TeaForum.org

steanze wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 05, 2022 10:33 am

steanze wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 10, 2017 12:32 am

* Be advised: Yixing expert members will only comment on pots members actually own.

Do you own this pot? In case, please post a picture with a name tag showing your username next to it. Thanks!

Policy might include that questions about yixing concern yixing pots. The ad for the pot never mentions "yixing". "Brown clay Chinese pot....

Rambling ahead!

Back when I started drinking tea, I was heavily into Chinese tea. Around the time I joined this forum I had fallen deep into the Japanese rabbit hole. Sold my Yixing pots, boxed up my cheaper wares and tea scraps and bathed in the savory, tepid waters of Sencha. I have been running low on my Sencha and wanted to mix things up as my tea sessions had been getting stale. Unboxed those cheaper Chinese wares and now stale teas.

One of the things I had bought was a Yixing pot from LukeVecent on ebay. I had saved his name because I had heard that while his pots aren’t amazing, they won’t kill you. At the tail end of my Chinese tea days I bid on what seems to be his one and only auction. I won this 165ml chonker for .25 cents! I asked him if he wanted to cancel it since it seemed like highway robbery. Even slipcast toxic Yixing costs more than that but he delivered it. I kept it around because my wife liked the box and I didn’t know how to sell a .25 cent pot. So it collected dust while I explored Tokoname.

And here I am now, drinking 2018 TGY from YS out of a pot of questionable origin, and loving it. Maybe, just maybe, at 35 I am realizing that I can have more than one interest and don’t have to sell everything off from my previous hobby because I will likely come back around!

Anywho, its heavy and cumbersome and makes way more tea than I need. But it is very well made for the price I paid. Seems to be half handmade, judging by the tool marks on in the inside. Lid fits very nicely. Smells like clay when wet. It will hold me over until I decide on a much smaller, slightly more expensive pot.

And I am still alive!

@Darbotek, you'll probably notice things have gone up. You might have to pay 50 cents this time.

teanik wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 05, 2022 3:37 pm

Darbotek, you'll probably notice things have gone up. You might have to pay 50 cents this time.

Damn, inflation is killing me. I guess if I want a nicer pot I should double that? Will a dollar do it?

Darbotek wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 05, 2022 2:05 pm

One of the things I had bought was a Yixing pot from LukeVecent on ebay. I had saved his name because I had heard that while his pots aren’t amazing, they won’t kill you. At the tail end of my Chinese tea days I bid on what seems to be his one and only auction. I won this 165ml chonker for .25 cents! I asked him if he wanted to cancel it since it seemed like highway robbery. Even slipcast toxic Yixing costs more than that but he delivered it. I kept it around because my wife liked the box and I didn’t know how to sell a .25 cent pot. So it collected dust while I explored Tokoname.

@Darbotek LukeVecent was pretty popular as an ebay yixing vendor 2-3 years ago, I think he is still in business. I have mostly yixing wares but I got my first Tokoname pot in 2021 for green teas. I am glad not much US vendors or else Tokoname pots will be another rabbit hole haha

DailyTX wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 05, 2022 4:25 pm

Darbotek wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 05, 2022 2:05 pm

One of the things I had bought was a Yixing pot from LukeVecent on ebay. I had saved his name because I had heard that while his pots aren’t amazing, they won’t kill you. At the tail end of my Chinese tea days I bid on what seems to be his one and only auction. I won this 165ml chonker for .25 cents! I asked him if he wanted to cancel it since it seemed like highway robbery. Even slipcast toxic Yixing costs more than that but he delivered it. I kept it around because my wife liked the box and I didn’t know how to sell a .25 cent pot. So it collected dust while I explored Tokoname.

Darbotek LukeVecent was pretty popular as an ebay yixing vendor 2-3 years ago, I think he is still in business. I have mostly yixing wares but I got my first Tokoname pot in 2021 for green teas. I am glad not much US vendors or else Tokoname pots will be another rabbit hole haha

I think it was around 3 years ago that I got it! I still follow him on ebay, he is indeed still active.

There’s me selling my overflow. I found one tea shop in NYC that sells Yamada So pieces, but they haven’t restocked last I checked. I found another store in NYC selling Shiraiwa Taisuke kyusu. But there are not too many. I guess because it’s so easy to buy from Japanese dealers.

This 2 colors persimmon pot has gone through a full reset, and it was bathing in water for an extra 2 days to get rid of the smell (wet clay & old book case scent). Initial impression, I thought it was a NZWH pot from early F1, and color difference may be a sign of wear. After a close inspection, the handle and spout have pretty good patina, and it's too perfect to be a sign of wear. I have no luck finding info on F1 large persimmon pots with this type of lid. The construction of this pot doesn't look like a typical modern pot. Anyone has idea if this is a replica?

Darbotek wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 05, 2022 4:36 pm

I found one tea shop in NYC that sells Yamada So pieces, but they haven’t restocked last I checked. I found another store in NYC selling Shiraiwa Taisuke kyusu. But there are not too many. I guess because it’s so easy to buy from Japanese dealers.

@Darbotek Curious which shops in NYC are carrying Shiraiwa Taisuke and Yamada So kyusu? A Japanese ceramic store on the upper east side on Lexington Ave http://www.saranyc.com ? Haven’t been there in a while but she had a special collection of tea ware on display.

Victoria wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 05, 2022 7:59 pm

Darbotek wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 05, 2022 4:36 pm

I found one tea shop in NYC that sells Yamada So pieces, but they haven’t restocked last I checked. I found another store in NYC selling Shiraiwa Taisuke kyusu. But there are not too many. I guess because it’s so easy to buy from Japanese dealers.

Darbotek Curious which shops in NYC are carrying Shiraiwa Taisuke and Yamada So kyusu? A Japanese ceramic store on the upper east side on Lexington Ave http://www.saranyc.com ? Haven’t been there in a while but she had a special collection of tea ware on display.

Yamada: Themakari.com has a shudei cup and yuzamashi left, they haven’t restocked since I bought a few pieces a long while back, so I wouldn’t count on them as a regular source.

Shiraiwa: https://www.teadealers.com/collections/ ... d-pitchers Down a ways on the page, listed without his name, but you can spot his stuff from a mile away.

Bonus! Entoten in San Diego has 2 Yamada Yutaro pieces.

Those are the few place I have found that carry some big names in the US.

To all members of the small-pot-clan; I'm afraid that I hereby have to give notice that I've joined the big-pot-clan...

Hopefully this doesn't constitute an automatic forfeiture of my small-pot-clan membership, but is instead more in the nature of a joint citizenship, or at least a cross-cultural exchange programme. My excuse is that I can't brew old puer and liu bao in small pots forever, and brewing in big pots is much more fun than brewing leaves-in-a-cup when I'm too busy to give my tea the respect that it deserves.

More photos to follow, no doubt, in the coming weeks / months once I organise myself out of this period of the old year / new year interregnum.

@DailyTX: I hope someone can assist you soon; at the very least, I need to start learning more about these big pots, so any insights are helpful.

@Darbotek: delving into Yixing teapots with the primary objective of not dying is probably a pessimistic, but certainly safe, way to start... Hopefully your trip into this rabbit-hole will be a fun one.

Andrew

Andrew S wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 06, 2022 8:37 pm

DailyTX: I hope someone can assist you soon; at the very least, I need to start learning more about these big pots, so any insights are helpful.

@Andrew S
Welcome to the big pot clan haha.
I got a little progress these few days. I am afraid It’s a mismatch lid lol. The clay on the lid looks slightly differ than the clay used for the body under a certain lighting. The NZWH feature of the body is what intrigued me, but I don’t think the body is older than F1.

Andrew S wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 06, 2022 8:37 pm

To all members of the small-pot-clan; I'm afraid that I hereby have to give notice that I've joined the big-pot-clan...

Hopefully this doesn't constitute an automatic forfeiture of my small-pot-clan membership, but is instead more in the nature of a joint citizenship, or at least a cross-cultural exchange programme. My excuse is that I can't brew old puer and liu bao in small pots forever, and brewing in big pots is much more fun than brewing leaves-in-a-cup when I'm too busy to give my tea the respect that it deserves.

More photos to follow, no doubt, in the coming weeks / months once I organise myself out of this period of the old year / new year interregnum.

DailyTX: I hope someone can assist you soon; at the very least, I need to start learning more about these big pots, so any insights are helpful.

Darbotek: delving into Yixing teapots with the primary objective of not dying is probably a pessimistic, but certainly safe, way to start... Hopefully your trip into this rabbit-hole will be a fun one.

Andrew

Very nice!! Excellent clay and very good craftsmanship. Look at how that spout narrows towards the end! Elegant.

You can definitely be in both clans at the same time there are different things to appreciate in teapots of different sizes and different styles, personally I think that the variety is part of what makes Yixing so interesting.

@Andrew S not to forget that there are times when guests need to be served... hopefully soon again in all parts of the world.

@steanze: thanks very much; the clay was the reason I picked it, and the elegant overall shape felt like an added bonus. The next fun phase will be trying it out with lots of different teas, and throwing away any pre-conceptions about what should or should not pair well if it doesn't go as expected.

@Bok: it seems as though the people who I know well take an interest in why I'm brewing some yancha in tiny pots and tiny cups, since they'll give me the chance to explain why I'm behaving so strangely, whereas people who aren't into tea or who I don't know well tend to take more of an interest in how elegant a teapot looks and less of an interest in the tea or its method of preparation. But I guess that that probably matches the experiences of most tea-obsessed people outside Asia.

Andrew

Andrew S wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 06, 2022 8:37 pm

To all members of the small-pot-clan; I'm afraid that I hereby have to give notice that I've joined the big-pot-clan...

Hopefully this doesn't constitute an automatic forfeiture of my small-pot-clan membership, but is instead more in the nature of a joint citizenship, or at least a cross-cultural exchange programme. My excuse is that I can't brew old puer and liu bao in small pots forever, and brewing in big pots is much more fun than brewing leaves-in-a-cup when I'm too busy to give my tea the respect that it deserves.

More photos to follow, no doubt, in the coming weeks / months once I organise myself out of this period of the old year / new year interregnum.

DailyTX: I hope someone can assist you soon; at the very least, I need to start learning more about these big pots, so any insights are helpful.

Darbotek: delving into Yixing teapots with the primary objective of not dying is probably a pessimistic, but certainly safe, way to start... Hopefully your trip into this rabbit-hole will be a fun one.

Andrew

I hear the mention of the BIG POT CLAN!!... hahahahaha... welcome to the clan!..... as mentioned by @steanze you can always be on both.... hahahahaha....


psssst.... there's always a beauty in larger "landscaping surfaces"......


Cheers!!