Andrew S wrote: ↑Sat Apr 16, 2022 7:46 pm
Maerskian: I think that the proposed budget and the desire to get something from within the EU mean that your Yixing options are quite limited (unless you get lucky in an auction or an antique shop).
Indeed. In fact i was expecting to confirm my realistic options are zero.
Additionally, and with apologies for not really responding to your question, I think that the difficulty that you'll have is that a low-cost Yixing pot is not likely to be representative of Yixing clay more generally.
My first pot many years ago was something that I bought for around AU$70 in a tea shop around here. It made terrible tea - it took away aromas and flavours, and gave very little back in exchange. But it would have been wrong for me to conclude based on that example that other Yiixng pots would behave in a similar fashion.
That's not to say that you need to spend a lot on a teapot, but rather to say that you may be disappointed or led astray if you spend little on a Yixing teapot.
Was secretly hoping for angles like this one based on personal experience so can't thank you enough for sharing. It's the kind of realistic picture i needed to confirm i certainly need to reflect about it some more time, learn more about clays & different models... and then invest some time checking different option, after all it's not a real need ( will expand a little bit while replying to
youzi ) and more about experimenting.
I don't yet have any experience with Nixing or Jianshui clays, but they do seem to offer good value for money compared to Yixing (but if you need them to come from within the EU, then they would probably be hard to find).
The main issue is not availability... they are around, mainly on German shops which ranges from the usual German prices ( tied to their taxes/income ) to what - from distance & maybe lack of knowledge - feels like bubble prices. Feel fortunate to say this: it's not that i can't afford 'em, just that i don't want to.
Also more than aware of what
Youzi mentioned below ... which applies for teaware & tea... and i'd say it's no suprise for anybody around, yes, we know we are paying "westerner" prices and sometimes this can get even worse on India or as a "farang" with no buddhism background ( unless you run into the scarce few critical locals ) or neighbouring countries around jumping into the tea/sheng band wagon .
Perhaps you can post your interest on the Tea Swap section here and see if there's anyone else in the EU who might have something that would suit you.
Andrew
Thanks for mentioning this option. Stopped considering the second hand realm for almost anything years ago although it's true each particular hobby tends to have a different demography and teaple should be different, so worth checking... even though there doesn't seem to be much of a market around here to be honest ( if i take Scott Wilson's market share percentages for Europe back in 2020 - close to 30% - and take into account the percentage of yixing users will be even less... then we can deduct a tiny secondhand market, probably non-existent at some given points in time ) although the Discord community always have been busier so at some point i might try asking there.
Thanks again for mentioning all this.
Bok wrote: ↑Sat Apr 16, 2022 8:57 pm
Second that. Better to get none than a below average pot and draw the wrong conclusions.
Agreed, as explained above.
Tea swaps are probably your best chance on getting something on a budget - or, save up for a few months?
Already saving ... but that's going to more sheng ( some shu if possible )
. From my perspective the door is about to close, there will be teas around only not at the kind of prices i'd feel comfortable paying for.
Sheng & some shu is my main priority for this year. Still have some decent options around so i'll just take what i can then most probably forget about it unless there's something awfully interesting in sight... which can happen on the hundreds range, although at this pace looks like the two-digit range will just resort to the latest visual trick ( smaller cakes/higher prices ) which in the end will be a hurdle i won't need nor be willing to jump.
Maybe i could focus on a decent pot once i'm done; clearly it looks like there's no such thing as a truly functional - as in affecting the tea in a positive way - pot within affordable ranges.
Get a decent entry level pot from EoT for example. Simple, but well designed and with what looks like good clay. They have that range of modern pots they get made and many people seem to like them.
As mentioned earlier... that won't work for too many reasons, plus the only size that'd fit my needs from their stock is sold out. I tend to use around 18-20gr leaf for my sessions nowadays, my 200ml & 300ml pots feel better for such amounts.
For most other shops it’s more of a gamble to buy something without knowing anything already about clay.
This is arguably one of the few things i had burned in my mind along the existence of toxic clays, that's what prompted me to make this thread. With this and few other notions i catched around on different communities can say i'm surprised about this final conclusion ( best to wait it out a little bit, invest some time, maybe a more serious budget... later, when i feel ready ) .
Youzi wrote: ↑Sun Apr 17, 2022 1:31 am
+1 for the tea swap or try checking out the Marketplace on the /tea discord server.
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Thanks. As explained on my answer above think i'll have to explore this option, only later.
Those pots you linked are probably mass produced machine made teapots. The only thing they have to do with yixing is the name and probably the factory is located in that area.
If you want a teapot for it's functionality / ergonomic they are fine.
That's what i was guessing too; what i was wondering was ... if they were truly "functional" for what they are .
Ceramic mould-made pots only need to be functional as in pour properly, sit properly ( i.e.: not trembling, moving... ) & add nothing to tea plus withstand thermal changes. However if they are made of such a particular material as clay... "functional" has a different meaning for if they doesn't really add some - positive - change to tea... then shouldn't be considered as such, matter of fact they'd be worse than ceramic versions in pragmatic terms.
They aren't going to kill you, but just know that you can't make assumptions about clay teapots or yixing teapots based on your experience with them, because they don't have much in common.
Indeed, that was
Andrew S point which he made crystal clear, can't be stressed enough so thanks for pointing that out.
Staying with porcelain is a good option too. There's nothing wrong with it, and it'll always show you the true side of the tea, without any alterations.
Fully aware of it, in fact... it's abundantly clear there's several different profiles of tea drinkers with a vast array of preferences ( the ones that won't bother with huang pian, those that doesn't drink shu, young sheng drinkers, the ones that won't drink sheng younger than 10yo, oolong drinkers that won't bother with puer, those that won't bother much with white teas, green tea drinkers and their polar opposites, etc... ) which combine with each person's particularities ( health issues of any kind, people that can't drink tea on an empty stomach, etc... ) thus creating a large range of different profiles by combining all those, so the first task while walking your own tea path i'd say it is all about learning what is your own profile by exposing yourself to different kinds,techniques , experiments.
Still consider myself to be on my early steps so i try to challenge my own opinions as much as possible and doubt myself as much as possible at this point ( as strange as it may sound ), although in all my current naivety still remain convinced tea "should" ( note the arrogance ) be tasted as it is... with no equalizers ( like clay pots are ), and so far i have no issues with it... that's how i want it so far, fortunately don't have issues with drinking a couple liters of tea a day nor doing it on an empty stomach or challenging myself to a long session with strong/astringent teas... nor plain/humbles ones... in fact some days i fee like one or the other.
That said, i'd rather build my opinion on first hand experience and for that "have to" ( almost mandatory ) try brewing with different clay pots, see how it goes. Doesn't make much sense to pile some hundreds Kgs of tea and not "playing" with it.
Just some things to consider regarding prices:
A 60€ teapot imported from China, is probably retailing for 30€ there for most. ( you need to consider VAT is included in the price, and the margin of the shop 20-40%, plus you get free shipping, which means the shipping price is in the margin too)
A 30€ teapot in China, on taobao, straight from the factory is about 15€ or less.
So just take these into consideration when you are looking for value purchases.
Yes, fully aware of it since buying tea... or even earlier on related to plenty services. Westerner prices, plus each step along the chain implying they need to take their cut ( as it's only natural on some cases ) .
This kind of considerations is what made even harder for me to buy some Thai "sheng" some time ago considering the "farang" vision combined with regular Chinese tea market prices... coming from a place that - to my knowledge - doesn't have the slightest correlation to Chinese maocha prices nor its close to the reputation from the usual famous places ( let along GDP considerations and such ) . Same seems to apply to Vietnamese "sheng" these days, also playing with price-mimicking, see if it goes through.
Thanks for the tip... although already knew about Chenshi's ( grabbed their two perma-store-pic shengs just 2 months ago... fortunately just before the - *ahem* - price raise ).
Can't deny that pot could have been an option for... later, however as they already state clearly:
impact on taste:
minimal
which defies my purpose :/ .
Only reason i feel motivated to try clay pots is to have experience on how they influence/equalize teas... not their aesthetic value ( which they have ), so this wouldn't be what i'm looking for.
Thanks anyways, even if it doesn't work for me we all know the old rule on the net ( more readers than people writing ) so maybe somebody on the shadows just found what they were looking for and that's good.