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My recent efforts to streamline and size down my teaware collection are constantly hijacked - if not by myself then by others...

Went to see my pottery teacher and he gave me the pot enclosed.

He said it is at least 25y old bit not sure about the exact age. It is made from Guihuasha Osmanthus flower clay. I could not find any English information on it. Called like this for the tiny yellow grains which look like the flower. So a clay blend of some sorts.

Very smooth to the touch and quite beautiful up and close.

This pot has seen a lot of use! My teacher used it frequently in his previous life as a teashop owner. It was almost completely black coated inside before I gave it a rough cleaning with baking soda.

So far no one I asked was able to identify all the characters on the seal for sure... characters seem to be not very frequently used ones.

Have a look and I appreciate any input!

Ah, size is 200ml, the pot is super light for the size, walls are medium thin.

More...

it reminds me of jiangponi

pedant wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 07, 2018 10:12 pm

it reminds me of jiangponi

Could be another term for it!
Chinese characters are 桂花砂, if I google it I find some similar looking pots but my Chinese reading skill is not good enough to find more information.

Continuing to clean, the clay seems to be soaked with old tea! Just buy letting it sit with hot water, tiny black dots of it appear on the outside, definitely going to give it the full reset program before I use it! If I would not know the source of the pot for sure, I would be worried...

Have seen this kind of dirtiness in pots a lot in Taiwan though. Decades of heavy usage, followed by decade long abandonment in a very humid climate. The shop I buy tea from, uses some pots that are almost black on the formerly brown orange outside from daily use!

Curious fact: that tea shops pot is a Zini from 1980. Not muting effect whatsoever on high mountain oolong. Guess if you use a pot long enough, everything is clogged up and clay does not matter much anymore. Remember Kyarazen also writing that a while ago somewhere.

So, FB group came through: Seal reads 邵正來制 means made by Shàozhènglái, which is of course not possible, as that is a potter from the Qing dynasty and is to good to be true.

So, probably made in recent decades, exactly how recent still not sure. Must be at least a good twenty years according to my teacher and previous owner.

The term for the clay did not ring any bells in the group and no alternative given. Need to wait for final cleaning to test brew a few teas in it. As of yet the pot still brews tea out of clean water... smells a bit like cheap puerh.

Bok wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 08, 2018 4:14 am

Curious fact: that tea shops pot is a Zini from 1980. Not muting effect whatsoever on high mountain oolong. Guess if you use a pot long enough, everything is clogged up and clay does not matter much anymore. Remember Kyarazen also writing that a while ago somewhere.

Did you try the same oolong in a porcelain gaiwan?

Anyway, even if we took that to be the case, if one did not want the muting effect, brewing muted oolong for years seems like a high price to pay. And if one wanted the muting effect, cleaning the pot is a quick fix

I have never heard of Guihuasha clay either. Maybe you can ask your teacher about the source of the pot, if the seller is still around he might know. It also looks like Jiangponi to me, but could also be a mixing of zini with some duanni specks. The workmanship is not Qing, but the shape is nice nonetheless

steanze wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 08, 2018 5:42 am

Did you try the same oolong in a porcelain gaiwan?

Anyway, even if we took that to be the case, if one did not want the muting effect, brewing muted oolong for years seems like a high price to pay. And if one wanted the muting effect, cleaning the pot is a quick fix

I have never heard of Guihuasha clay either. Maybe you can ask your teacher about the source of the pot, if the seller is still around he might know. It also looks like Jiangponi to me, but could also be a mixing of zini with some duanni specks. The workmanship is not Qing, but the shape is nice nonetheless

I did not try the same tea. The shop only uses clay pots. As far as I can tell they seem to use the same 3-4 pots in random rotation... over the years they made tea for me in all of them, mostly high mountain. Tea was always good but of course I do not have the comparison with porcelain.

I will ask my teacher but I doubt the source of the pot is still around, it must have been ages.

Shape is nice, caught my eyes immediately! Was sitting in a forgotten corner of his shop. Workmanship is indeed off here and there and the overall harmony has its issues too, especially the handle does not seem to fit whole design in its proportion.

If it were Jiangponi, what kind of pairing would you suggest? It seems really porous to me. First time I have seen a pot sweating out the dirt! Really, really smooth to the touch though... a curious pot all in all.

Bok =5417 wrote:

Sun Apr 08, 2018 6:11 am

Shape is nice, caught my eyes immediately! Was sitting in a forgotten corner of his shop. Workmanship is indeed off here and there and the overall harmony has its issues too, especially the handle does not seem to fit whole design in its proportion.

Well that is true of most Qing pots as well

Bok =5417 wrote:

Sun Apr 08, 2018 6:11 am

If it were Jiangponi, what kind of pairing would you suggest? It seems really porous to me. First time I have seen a pot sweating out the dirt! Really, really smooth to the touch though... a curious pot all in all.

Jiangponi is quite porous I'd recommend aged sheng puerh or shu, or with heavily roasted teas. For instance some of the dark roast ones from Jay could do well in there. But you can experiment with other teas too, sometimes even if a particular pot isn't the pot I'd use most often for one type of tea, it is nice to have the option to use it occasionally for a different effect.

So, after finally getting my hands on some Percarbonate, which was not so easy in Taiwan, the pot got the ultra cleaning treatment - Thanks Victoria for your superb guide on how-to - it worked a treat and the pot is as new as it gets!

Makes me wonder if that is the reason there are so many unused vintage pots out there...

Bok wrote: ↑

Mon May 28, 2018 8:55 am

So, after finally getting my hands on some Percarbonate, which was not so easy in Taiwan, the pot got the ultra cleaning treatment - Thanks Victoria for your superb guide on how-to - it worked a treat and the pot is as new as it gets!

Makes me wonder if that is the reason there are so many unused vintage pots out there...

Great to hear you went that route Bok. Make sure to season it for at least a week by using it as a pitcher with a tea you think you’d like to use with it. I intend to repost that article since TC seems to be continuing to delete posts willy-nilly. By the way, not Suzy homemaker, but I discovered that percarbonate is fantastic with fabric stains as well, seems to even make colors a little more saturated.

Victoria wrote: ↑

Mon May 28, 2018 12:34 pm

Great to hear you went that route Bok. Make sure to season it for at least a week by using it as a pitcher with a tea you think you’d like to use with it. I intend to repost that article since TC seems to be continuing to delete posts willy-nilly. By the way, not Suzy homemaker, but I discovered that percarbonate is fantastic with fabric stains as well, seems to even make colors a little more saturated.

Yes! I was wondering about other uses, the minimum order quantity was quite high, so I would not be able to use it on dirty pots only! One lifetime not enough, haha
So basically just add a spoon in the wash, no?

Curious to what is the reason for using as a pitcher afterwards? Is it because of fear of cracks? I was was also wondering about the step of simmering in hot water afterwards? Is it to get rid of last bits of the S-Percarb or another reason? The whole thing is quite satisfying to watch – kind of like a gigantic seltzer bubbling and steaming away.

I need to do a lot of experiments with tea, if it really is as absorbing as it seems to be, I will have a hard time matching it up with my current rotation of teas...

Victoria wrote: ↑

Mon May 28, 2018 12:34 pm

since TC seems to be continuing to delete posts

Are you serious?
Oh my. Just thinking about the amount of knowledge over there....

Bok wrote: ↑

Mon May 28, 2018 8:01 pm

Victoria wrote: ↑

Mon May 28, 2018 12:34 pm

Great to hear you went that route Bok. Make sure to season it for at least a week by using it as a pitcher with a tea you think you’d like to use with it. I intend to repost that article since TC seems to be continuing to delete posts willy-nilly. By the way, not Suzy homemaker, but I discovered that percarbonate is fantastic with fabric stains as well, seems to even make colors a little more saturated.

Yes! I was wondering about other uses, the minimum order quantity was quite high, so I would not be able to use it on dirty pots only! One lifetime not enough, haha
So basically just add a spoon in the wash, no?

Curious to what is the reason for using as a pitcher afterwards? Is it because of fear of cracks? I was was also wondering about the step of simmering in hot water afterwards? Is it to get rid of last bits of the S-Percarb or another reason? The whole thing is quite satisfying to watch – kind of like a gigantic seltzer bubbling and steaming away.

I need to do a lot of experiments with tea, if it really is as absorbing as it seems to be, I will have a hard time matching it up with my current rotation of teas...

When I got my big order of percarbonate I also wondered what to do with it, but it’s now getting low having used it on a few more pots, and then with fabrics I use for tea sessions. It is fun watching the seltzer bubbling action doing its work. With fabric, I’m thinking you can add to wash, but so far I’ve just put a tablespoon full or a little more in a pail, add hot water, stir, add fabrics, and let it sit for several hours.

I recommend simmering the teapot in hot water afterwards to clear out any remaining percarbonate in porous clay. Then use as a pitcher to season the teapot, since it is so clean now it will absorb and suck in tea more quickly.

Don’t know your clay but I’ll share that the Hokujo stoneware pots I use for roasted high mountain are fairly porous; aromatics are enhanced and body is supported nicely.

Victoria wrote: ↑

Mon May 28, 2018 9:03 pm

When I got my big order of percarbonate I also wondered what to do with it, but it’s now getting low having used it on a few more pots, and then with fabrics I use for tea sessions. It is fun watching the seltzer bubbling action doing its work. With fabric, I’m thinking you can add to wash, but so far I’ve just put a tablespoon full or a little more in a pail, add hot water, stir, add fabrics, and let it sit for several hours.

I recommend simmering the teapot in hot water afterwards to clear out any remaining percarbonate in porous clay. Then use as a pitcher to season the teapot, since it is so clean now it will absorb and suck in tea more quickly.

Don’t know your clay but I’ll share that the Hokujo stoneware pots I use for roasted high mountain are fairly porous; aromatics are enhanced and body is supported nicely.

Thanks for clearing that up! I will update on how it goes.