 people and be under $300.

All help is apreciated!

what tea does she drink?

I believe she normally drinks Oolong or Jasmine with her family. If there is a more diverse teapot more suited for Oolong or Jasmine tea Im more than open to suggestions.

Keep in mind that she is very open to trying new things. She would love to branch out to different types of tea.

[Evan Draper]

I imagine a lot of people will pile on here, trying to give you a crash course in yixing evaluation, or alternately telling you it's hopeless. And they might be right.

What I see is that you are trying to buy a last-minute (be honest!) Christmas gift, and neither you nor your girlfriend have much experience with teapots. Nothing wrong with that. So I say buy something that has personal resonance for you as a couple--decorated with something she likes? a nice color/shape? from her home region?--and don't spend more than $100. Don't worry about it being the best teapot, because until you guys start drinking a lot, you won't know what the best teapot for your purposes will be. Worst case scenario is you spend a lot of money on something neither of you are going to use, and is not good. Best case scenario is this starts a long relationship of love and tea drinking, but the pot doesn't have to be a "Ferrari" for this to happen, because you will buy 20 more teapots like the rest of us have.

[nkovacs]

I imagine a lot of people will pile on here, trying to give you a crash course in yixing evaluation, or alternately telling you it's hopeless. And they might be right.

What I see is that you are trying to buy a last-minute (be honest!) Christmas gift, and neither you nor your girlfriend have much experience with teapots. Nothing wrong with that. So I say buy something that has personal resonance for you as a couple--decorated with something she likes? a nice color/shape? from her home region?--and don't spend more than $100. Don't worry about it being the best teapot, because until you guys start drinking a lot, you won't know what the best teapot for your purposes will be. Worst case scenario is you spend a lot of money on something neither of you are going to use, and is not good. Best case scenario is this starts a long relationship of love and tea drinking, but the pot doesn't have to be a "Ferrari" for this to happen, because you will buy 20 more teapots like the rest of us have.

Hello Evan,
I will admit that this idea is somewhat last minute. I didn’t expect buying a teapot to be this challenging. Are there any makers or materials that you would recommend?

[Evan Draper]

Sorry, I don't have any good suggestions. Most of my teapots were purchased/gifted from other drinkers. Adagio's 'yixings' are at least cheap, but really I have very little perspective in this area. Alternately, you will always have a use for something vitrified: porcelain/glass/glazed interior.

Sorry to be so obtuse! There are a lot of "unknown knowns" in this hobby. I think the easiest thing would be for someone to just tell you what to buy, and yet I think everyone would much prefer to give you a master's thesis

[Poseidon]

How do you like to drink tea?

You can do it;
Gong fu style: lots of leaves, usually small(3-6oz) pot clay pot.
Western style: teaspoon of leaves in a cup(6-16oz) with strainer
Or chinese style: Leaves in teapot(larger pot) which is drank from all day and replentished with water.(<--- this one is new to me...)

Each way to brew tea uses different pots and tools. Once you know how she drinks tea, we can help out a lot better with ideas.

[kyarazen]

i'll simply get her a nice celadon

[nkovacs]

How do you like to drink tea?

You can do it;
Gong fu style: lots of leaves, usually small(3-6oz) pot clay pot.
Western style: teaspoon of leaves in a cup(6-16oz) with strainer
Or chinese style: Leaves in teapot(larger pot) which is drank from all day and replentished with water.(<--- this one is new to me...)

Each way to brew tea uses different pots and tools. Once you know how she drinks tea, we can help out a lot better with ideas.

She drinks tea with her family from a larger pot, with loose tea, that serves about 6-8 people. I thought maybe I would find something new for her to explore with a yixing pot rather than the traditional ceramic one her mother uses. That may be the best option at this point.

[nkovacs]

Sorry, I don't have any good suggestions. Most of my teapots were purchased/gifted from other drinkers. Adagio's 'yixings'are at least cheap, but really I have very little perspective in this area. Alternately, you will always have a use for something vitrified: porcelain/glass/glazed interior.

Sorry to be so obtuse! There are a lot of "unknown knowns" in this hobby. I think the easiest thing would be for someone to just tell you what to buy, and yet I think everyone would much prefer to give you a master's thesis

I don’t want cheap. I want to be sure I’m buying a quality product.

Do you have any experience purchasing from them?

[kyarazen]

you can try the following

http://store.thechineseteashop.com/Yixi ... 0r-006.htm

http://store.thechineseteashop.com/Yixi ... 0r-001.htm

http://store.thechineseteashop.com/Yixi ... 0r-019.htm

quite nice and may be near where you are for fast shipping
i personally like the 70's lion embroidery ball pot

[futurebird]

i'll simply get her a nice celadon

This! You can hardly go wrong.

[theredbaron]

She drinks tea with her family from a larger pot, with loose tea, that serves about 6-8 people. I thought maybe I would find something new for her to explore with a yixing pot rather than the traditional ceramic one her mother uses. That may be the best option at this point.

The art of drinking tea is a lot more than just having a yixing tea pot. Before going on a mission of trying a good yixing pot, i would suggest to first find out if the art of drinking tea is for you or girlfriend in the first place, and if you are going to stick with it.

Because if it is just sipping inexpensive chinese tea from a larger family pot, you really do not need a yixing pot, and a similar pot your girlfriend's family uses is more than sufficient.

Yixing pots are just a tool. But nowadays a good pot is a very costly tool, and difficult to find a good one. Just the process of finding a good yixing pot is very time consuming. And if you stick with tea, then soon you will find that one pot is not enough, and that you will need for each category of tea another pot, and so on.

I would suggest to first get some inexpensive small porcelain pot, or set, get some good tea, make the first steps, and see if tea drinking really is for you.

Here for example are some inexpensive starter sets, where, if you decide tea is not for you, you have not spent a fortune:

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

If you stick with tea, then there is enough time to look for something better later on.

[Poseidon]

How do you like to drink tea?

You can do it;
Gong fu style: lots of leaves, usually small(3-6oz) pot clay pot.
Western style: teaspoon of leaves in a cup(6-16oz) with strainer
Or chinese style: Leaves in teapot(larger pot) which is drank from all day and replentished with water.(<--- this one is new to me...)

Each way to brew tea uses different pots and tools. Once you know how she drinks tea, we can help out a lot better with ideas.

She drinks tea with her family from a larger pot, with loose tea, that serves about 6-8 people. I thought maybe I would find something new for her to explore with a yixing pot rather than the traditional ceramic one her mother uses. That may be the best option at this point.

I agree with the celadon comments. If you are dead set on a yixing, check out the following sites:

https://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/
http://verdanttea.com/shop/teaware/ - very cool stuff here for decent prices.
http://yunnansourcing.com/en/1711641066-teapots?p=2

There are many more sites, but those three should help get you started.

[nkovacs]

Can anyone provide me with information on this pot regarding quality?
http://store.thechineseteashop.com/Prod ... 5&CartID=2