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I was wondering if I could get some advice on pairing jasmine tea with unglazed clay. I know the usual recommendation is porcelain or glass but I want something that I can season. i would want the fragrance and aromas to be emphasized..and probably have good heat retention. I dont brew jasmine tea gongfu style so a larger vessel that is thicker should be fine. Also for something like this, I would ideally want something with a rougher look

I guess this already narrows things down a bit.

Edit:

Found this old post of someone devoting a duanni pot to jasmine. Seemed to work for him
https://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?f ... 15#p190376

I've never done Jasmine with unglazed clay, and I'm a little wary about it with very porous glazes too. But if you were to dedicate something to it....TAD enabled!

(but zero experience on what might enhance it best)

I have a black zini pot I've tried a lot of different teas in and hasn't really stuck with anything. I was trying some scented teas out in it too- jasmine liu bao, scented liu an, so on- it worked quite well for them in that I felt like it tended to accent the aroma. The downside of the pot is it can also highlight bitterness, which with jasmine teas you run a risk of getting a lot more of that, especially at longer steeping time. Going for a similar yixing pot at a larger size probably means a lot more money though and not exactly the look you are after anyway, nixing wouldn't be as pricey but maybe too muting and again not the look you are after, CZ pots tend to be small, and a lot of the artists like Bero also tend to focus on smaller sizes too.

Maybe tokoname or a similar Japanese pot is a better bet? Maybe I'm off base since I'm not a green drinker, but I'd imagine if a pot is good for sencha it would be a good fit since you want similar traits from both teas- preserving jasmine aroma and the lighter fresher flavors while also not getting overly bitter, plus you would have a way better selection of larger size pots with styles closer to what you are after.

Makes me think maybe I should give these scented teas a try in banko and see how that works.

Yes, like @wave_code meantioned, I was also thinking Tokoname ware could be a good fit until @LeoFox specified that he wanted a rougher look. On the other hand, there is a lot of variety among Tokoname artisans so a rougher looking kyusu is probably out there. A couple of Yohei Konishi pieces I have are super dense and work well with aromatic teas. I have only tried Banko with sencha, the pieces I have are ever so slightly porous inside and so I don’t think would work well with jasmine tea, just doesn’t feel like a good fit. A mayake ash glazed kyusu I have fits really well with baozhong which is also aromatic, but you specified unglazed. Zhuni would be a fit except I haven’t seen any rough looking Zhuni pots. So back to a shudei Tokonane kyusu, larger sizes are common, many have high fired very dense surfaces that will bounce aroma off well, and are not so thick to cook the leaf. What size were you thinking of?

Thanks for all the advice! I am thinking around 200 mL..and actually flirting with the idea of using a bizen (am I crazy?)

@Victoria there just finished an exhibition in Taipei of the potter Li Tsung Ju(edit: wrong name) For his latest series he used a rough looking Zhuni-Zini blend: https://www.instagram.com/p/CN7eCPuszZK ... 3txgedn8u4

Bok wrote: ↑

Sun May 02, 2021 5:56 pm

Victoria there just finished an exhibition in Taipei of the potter Li Tsung Yu. For his latest series he used a rough looking Zhuni-Zini blend: https://www.instagram.com/p/CN7eCPuszZK ... 3txgedn8u4

I see that act is private. Maybe if you like the work you can share here?

Victoria wrote: ↑

Sun May 02, 2021 6:20 pm

Bok wrote: ↑

Sun May 02, 2021 5:56 pm

Victoria there just finished an exhibition in Taipei of the potter Li Tsung Yu. For his latest series he used a rough looking Zhuni-Zini blend: https://www.instagram.com/p/CN7eCPuszZK ... 3txgedn8u4

I see that act is private. Maybe if you like the work you can share here?

Oh sorry! Didn’t realise the account turned private… or maybe I linked it wrong? In any case, here are some works from that last exhibit (images from the artisan).

That’s his profile: https://instagram.com/li_tsung_ju?igshid=1psjzapgv7xte

I recently stumbled across his work and was admiring it. I was curious what he was using for clay, so nice to know!

LeoFox wrote: ↑

Sun May 02, 2021 3:29 pm

Thanks for all the advice! I am thinking around 200 mL..and actually flirting with the idea of using a bizen (am I crazy?)

I have a marvelous bizen yunomi that gets used for everything, because though it is unglazed, it does not carry over aromas from one round to the next. I used it for hot chocolate just this morning, and for sencha a few days ago, and it's depth holds aroma beautifully for drinking jasmine and Dan Congs and other highly aromatic teas.

Shunko-En Bizen Yunomi - 09 by debunix, on Flickr

It's walls seem thin yet it feels remarkably sturdy in hand. I'd love to have a kyusu to match.

Beautiful swirls! We should have a Bizen thread

So in the end, I got a bizen hohin from @Darbotek. The intention is to use this just for jasmine tea!

LeoFox wrote: ↑

Tue May 04, 2021 3:10 pm

So in the end, I got a bizen hohin from Darbotek. The intention is to use this just for jasmine tea!

I hope you enjoy it!

Very interesting pot/hohin. Let us know how it works.