Puerh Teapot Help

[matthew shipp]

Hi All,
I am new to drinking quality puerh and would like to get a yixing pot to dedicate to it. A guy near me is selling a tea set and a cake he got as a gift in China. He is asking 30 bucks for it and I don't know if it's worth 30 or 3 dollars. Can anyone tell from the pics? I'm such a newbie I don't know.

Thanks in advance,
Matt

[Zared]

Do you need a pot that big? Looks like it's around 2-300ml. 80-120ml are the most useful size for 1-2ppl

A decent modern yixing generally cost a lot more than $30 so I'd say this one is likely very mediocre at best.

[matthew shipp]

Thanks so much for your thoughts. That makes sense I will hold out and buy one from a reputable dealer.
Matt

[FBee]

A gifted cake and a cheap teapot? Probably neither of them are going to be very good in the best case. Worst case the cake has pesticides or other funky stuff in it.

[bagua7]

Why is it selling it in the first place?

If it were an artist's pot and/or a good cake he would keep for himself.

Say to him sorry I'm not interested in the package.

[teapotluck]

I would like to describe my experience. I have traveled to China 5 times in the last four years. The first year I went to China I was given the gift of a yixing pot that I thought was a tiny $10 teapot. I didn't know better, and now I know it was closer to a $100 pot. My Chinese hosts were not going to brag that they had given me something very valuable. My colleagues have been given bings of tea that are collectors items, and they are all telling me they will give me the bings for free because they don't know how to brew tea from a bing. Over these four years I've become more knowledgeable about tea, so I know that it could be hard to understand people who are intimidated by a bing.
My advice, $30 is worth it to get to know the tea and to use the teapot and find out what you like about it. Then get another teapot from a reputable place, and you now have a comparison test that will teach you about the qualities of tea and teapots. You have nothing to lose.

[FBee]

That cheap a tea is dodgy... would not risk the possible health hazard.

[Teasenz]

No comments on the tea cake.

Regarding the teapot do the following checks:
- Is there a seal from the artist stamped on the teapot? That would be better, but if not it's not a big deal.
- Does the teapot pour well? Ask your friend if you can steep a session with it. Fill the teapot with more 8-10 grams of tea and see if the pouring is fluent.
- Does the lid fit well? If you hold the teapot vertically, does the lid fall off (it shouldn't).
- When you put your finger on the spout opening and hold the teapot up side down, does the lid fall off. If the teapot is well made, the lid should also not fall off in this case.
- What clay is it made from? Can the seller tell you this?

Besides this, just ask yourself if you generally like the shape and whether the size is right for you. You don't have to get it 100% right with your first Yixing. A serious Yixing teapot will cost at least 80 USD, beter ones between 100-200 USD. But you should only spend this money when you're ready for it. For now, it's fine to play around with a cheaper one.

[FBee]

- Does the lid fit well? If you hold the teapot vertically, does the lid fall off (it shouldn't).
- When you put your finger on the spout opening and hold the teapot up side down, does the lid fall off. If the teapot is well made, the lid should also not fall off in this case.

Lid fit is widely overrated... and that lid-fall-off test is also of dubious value as to the quality of a functional teapot.

Plenty of pots fail those two tests and are excellent to use. Almost all the highly sought vintage factory pots do never have perfect fitting lids!

It should not dribble or leak in disrupting ways, but a lot of that can be controlled by the skill of the brewer.

[FBee]

- Does the lid fit well? If you hold the teapot vertically, does the lid fall off (it shouldn't).
- When you put your finger on the spout opening and hold the teapot up side down, does the lid fall off. If the teapot is well made, the lid should also not fall off in this case.

Lid fit is widely overrated... and that lid-fall-off test is also of dubious value as to the quality of a functional teapot.

Plenty of pots fail those two tests and are excellent to use. Almost all the highly sought vintage factory pots do never have perfect fitting lids!

It should not dribble or leak in disrupting ways, but a lot of that can be controlled by the skill of the brewer.

[jayinhk]

- Does the lid fit well? If you hold the teapot vertically, does the lid fall off (it shouldn't).
- When you put your finger on the spout opening and hold the teapot up side down, does the lid fall off. If the teapot is well made, the lid should also not fall off in this case.

Lid fit is widely overrated... and that lid-fall-off test is also of dubious value as to the quality of a functional teapot.

Plenty of pots fail those two tests and are excellent to use. Almost all the highly sought vintage factory pots do never have perfect fitting lids!

It should not dribble or leak in disrupting ways, but a lot of that can be controlled by the skill of the brewer.

And nowadays, lots of crappy pots will pass those tests, and be no good for tea