Yixing

[d.manuk]

For the sake of adding a visual, here are two modern pots from the same maker. Both were sold as Zhuni, at different price points.

The one on the left I would call blended and closer to Hongni in appearance with lower quality clay as it has many impurities and is rather sandy.
The pot on the right is purer, denser, made thinner, with a higher ring, and I would not hesitate to call it modern Zhuni.
Antique Zhuni, then again, looks completely different.

The other modern Zhuni pots I have look very different, but they share the apparent density of the pot on the right. The pot on the left on the other hand looks a lot more like an impure version of the Factory 1 Xiao Hongni pot I recently acquired.



Thanks Bok for the clarifications above whilst I was posting this!

I used to own what was called a modern zhuni pot but I was skeptical since I didn't have that much experience. But it definitely looked similar in color to the one on the right and was pretty smooth. It was a pretty nice pot for most teas if I recall.

[Andrew S]

the raw ores not quite different between Hongni and Zhuni? Different colour, texture, water solubility, etc., that makes the differentiation between the clays more reasonable than pronouncing one to be a subcategory of the other?

Maybe Youzi can elaborate more, as far as I understand it Hongni is the category of which Zhuni is a subset. The old collectors mostly do it even less varied, Red and Purple clay, lol

Youzi talked about zhuni, hongni and other clay types here, if it helps anyone:

https://www.teapotandtea.com/overview-o ... isha-clay/

He seems to characterise zhuni and hongni (xiao hongni) as different categories of clay which are found in nenni mines:

https://www.teapotandtea.com/the-two-mo ... lks-about/

(note as well his comment in the latter article: "It’s also common, to add some coloring oxides to Nenni, typically iron oxide, to create Zhuni like teapots that can be easily mass-produced, and sold cheaply")

Hopefully he's still around here, and can chime in.

The mud and leaves people also posted about hongni and zhuni on their blog.

Andrew

[d.manuk]

A vendor has the same clay teapot shape and size but two different weights. Would the weight have much of an effect, should I buy the heavier one if I’m brewing honcha so the pot can get hotter? It’s about a 35g difference

The lighter one is half handmade and the heavier one is full handmade

[DailyTX]

A vendor has the same clay teapot but two different weights. Would the weight have much of an effect, should I buy the heavier one if I’m brewing honcha so the pot can get hotter?

The lighter one is half handmade and the heavier one is full handmade

@Shine Magical
If the size is the same, heavier teapot = thicker the clay. Once a pot hits a certain size, thickness is less of a variable. I use 200+ ml for hongcha, I don’t notice thickness being an influential factor to the outcome of tea, personal opinion. In term of price, thinner yixing is typically more valued, and full hand is more valued. Haha though choice

[d.manuk]

My mistake.
The heavier pot has a higher iron content which should be the main contributor to why it's heavier.

Now my next question is, is a pot with higher iron content good for red tea.

Two different clays: 朱泥大紅袍 and 小煤窯朱泥

The seller said higher iron teapots have the effect of eliminating the astringency in tea. But only certain teas like puer

If used in high mountain tea, such as high mountain oolong tea, it will be overripe (not sure exactly what he means here but basically not a good fit, probably takes off top notes)

He wasn’t sure how it would fare with red tea but said he’ll look into it

[Baiyun]

The seller said higher iron teapots have the effect of eliminating the astringency in tea. But only certain teas like puer

Any proposed rationale behind that?

One of my pots has a lot of iron spots, so I assume it to be my most iron rich pot. I mostly use it for young puer, but don't have a lot of teas that easily turn astringent, so it is difficult to comment on. I don't think it outperforms the expected baseline of the clay type in a way I can sing a song about. It certainly does not shave off top notes relative to comparable clays with very few iron spots, and I would be surprised if iron content makes an impact here compared to the ore and firing to begin with. Can you see a difference in spots between those two pots?

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I am not a red tea drinker but if you like your red tea infused strongly then an iron rich clay or heavier pot of the same dimensions may conceivably hold its high temperature longer (but will also require sufficient preheating).

Then it comes down to brewing style, a pot with a lot of thermal inertia needs to be preheated properly, otherwise the hot water you add sinks into the material and not the tea. So if preheating, and keeping the temperature up between steeps, is not your thing, a pot that heats up quickly and cools down quickly can be a better choice, this would be the lighter pot of the two.

Personally, for day to day brewing of most teas that I infuse for anything between a few seconds and under a minute, with a few minutes between infusions, I would prefer thin/light pots so it can very quickly come up to temp, and fall off again. For teas that I am trying to really push, say ripe teas or old white teas, I will put in the extra work and really get a thick clay up to temperature before each infusion to get that extra bit out of the leaves.

[.m.]

The seller said higher iron teapots have the effect of eliminating the astringency in tea. But only certain teas like puer

Any proposed rationale behind that?

The idea is something along the lines of iron working as an oxidation catylist. But there is probably much more to it, not just the amount of the iron, but the porosity and microscopic structure of the teapot surface, in what form is the iron and how is it bounded to the matrix, etc.
Here's an old article of Kyarazen: https://www.kyarazen.com/tea-taste-diff ... ing-wares/

[wave_code]

Not to oversimplify the reaction of various elements since we know these things never go quite how we think... But I'm not sure high iron will reduce astringency. Take Japanese banko clay for example - the purple color comes from the high iron content added to what sounds like is most often clay from tokoname. But banko isn't really known for smoothing astringency - often quite the opposite. But different clay, different teas...

If the price on zhuni is a big factor maybe also worth considering that if you want what is very close to porcelain effect but a bit different not all porcelain is the same and could be a less expensive avenue of exploration both new and vintage. I don't drink much hong anymore and didn't have as wide a selection of pots when i did but i found i always preferred it in Dehua porcelain. That or maybe one of hojo's clays might offer something like the effect you are looking for at a more friendly price point - his clays I've tried are very focused on mouth feel and aromatics and are great for sweeter teas IMO.

[czarzly]

Hi all,
I'm looking for information about this teapot I bought from an auction that had a lot of quality chinese art of many kinds.
It was just labelled as old yixing clay teapot.

Any information will be greatly appreciated and also if you think it's a teapot good for brewing tea or just a decorative piece .

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IMG_20230428_103523.jpg (161.57 KiB) Viewed 1460 times

Thanks a lot!

[steanze]

Hi all,
I'm looking for information about this teapot I bought from an auction that had a lot of quality chinese art of many kinds.
It was just labelled as old yixing clay teapot.

Any information will be greatly appreciated and also if you think it's a teapot good for brewing tea or just a decorative piece .

Thanks a lot!

Hi! This is a modern replica, trying to imitate the work of Zhu Kexin. The clay is very questionable, I would not use it to make tea.

[wave_code]

New to me 90s DCQ. Tried it out today with some HK wet storage sheng and it worked out pretty decent, but it's with liu bao where it really shines. Def will be trying to get my hands on more of this clay to compare different firings and production periods - I'm totally sold on it.

[steanze]

New to me 90s DCQ. Tried it out today with some HK wet storage sheng and it worked out pretty decent, but it's with liu bao where it really shines. Def will be trying to get my hands on more of this clay to compare different firings and production periods - I'm totally sold on it.

Fun shape! I really like the darker shades of zini.

[czarzly]

Hi all,
I'm looking for information about this teapot I bought from an auction that had a lot of quality chinese art of many kinds.
It was just labelled as old yixing clay teapot.

Any information will be greatly appreciated and also if you think it's a teapot good for brewing tea or just a decorative piece .

Thanks a lot!

Hi! This is a modern replica, trying to imitate the work of Zhu Kexin. The clay is very questionable, I would not use it to make tea.

Thank you for replying and the information!

[WhisperingFrog192]

Opinions on this piece?

[Bok]

Opinions on this piece?

Looks like a modern pot.