Yixing clay that is suitable for yancha

[b101]

Hi,
I don't know if this is the correct forum for this question or the teaware section.
Anyway, I've decided I want to take my tea experience to the next level, and I've figured out I need to buy my first yixing teapot (been using small gaiwans so far).
I understand choosing yixing pots is atleast as tricky as choosing good yancha on the web, so maybe more knowledgeable tea people here can help me with that.
What I'm looking for is a small yixing teapot (60-80ml), that will be dedicated to yanchas only.
I found this piece for a good price, that seems to be the right size I'm looking for:
http://www.jkteashop.com/small-xi-shi-h ... p-863.html

I was wondering if this type of clay: "Qing Shui Ni clay" will be a good match for yancha rock tea?

If not, maybe you can suggest other teapot that can be bought online and fit my needs (60-80ml vol, less than 60$ budget).

Many thanks for the helpers

[Chris418]

I think this pot will work great with yancha!
IMO pretty much all type of yixing clay is suitable for Yancha.

Best,
Chris

[mganz42]

I have used qing shui ni for yancha and it was fabulous. The multi-hole filter should help you as you get more experienced in tea brewing. Be careful buying anything smaller than 80/90ml, you will have trouble getting long leaves into the pot opening.
I can't tell you anything about the authenticity of that pot, but it's cheap enough that it really doesn't matter.

[steanze]

Looks like a nice pot at a very reasonable price. I personally prefer hongni or zhuni for yancha but I know that many others like more porous clay like zini and qingshuini Also good hongni and zhuni is not too easy to find at reasonable prices online and it's better to have a pot of fairly good qingshuini than of bad hongni

[AT333]

For yancha, I prefer the 50/60s thin walled high firing hongni shui ping but they cost a leg now . Those 70s thicker wall high firing hongni is good but makes me nervous when brewing Yancha.

I think you should look around more and get an authentic yixing pot. I am sure there are some tea chatters here with some good yixing on offer once in a while. In the meantime, stick to gaiwan first. IMHO of course.

[Tead Off]

To realistically answer a question like this, experience and experimentation have to be made over a long period of time. You need to use various Yixing pots for quite awhile with a tea in order to really get to know how each one brews a certain tea.

For example, I have about 4 or 5 zini (purple clay) pots in rotation for different Yancha. I like 80's clay very much for this combination, but not every pot will brew certain teas as well as some others. One zini will make Shui Xian sing more than the others. Another will outshine the others for TLH and Rou Gui. It was only through using the pots that I was able to make a comparison. Making a particular tea just a few times in a pot is not going to tell you all that much unless you have the experience of knowing what each pot is able to extract.

Buying a new pot, unless you understand clay a bit, is a shot in the dark. And, the only way to understand clay is to use many pots. So, be prepared to spend more money than you should unless you have someone who can really steer you in the right direction and is not trying to manipulate you.

[benm3]

This is such a big question, and I don't think there is any good, specific answer. Different clays will react differently to different Yan Chas. The size and shape of the pot will change things too. There are just too many variables for a good answer.

May I suggest just buying a really good gaiwan. A good gaiwan should be thin-walled, feel good in the hand, and shouldn't be too small. Thin walls are good so that the vessel doesn't remove too much heat from the water. Yan Cha usually needs a lot of heat to release its flavors.

[tingjunkie]

You are looking in the right size range. Stuffing a larger pot full of yancha can get expensive. Ideally you'd want something with a wide lid opening (especially at 60-80ml) to accommodate the long leaves. Other than that, I'd worry less about clay type, and more about how high fired the clay is. As long as the firing is towards the high side, I'd think any decent purple or red clay will handle yancha well. Problem is telling how high fired a pot is online is nearly impossible. Oh, and thicker walls are better for yancha too- holds the heat better and really brings a punch to the tea.

[Tead Off]

I'd worry less about clay type, and more about how high fired the clay is.

IMO, the whole point is the clay type with Yixing. Since the OP doesn't know much about Yixing, how can he/she be expected to identify a decent pot?

My best Yancha pots (zi ni) are not as high fired as most hongni pots. Of course, if you like high fired hongni pots and the way it makes Yancha, that's okay. But a newbie is pretty much at the mercy of others in buying Yixing which is why I mention the tuition for entering this field. But, at $35, the OP is not risking much.

[tingjunkie]

I'd worry less about clay type, and more about how high fired the clay is.

IMO, the whole point is the clay type with Yixing. Since the OP doesn't know much about Yixing, how can he/she be expected to identify a decent pot?

You gotta start learning somewhere. Lesson #1... anyone who tells you clay X is always great for tea Y doesn't know what they're talking about. Anyone who thinks all hong ni, or zi ni, or zhu ni performs the same (or even necessarily similarly), has no clue. A high fired zini pot will perform more similarly to a high fired hong ni pot than a low fired hong ni will perform to a high fired hong ni.

[Tead Off]

I'd worry less about clay type, and more about how high fired the clay is.

IMO, the whole point is the clay type with Yixing. Since the OP doesn't know much about Yixing, how can he/she be expected to identify a decent pot?

You gotta start learning somewhere. Lesson #1... anyone who tells you clay X is always great for tea Y doesn't know what they're talking about. Anyone who thinks all hong ni, or zi ni, or zhu ni performs the same (or even necessarily similarly), has no clue. A high fired zini pot will perform more similarly to a high fired hong ni pot than a low fired hong ni will perform to a high fired hong ni.

I think I mentioned this is not so many words in my original post to this thread. Or, at least I implied it. But clay is still the most important factor in Yixing aside from aesthetics. Once you begin to identify the different clay types, you can begin to see how they are made into pots, ie., hi fire, low fire, sandy, polished, etc. You also study the different periods of manufacture and you begin to get a feel about which pots 'might' work for particular teas based on experience, observations of others, and good guess work. You don't necessarily start by spending money. You listen to others and go from there. Mistakes are part of the game. No problem. Everyone makes them. Just my way of looking at it.

[steanze]

You gotta start learning somewhere. Lesson #1... anyone who tells you clay X is always great for tea Y doesn't know what they're talking about. Anyone who thinks all hong ni, or zi ni, or zhu ni performs the same (or even necessarily similarly), has no clue. A high fired zini pot will perform more similarly to a high fired hong ni pot than a low fired hong ni will perform to a high fired hong ni.

Clay type is more important than firing IMO, especially the distinction between dense zhuni or hongni on one hand and more porous zini/qingshuini on the other hand. Unless we're talking about an extremely low fired hongni or a yao bian zini. I also think that zhuni pots tend to perform similarly (not the same) and zini pots tend to perform similarly (not the same). Maybe saying that everyone who thinks that pots of the same clay type tend to perform similarly has no clue is a bit of an exaggeration I haven't encountered many qing shui ni pots that perform like zhuni, if you have one I'd love to catch up for tea some time and try it, it is always good to learn new things.
But it is true that many things besides clay type affect the porosity of a pot, including firing and also particle size. Even more things affect performance, e.g. thickness, shape and size which all affect heat retention, and especially pouring speed.

[wert]

It is only my opinion, but it could be very misleading and confusing to judge or buy a pot by clay names. The names are just a marketing tool and a general description of its colour. As a beginner, I would simply say red pot, brown pot or black pot etc.

Zhuni, Qishuini and whatever are almost meaningless in the modern context as all the different studios used different blends, processing and firing. Therefore, saying "zhuni is good for certain certain tea" has little meaning, even if it would be very hard or impossible to disprove. Thus, sellers can claim whatever they like without remorse.

You can only gain meaningful context if the same type of clay is used for making huge numbers of pots or in a historical context, through hands-on experience of handling them.

[tingjunkie]

Exactly, wert. Spot on.

[b101]

Thank you for all the explanations and detalis. After reading them, I think I will just try this pot and see how it compares after seasoning to brewing in the gaiwans I'm used to. I understand that getting the best out of yixing or other clay pots is not "magic", and requires a lot of trial and error, but atleast the result by brewing with this pot could be better than plain old gaiwans, so as a first step in the yixing teapot world that would be good enough for me for now.