TeaForum.org

Howdy all. I have a few questions, but first, a preface :

Not really knowing what gongfucha was, I bought this wonderful teapot in Yingge last year. It's 220 ml, has about a 10 second pour, and is intricately painted. Then I get back to the states and after some research find out I should've hopped the strait & bought something in Yixing (or not, depending on who you ask), because the one I got probably isn't Yixing clay. Side note : nowhere in the authentication documents does it mention this pot being Yixing clay, which in retrospect I find rather refreshing.

I've been reading about unglazed pots and have a few questions :

1) Is it true that any unglazed pot will gather patina & flavor the tea like a proper Yixing pot? Is it just that Yixing made the concept famous or is there something particularly special about Yixing clay?

2) I'm reading that it's a good idea to boil your Yixing pot for upwards of an hour before use. Should that be done with all unglazed tea ware, or just Yixing?

3) I'm concerned that boiling this pot might damage the painting on the side. Am I just being overly-protective & neurotic?

Here are a few pictures of the pot :

https://tinyurl.com/y8ryudjl

https://tinyurl.com/y7qkxf9a

https://tinyurl.com/yd8wbufa

https://tinyurl.com/yberbuh9

https://tinyurl.com/y944qwqz

https://tinyurl.com/yd25zc9s

I'm hoping to pair it with a light green Tieguanyin - it's only appropriate that Guan Yu guards Guan Yin!

Thanks in advance!

The pictures aren't visible for me.

Boiling teapot is not a good idea in general. Just give it a rinse and start using it. Maybe it will mute flavors a bit more initially but if the pot is good it will settle down quickly. Otherwise no amount of boiling will fix it.

D'oh. I uploaded them to google and linked them thinking anyone could view them. I'll go edit the original. Thanks for the advice!

.m. wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 09, 2018 3:49 pm

The pictures aren't visible for me.

Boiling teapot is not a good idea in general. Just give it a rinse and start using it. Maybe it will mute flavors a bit more initially but if the pot is good it will settle down quickly. Otherwise no amount of boiling will fix it.

Boiling a teapot cleans it but doesn't effect how porous it is. Boiling with tea also has no noticeable advantage.

Chadrinkincat wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 09, 2018 5:38 pm

.m. wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 09, 2018 3:49 pm

The pictures aren't visible for me.

Boiling teapot is not a good idea in general. Just give it a rinse and start using it. Maybe it will mute flavors a bit more initially but if the pot is good it will settle down quickly. Otherwise no amount of boiling will fix it.

Boiling a teapot cleans it but doesn't effect how porous it is. Boiling with tea also has no noticeable advantage.

I would not boil (too much rattling), rather I do a slow simmer with a trivot and protector cloth for 30 minutes, but only if the pot is smelly or dirty. I then simmer again 30 minutes with tea leaves, this helps prepare the pot for use. If the pot is not smelly or dirty, just letting it soak for a day or so, and then washing with boiling water should be fine.

p.s. your updated links still not working.

I'll try to answer your first question. Basically, no, absorbing tea flavors is not specific to yixing. It depends on how porous the unglazed clay is. I think (someone correct me if I'm wrong) how porous a pot is is mostly to do with the firing temperature, low fired more porous, mid fired less porous, high fired least porous. I think it also has to do, maybe less so, with how the clay was handled before shaping and firing the pot. Overworked and it will be less porous. Under worked and it will be very porous. I have an unglazed Japanese tokonome kyusu that functions as a glazed pot because I believe it was fired at a very high temperature. Maybe someone else can add to this or correct anything I might have got wrong.

Yixing clay has a different composition than most other kinds of clay, so that it's considered a "rock" clay in that it preserves porosity even when fired at relatively high temperatures, at which most other clays would stop being porous. Another consequence of this is that while most other clays can be spun on a wheel, yixing clay cannot really be used in that way (unless additives are used) - usually yixing pots are not spun on a wheel. There is something particularly special about yixing clay, which is due to its mineral composition and the proportions of iron, mica and quartz.

It is not the case that any unglazed pot will affect the tea like a yixing. Some unglazed pots won't affect the tea at all. Other unglazed pots will affect the tea, but many of them in different ways from a yixing. For example, chaozhou clay's effect is usually quite different from yixing hongni or zini. Same goes for many Japanese clays.

Furthermore, unlike most other clays, yixing will develop a shine/patina with use.