Is it good-quality clay?

[Mark-S]

Hi,

I bought a Yixing teapot for $90 about two years ago. It is a modern pot without any odd smell or taste. It is also free of heavy metals. The teapot has a good lid fit, drips little from the spout and has fairly big walls. I like the teapot's design, but it is too big for daily use (250cc), so I did not use it that much. Yesterday, I found some similar teapots online (the color of the clay looks different though). The cheapest price was $42 so now, I feel kind of tricked.

Before I buy anything smaller, I would like to ask for your opinion on the clay. The pictures online are very detailed. Please use the links below, as I am not allowed to post them here directly.

https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1t_ZrGXXX ... XFXXXj.jpg

https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1Sr3iGXXX ... XFXXXr.jpg

Is the clay of good quality or not? How do you determine the clay's quality?

Thanks & regards,
Mark

[digitalray]

Hi Mark,

of course no one can really tell you about the exact clay material used.

What i can tell you: From the marketing photos it's presented as a studio pot. this means that a yixing pot student of any degree would design a pot by himself and produce this special design that he designed for a long time by many rules and aspects for the studio to sell it.
usually studios use a modern and appealing material that would be good for the purpose it was made for.
a dark brown clay would imply it's a zisha pot that should include zini where zi stands for purple and ni for clay.
zini clay is a classic yixing clay that is porous and therefore good for any kind of tea that benefits from a porous clay pot opposed to a zhuni pot or even da hong pao pot which include a lot more iron and therefore are denser and stay hotter.
a porous pot would be good for any kind of tea that needs a rounded flavor, it would remove excess roasting or smoke and increase the flavor. good for smoked sheng, yancha. an old hong ni pot would do the same and is often used for strong roasted yancha.

the best way to find out more about your pot would be to search for it online, it's hard and might be impossible, if your pot had stamps inside and outside on the bottom of the handle and pot you could try to identify the studio, clay origin and student.

90 usd is a normal price for a studio pot that has a more complex design like your pot as it takes a lot more time to produce (and design).

studio pots buy their clay from various clay companies, as with everything, some can be trusted, some can not. some would fake the clay with chemicals and colors to make more profit, some would never do that and are proud to use good clay.

to get to the point: you can not know what you have (at least it does not look like a cheap fake pot on first sight), but if the pot doesnt have any bad smells like chemicals or dusty mud and perforsm great with your teas, its ok i guess.

i wouldnt buy any studio pots cheaper than that anyway.

keep it, enjoy it if you're ok with it and be on the look for studios that show their clay source companies and check these companies too. be prepared to pay 60 to 200 usd for a nice pot that is ok and free from chemicals.

be ready to pay more than 350 usd for an original clay pot.

[BenHK]

rarely see such detailed and correct comment