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A friend gave me this pot. It was her father's who has passed and they don't know anything about it.

Can anyone tell me anything about this? It feels and looks like a nicely made pot. It's on the larger size at around 175+ mL ( haven't measured). ( Update ... It's 150mL) Has a ball filter inside and pours room temp water at about 12 seconds. Pours nicely.

I haven't used it yet, but hope that it will work well with gaoshan or sheng.

Thanks in advance!

Only thing I can say it is not a super old pot. Ball filters are pretty "modern".
Get some tea in that pot and find out how it brews tea and if you like it.

I’d say post 90s-2000. This kind of pot I see frequently in Taiwan. Might not even be Yixing but Taiwan made.

Thanks for the replies. I brewed some gaoshan in it today and it handles fine, but seems to mute the tea. Maybe it'll do better with sheng.

Either way, it's nice to have my friend's father's pot to share tea with him.

Admar wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 07, 2022 12:57 pm

Only thing I can say it is not a super old pot. Ball filters are pretty "modern".

To add some specificity and context to the statement for those that may come across this later.

Ball filters are commonly seen in pre-WWII Japanese teapots so they aren’t what most people would consider modern. However, they appear in the last couple of decades on Chinese teapots, but are not widely used compared to Japanese teapots.

@Bok’s idea that it may be Taiwanese is strengthened by the occurrence of ball filters in Taiwanese teapots and historical association with Japanese tea culture. All of my Chinese-style teapots with ball filters are actually Taiwanese made.

Admar wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 07, 2022 12:57 pm

Get some tea in that pot and find out how it brews tea and if you like it.

Sage advice!

Admar wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 07, 2022 12:57 pm

Get some tea in that pot and find out how it brews tea and if you like it.

I am a complete novice and very intimidated by clay pots. The only thing that I can do is taste.

I get the feeling that it would not be reasonable to ask to try out pots before buying. Is this the case?

Rickpatbrown wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 09, 2022 2:20 am

I get the feeling that it would not be reasonable to ask to try out pots before buying. Is this the case?

In Asia mostly ok, in the West probably not commonly allowed… In Asia some have enough clout to bring a pot home and try for a few days/weeks

@Rickpatbrown if you do get a chance to visit Asia, definitely drop by a tea shop or two just for the experience. Tea shops in Asia will let you play with most teawares before you buy, and they will feed you different teas until your bladder cannot handle it anymore lol. It’s almost like you walk into a beer brewery, they will let you sample as many as you can stomach with hopes that you buy a pack of beers.

We actually just returned from Taiwan. We have a toddler now, so sitting in a tea shop sampling tea quietly will need to wait a few years

I did get to try out this pot on some young Jingmai sheng puerh ... Seems to work pretty well. I can really smell the orchid on the wet leaves in this pot.

@Bok ... Are these pots usually made with a certain tea in mind? Or are they just relatively inexpensive, but usable workorses?

I can recognize that it's not the most exquisite work, but it is certainly made by someone who knows how a lot should function.

DailyTX wrote: ↑

Fri Dec 09, 2022 9:59 am

Rickpatbrown if you do get a chance to visit Asia, definitely drop by a tea shop or two just for the experience. Tea shops in Asia will let you play with most teawares before you buy, and they will feed you different teas until your bladder cannot handle it anymore lol. It’s almost like you walk into a beer brewery, they will let you sample as many as you can stomach with hopes that you buy a pack of beers.