Which Yixing for which type tea?

[VanFersen]

I would like to start this thread to list your experiences with Yixing and what type of Yixing pot you use for which tea. Or you would recommend!

Use this as a guideline and just add you preferences beside - Thank you

• Raw Sheng -
  Aged Sheng -
  Shou -
  Wuyi Yancha -
  Dancong -
  Hei Cha -
  Red Tea -
  Yellow Tea -
  Chinese Green Tea -
  White Tea -
  Chinese Anxi Green Oolong -

[Senlin]

Well, this is a tricky question, for everyone has a different feeling about that. Personnally :

• Chinese Anxi Green Oolong - very dense and thin red clay (sounding clear), pear-shaped teapot

• Dancong - quite dense red clay (sounding quite clear), flat teapot with a large lid (not to break the leaves with a too small hole)

• Wuyi Yancha - quite dense dark clay (sounding quite clear), flat teapot with a large lid (not to break the leaves with a too small hole)

• Aged Oolong - quite porous purple clay (sounding quite hollow), pear-shaped teapot if rolled, flat if not. I choose a denser clay for electric-baked oolongs, and a more porous one for charcoal-baked ones

• Aged Sheng - quite porous purple clay (sounding quite hollow), high teapot with large lid (for whole pieces of tea cake)

• Shou - very porous dark clay (sounding very hollow), no real preference for shape

• Hei Cha - depending on the type of leaves (I know, that doesn't help, but there'shuge differences from a tea to the other)

For the following teas, I don't use a Yixing teapot, for it keeps too much heat and could burn the leaves.

• White Tea - gaïwan, bowl

• Yellow Tea - gaïwan, bowl, narrow glass

• Chinese Green Tea - gaïwan, bowl, narrow glass

• Red Tea - gaïwan

• Raw Sheng - thick gaïwan (Yunnan style)

This list is based on my very poor experience, and should not be considered as a guide at all ! I'd really like to read experienced tea drinkers on that topic !

[tingjunkie]

I wish it were that simple...

Factoring in origin of clay (which mountain), age of clay, texture and porosity of clay, purity of clay, how high fired the clay is, what type of kiln the pot was fired in, how thick the pot walls are, etc, etc, etc. If someone tells you they like hong ni for young sheng, it's not really going to be of any help to you, unfortunately. There are literally tens (if not hundreds) of different clays that could get called "hong ni" and they might perform drastically differently from each other.

If you haven't already, I'd pour over the Yixing Showoff Thread and try to notice patterns of what clay/firing level combinations people seem to like for various teas. In the end I have found that high quality clay fired properly will handle nearly any tea, and that some teas will just do better in a gaiwan anyway.

[steanze]

There is indeed some variability, but it can be helpful to have an approximate idea as a starting point. I made this some time ago for this purpose: viewtopic.php?f=85&t=21345&#p285343

[chrl42]

Raw Sheng - Duanni, Benshan
Aged Sheng - DCQ, CR QSN
Shou - Dark porous clay
Wuyi Yancha - Zhaozhuang Zhuni (best), followed by Xiaomeiyao Zhuni and early Heixingtu
Dancong - seldomly drink.
Hei Cha - currently using CR QSN
Red Tea - procelain would do fine, Zhuni and early Heixingtu also nice.
Yellow Tea - Gaiwan
Chinese Green Tea - Benshan Lvni
White Tea - Gaiwan
Chinese Anxi Green Oolong - Zhuni, Gaiwan

[VanFersen]

Raw Sheng - Duanni, Benshan
Aged Sheng - DCQ, CR QSN
Shou - Dark porous clay
Wuyi Yancha - Zhaozhuang Zhuni (best), followed by Xiaomeiyao Zhuni and early Heixingtu
Dancong - seldomly drink.
Hei Cha - currently using CR QSN
Red Tea - procelain would do fine, Zhuni and early Heixingtu also nice.
Yellow Tea - Gaiwan
Chinese Green Tea - Benshan Lvni
White Tea - Gaiwan
Chinese Anxi Green Oolong - Zhuni, Gaiwan

Is DCQ - Di Cao Qing and QSN - Qing Shui Ni? But what does CR mean? And thank you for all your answers - by the way Qing Hui Ni is a different clay or just another way that QSN is written?

And what type of tea would you consider this to: Xiao hong ni, Dou qing ni (should be a type of benshan lvni), hongni, aged zini, jiangponi and Hei jingang?

[chrl42]

Raw Sheng - Duanni, Benshan
Aged Sheng - DCQ, CR QSN
Shou - Dark porous clay
Wuyi Yancha - Zhaozhuang Zhuni (best), followed by Xiaomeiyao Zhuni and early Heixingtu
Dancong - seldomly drink.
Hei Cha - currently using CR QSN
Red Tea - procelain would do fine, Zhuni and early Heixingtu also nice.
Yellow Tea - Gaiwan
Chinese Green Tea - Benshan Lvni
White Tea - Gaiwan
Chinese Anxi Green Oolong - Zhuni, Gaiwan

Is DCQ - Di Cao Qing and QSN - Qing Shui Ni? But what does CR mean? And thank you for all your answers - by the way Qing Hui Ni is a different clay or just another way that QSN is written?

And what type of tea would you consider this to: Xiao hong ni, Dou qing ni (should be a type of benshan lvni), hongni, aged zini, jiangponi and Hei jingang?

Yup, DCQ as Di Cao Qing and Qing Shui Ni as QSN, btw DCQ is also a type of QSN, the QSN that is mined from the bottom of the ore...high-quality QSN so to speak..

Hongni types (including Zhuni) are usually preferred for Oolong, Dou Qing Ni should be cared as Duanni/Lvni type.....personally thinking Jiang Po Ni can cover many types of tea...I however think one needs to experiment itself with different types of tea...because many factors affect a clay a lot even within the same ore, like temperature of firing, location of the ore, size of the clay etc...

[VanFersen]

Would you consider a Nixing for aged Sheng or Shou too? - I had a way to big one in the past and raw sheng really worked great - nearly meant to be like for it.

[chrl42]

Would you consider a Nixing for aged Sheng or Shou too? - I had a way to big one in the past and raw sheng really worked great - nearly meant to be like for it.

I've never used a Nixing teapot..

[VanFersen]

Hi again,

I was wondering what you say about aged Zi ni? I found a pot I really like - would you say it suits Shou/Shu Pu-erh to use it for?

[stevorama]

What are people's opinions on a high profile (tall) vs low profile (short) teapot for aged sheng pu er? I'm not sure I notice the difference.

[steanze]

Hi again,

I was wondering what you say about aged Zi ni? I found a pot I really like - would you say it suits Shou/Shu Pu-erh to use it for?

Zini works fine for shu imo.

[steanze]

What are people's opinions on a high profile (tall) vs low profile (short) teapot for aged sheng pu er? I'm not sure I notice the difference.

In my experience it doesn't matter much

[stevorama]

What are people's opinions on a high profile (tall) vs low profile (short) teapot for aged sheng pu er? I'm not sure I notice the difference.

In my experience it doesn't matter much

Good to know. I'm assuming the recommendation I sometimes see for high profile is to allow the tea to expand or for heat retention. It seems those things could be accounted for other ways.

[tingjunkie]

If someone tells you they like hong ni for young sheng, it's not really going to be of any help to you, unfortunately. There are literally tens (if not hundreds) of different clays that could get called "hong ni" and they might perform drastically differently from each other.

I think this may be the first time I've had to quote myself.

Yeah, aged zini works for shou. 100% of the time. Guaranteed. Don't listen to anyone who would say different.