Hongni for wuyi yancha teas

Trusar
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Tue Jan 01, 2019 4:16 pm

pedant wrote:
Fri Dec 28, 2018 4:52 pm
Pretty sure that your hongni doesn't have iron added. Correct me if I'm wrong ofc
Yea actually maybe it was the black tea reacting with the clay.
The metallic smell and taste has gone after using it with DHP.
Thanks
Trusar
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Location: London, UK

Tue Jan 01, 2019 4:19 pm

steanze wrote:
Sat Dec 29, 2018 1:09 am

Well it depends on perspective... but in that period they did use nenni ore with iron oxide added.
thanks i'll look into that further "nenni ore with iron oxide" thank you.
theredbaron
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Thu Jan 03, 2019 8:21 pm

Trusar wrote:
Tue Dec 25, 2018 5:52 pm
Was wondering if a Hongni teapot from late 80's early 90's is a good match for da hong pao and wuyi teas.

i understand that in the beginning the teapot is still breaking in and will keep absorbing the flavours of the tea, so it would be pointless to compare the taste to a gaiwan at this point.

it would be good to get some advise and experience before i go and season it.

any suggestions.
That is a how long is a piece of string question.
It depends on so many factors, on the tea (essence of tea has good Yancha), but also very much on the water you use. Water and tea in fact are far more important factors than the pot itself. And as others mentioned - Hong Ni does not equal Hong Ni. Which period and firing are very important as well.
Trusar
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Wed Jul 20, 2022 5:06 pm

Victoria wrote:
Fri Dec 28, 2018 5:32 pm
Only one of my hongni pots mute Taiwan oolong; a somewhat thick bodied Neiziwahong clay houhin (zini purple clay inside, with a coat of hongni red clay outside), made for export to Japan. It softens the hard edges of medium/low grade oolong (in a good way).

Did you get your pot from Essence of Tea? I have a similar one, I call him my little iron hat warrior, the compact form reminds me of a helmet. It’s Zini Yu Li by Liu Xiu Di 120ml, late 80s Factory 1. I use it for heavy roasted yancha mostly. Although, ideally for yancha I would recommend a teapot with a wider lid opening, to not break the dry leaves going in. For darker roasted yancha, zini clays works well for me, or thicker walled hongni pots like the one you pictured above. You probably need to season your pot for a week or so, using it as a pitcher for yancha sessions, if that doesn’t work you’ll need to reset the pot. Sometimes pots that haven’t been used for several decades, and have been stored in humid conditions, develop a musty metallic flavor when water is added, but thankfully there are remedies.
Sorry for the very very very late reply, was looking through the thread today and noticed i didn't reply,
yes, i got it from the essence of teas website.
how do i reset the pot?
whats the remedy to get rid of the musty metalic flavour from several decades of humid storage you mentioned?
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Victoria
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Wed Jul 20, 2022 6:09 pm

Trusar wrote:
Wed Jul 20, 2022 5:06 pm
Victoria wrote:
Fri Dec 28, 2018 5:32 pm
Only one of my hongni pots mute Taiwan oolong; a somewhat thick bodied Neiziwahong clay houhin (zini purple clay inside, with a coat of hongni red clay outside), made for export to Japan. It softens the hard edges of medium/low grade oolong (in a good way).

Did you get your pot from Essence of Tea? I have a similar one, I call him my little iron hat warrior, the compact form reminds me of a helmet. It’s Zini Yu Li by Liu Xiu Di 120ml, late 80s Factory 1. I use it for heavy roasted yancha mostly. Although, ideally for yancha I would recommend a teapot with a wider lid opening, to not break the dry leaves going in. For darker roasted yancha, zini clays works well for me, or thicker walled hongni pots like the one you pictured above. You probably need to season your pot for a week or so, using it as a pitcher for yancha sessions, if that doesn’t work you’ll need to reset the pot. Sometimes pots that haven’t been used for several decades, and have been stored in humid conditions, develop a musty metallic flavor when water is added, but thankfully there are remedies.
Sorry for the very very very late reply, was looking through the thread today and noticed i didn't reply,
yes, i got it from the essence of teas website.
how do i reset the pot?
whats the remedy to get rid of the musty metalic flavour from several decades of humid storage you mentioned?
Hi there @Trusar. You can follow the steps that I shared in Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing, starting with very simple methods. If those don’t work you can then use the final method which is the most harsh using Sodium Percarbonate, an oxygen based mild alkali bleaching agent. Percarbonate does almost too good a job cleaning -so I use sparingly on teapots- as they then require some time to rebalance with tea and its tea fatty acids.
Trusar
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Thu Jul 21, 2022 3:37 pm

I emailed David from essence of teas to aski if this pot had iron oxide added and he said :

Sorry, I’m not sure. Factory 1 did start adding some iron oxide to some of their cheaper clays in the 80’s, though this pot is one of their higher quality “Xiao Ming Jia” series by named potters. I’m not sure also which type of hongni it is, sorry.

There shouldn’t be a metallic taste either way (with iron oxide or without). These pots were in storage for many years and will need cleaning with hot water and some use to season them. I hope this helps
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