Teaware Comparison Side-by-Side - General Tips

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Noonie
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Location: Ontario, Canada

Thu Sep 24, 2020 1:13 pm

I have some 90's aged ripe shou I'll be getting delivered soon and I'm going to do a side by side tasting with a yixing and porcelain gaiwan. I'm looking for some *general* tips on conducting such a comparison.

I say *general* because I don't want to make this a definitive test, where I follow tight restrictions. I realize that if I keep it 'loose' I may get back false 'data', but that's okay. I've never done a side by side so I'm looking at this as more of a fun experience, where maybe/hopefully there will be a clear winner, or not (both are good results).

Here is the general approach I'm planning to follow - let me know if any easy to implement recommendations:
- the 80's yixing and porcelain gaiwan both hold very close to 100ml, so I will try to pour directly from the Bonavita kettle into the pots...but as I'll be doing this multiple infusions the exact volume of water may vary a bit
- I'll use 5g and shoot for 90ml of water (basically I won't be going to the top of either pot), water 99 Celsius
- I'll make an infusion in one of the pots, pour into a glass pitcher, then into a small cup...tasting each cup until the infusion is finished
- I'll repeat with the other pot, and while I'll be using the same glass pitcher, I'll give it a quick rinse with hot water, and then pour into a second, matching up
- I'll go as long as the steeps go, taking some basic notes along the way

What I'm looking for is what pot works best for the tea, for me. I'll then use that pot for the remaining sessions with that tea.

Hopefully this is a clear explanation. When I write about tea, I envision in my mind what I'll be doing and expect everyone will get it (lol). I know from other discussions this isn't always the case, so please ask for clarification if you think you have some good advice but need clarity from me before providing.
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Victoria
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Thu Sep 24, 2020 2:02 pm

I recommend you do an actual real time side by side tasting, that way you can go back and forth and taste the difference. If you don’t have two glass pitchers then you can use two glass decanters as pitchers, or just use two drinking glasses. Here are a few posts showing how I’ve done these tastings and pitchers used;
viewtopic.php?p=7858#p7858
viewtopic.php?p=16697#p16697
viewtopic.php?p=26398#p26398
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Bok
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Thu Sep 24, 2020 9:30 pm

@LeoFox also this thread viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1472#top has some very sound advice from Octo as how to best do a comparison of different brewing materials.
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LeoFox
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Thu Sep 24, 2020 9:38 pm

Bok wrote:
Thu Sep 24, 2020 9:30 pm
LeoFox also this thread viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1472#top has some very sound advice from Octo as how to best do a comparison of different brewing materials.
Much appreciated. I see #7 is long dan :lol:
Noonie
Posts: 360
Joined: Tue Dec 12, 2017 12:30 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Mon Sep 28, 2020 1:03 pm

I had some time on the weekend to compare this aged ripe prepared in my yixing pot and a porcelain gaiwan.

My overall impression is that I didn't notice much of a difference between methods. I'm terrible at describing my senses, but I would say the yixing yielded a deeper flavour as the tea when down the back of my throat, while the tea from the gaiwan was both sweeter and stronger up front, and faded at the back of my throat. Also, the yixing slightly muted the flavours, but perhaps added some body.

I likely won't do more side-by-side's but I will use both vessel's for brewing and see what happens over time. Neither was a clear favourite so no need to dedicate one pot for this tea.

I think what's most important, before I would have even tried a side-by-side, is to nail the parameters with the gaiwan over the first few sessions with the tea (leaf to water, steeping time, etc.). To get the taste I wanted I ended up with a little over 6g/100ml. 7g was more than I needed for the flavour I wanted, and 5g too weak.
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