TeaForum.org

Some time ago I made a flowchart to provide initial advice on how to pair yixing pots with tea and posted it on teachat. Someone mentioned that it's gone, so I repost it here in case it can be useful. Disclaimer 1: you still want to experiment to see what works best for you. Disclaimer 2: there isn't a single right way to brew a tea, although there definitely are some wrong ways

Nice to know I’m “doing it right” just relying on my instinct and tastebuds!

Thank you for making this.

Fantastic. I suggest pinning this post.
Will make life so much easier for many

+1 excellent, clear and informative. Should be a read this first before asking further questions on the topic!

Excellent work!

Bok wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 07, 2018 10:17 am

+1 excellent, clear and informative. Should be a read this first before asking further questions on the topic!

I agree! Maybe add Kyarazen's article to that prerequisite list.

Interesting chart thanks for sharing Steanze. Curious why Duanni is at the top of chart, since I understand it to be one of three subsets of Zisha?

Zisha: the general word for the clay. 3 sub categories are;

-Zini (Purple clay) - Also known as Zisha
Di Cao Cing

-Hongni (Red Clay)
Zhuni

-Duanni (Green Clay)
Lvni

Victoria wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 08, 2018 1:28 pm

Interesting chart thanks for sharing Steanze. Curious why Duanni is at the top of chart, since I understand it to be one of three subsets of Zisha?

Hi Victoria! This is because the chart is not a categorization of types of pots. It is a decision tree to pair a pot with a type of tea. If a pot is duanni, it will be very porous, so I'd use it for shu or wet stored sheng regardless of its pouring speed, thickness and so on.

steanze wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 08, 2018 1:34 pm

Victoria wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 08, 2018 1:28 pm

Interesting chart thanks for sharing Steanze. Curious why Duanni is at the top of chart, since I understand it to be one of three subsets of Zisha?

Hi Victoria! This is because the chart is not a categorization of types of pots. It is a decision tree to pair a pot with a type of tea. If a pot is duanni, it will be very porous, so I'd use it for shu or wet stored sheng regardless of its pouring speed, thickness and so on.

Okay trying to understand your graphic hierarchical logic, or maybe it is not meant to be hierarchical, but rather a train of thought. Duanni is assigned X teas regardless of thickness and pour speed. Why then split-off at 10 second pours into two branches which mirror same clay types? Or was this two way split of same clay types for graphic convenience?

In a decision tree, you start from the top, answer the questions and follow the branches, until at the end you will receive the answer (in this case, what tea to pair the pot with).
The order of the questions does not imply any hierarchy, it's just a tool to get to the final answer. In some cases, it is possible to build decision trees in which the hierarchy is different, but the input-output mapping is the same Here what matters is the input-output mapping, not the order of the questions. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to clarify this!

Maybe what you're asking is, how did I come up with that tree? well I tried the various pots with various teas and noticed their effects, and then worked backwards to build the decision tree that generates the output I want so it's quicker for people to find which pot to match with which tea.

steanze wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 08, 2018 3:42 pm

In a decision tree, you start from the top, answer the questions and follow the branches, until at the end you will receive the answer (in this case, what tea to pair the pot with).
The order of the questions does not imply any hierarchy, it's just a tool to get to the final answer. In some cases, it is possible to build decision trees in which the hierarchy is different, but the input-output mapping is the same Here what matters is the input-output mapping, not the order of the questions. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to clarify this!

Maybe what you're asking is, how did I come up with that tree? well I tried the various pots with various teas and noticed their effects, and then worked backwards to build the decision tree that generates the output I want so it's quicker for people to find which pot to match with which tea.

Okay, yes that is what I was asking. Now I see you worked it backwards based on your personal train of thought. End resulting pairings make sense to me, just how you got there had my mind in a noodle. In architecture most flow charts like this are hierarchical, like the branches of government Thanks for clearing it up.

Cool! Then let's factor in pot shapes, mouth openings etc..

Though the duanni vexes me, I've been thinking that duanni is only good for green tea and green wulong, as it doesn't really hold heat. Any thoughts on that?

oeroe wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 10, 2018 3:21 pm

Cool! Then let's factor in pot shapes, mouth openings etc..

Though the duanni vexes me, I've been thinking that duanni is only good for green tea and green wulong, as it doesn't really hold heat. Any thoughts on that?

then the graph gets pretty large. As far as shapes, I'd consider mostly that 1) the sphere minimizes the surface/volume ratio, so the closer to a sphere the greater the heat retention, 2) rolled oolongs which expand benefit from pots that are not too flat. For mouth openings, some teas have long leaves and really benefit from larger openings especially if the pot is small.

I didn't have issues with heat retention with my duanni pots, and it's so porous that it significantly reduces the aromas of the tea, so I would not use it for green oolongs where aromas are quite important. I usually get better results in a thin porcelain gaiwan or in thin hongni/zhuni with those teas. Instead, I find that the porosity of duanni does a good job at rounding the flavors of wet storage or wodui. But if you get good results with green oolongs go for it, these are not fixed rules, just a suggested starting point

What sources did you use the get the results shown in the graph? Studies, own thorough experiments, tea expert opinions, books, ??

Tertti wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 11, 2018 5:52 am

What sources did you use the get the results shown in the graph? Studies, own thorough experiments, tea expert opinions, books, ??

own experiments I encourage you to experiment too. There are a lot of myths in the tea world...