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This mainstream kind of samey flavour profile of Dongding competition winners I have noticed several times so far(not all 1st prize but also runner-ups) and is a problem discussed by many in Taiwan. The catering of the tea makers to the palate of the judges. As such making it a rather one dimension...

Musing on tetsubins...could I get some of the beneficial impact of tetsubin on my water by adding a bit of steel wool to my stainless steel kettles? I’d used a steel wool similar to this with my glass kettle for a while in the past. It did not give any effect near my tetsubin at all. I stopped usin...

Interesting that you compare CZ to Tokoname Shudei clay. The comparison being that they are both wheel thrown, beyond that are there other similar attributes between the two? None of my Tokoname shudei kyusu are very soft, except a Hakudei (white clay) kyusu which is soft and silky to the touch. No...

Does anyone know anything about “Qing Xiang” Yixing teaware? My guess is that they’re post-90s household, block-assisted, tea set. What interests me about this brand is that although they seem to be pretty cheap stuffs, they brew surprisingly good tea, for my limited experience. 2FDC4D9E-915F-4D78-9...

Interesting! It looked too smooth on the pictures, I apologise to the craftsman! Aren’t those kettles meant for boiling water though? CZ like their teapots very small, which is why the kettles are also comparatively small in volume. Ah, yes, it’s for boiling water. I usually brew Dancong in a gaiwa...

CZ teapots from Zhang Hai Yan are also velvety soft and smooth. But this’s Yixing thread, isn’t it?

This kettle looks like its machine made in a mould, rather than wheel-thrown, which would explain its unusual smooth appearance. How does the inside look? CZ clay, if wheel-thrown would not look like this. These mass-produced kettles also will likely not use pure CZ clay, but they are dirt-cheap on...

In terms of Chinese clays which are the softest red clays? i.e. soft to the touch red clay after firing. Do these soft clays tend to have medium walled bodies? Thanks I’ve seen pre-F1 Zhuni that felt quite soft to the touch. Also some Chaozhou red clay are quite close to shudei Tokoname clay. Here’...

If you aim the laser at the lowest point of the inside wall and gradually move up along its wall, you’ll see that the temp will be gradually higher too. Good point. I aimed the laser various ways and could not get a reading that felt right. I did not specifically try to do what you suggest (will tr...

faj When you said you aimed IR thermometer at the water, did you aim the red dot at the center of the vessel? If so, I think the temp you got was the temp of the bottom part of the water or vessel. If you aim the laser at the lowest point of the inside wall and gradually move up along its wall, you...

.. I don't know what expert recommended using boiling water for a brief steeping of sencha.. .. Florent also wrote about using off the boil water to brew sencha in his blog: II. Experiments with boiling water Now I would like to present some methods of infusions that are not basics method. These ar...

Baisao wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 18, 2020 12:45 am

Of course shudei refers to the crimson color of the fired clay, but what is the name for the same clay when it is black/brown from reduction firing?

I heard some people called it shidei, but mostly they referred to Banko clay.

How can we call the oxygen reduced fired clay ‘shudei’? It doesn’t matter if it’s been fired in a gas, electric, or wood fired kiln. If the surface of the pottery doesn’t get oxygen, it is not shudei.

Yes, so you should try Matt’s recipe. Those ingredients are cheap, household stuffs. You can also use RO instead of distilled water.

Interesting article. Lots of chemistry. Have you tried that recipe? I've never used bamboo charcoal. I always thought of it for deodorizing or purifying water. Does it mineralize water as well? I’ve never tried the recipe with tea. I’ve tried filtered water from BWT which uses Mg mineralizer and fo...