The Porcelain Thread

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teatray
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Fri Jul 08, 2022 10:12 pm

I looked up this and wondered how you use it. (Your post says "wine pot" :mrgreen:). Wow, these cups around the pot must be tiny!
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DailyTX
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Fri Jul 08, 2022 10:40 pm

teatray wrote:
Fri Jul 08, 2022 10:12 pm
I looked up this and wondered how you use it. (Your post says "wine pot" :mrgreen:). Wow, these cups around the pot must be tiny!
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One day, I’ll invite my Chinese friends over to have a maotai gathering with those tiny cups lol
GaoShan
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Mon Jul 11, 2022 11:47 am

Bok wrote:
Thu Jul 07, 2022 6:06 pm
GaoShan wrote:
Thu Jul 07, 2022 3:11 pm
teatray wrote:
Tue Jul 05, 2022 6:04 pm
I've whined a fair amount about my mispurchases on my quest for a small glazed pot, so maybe I should post about the good ones. This delicate 140ml Jingdezhen Qinghua pot arrived last week from Mud & Leaves. Never ordered before, so wasn't exactly sure what I was getting. Unpacking experience was a bit odd, not unlike a cheap Ali Express purchase (half a dozen super-tight layers of smelly wraps and foams, smelly storage box). For a moment, I thought I might find some $5 worth of pot inside, with a vague resemblance to the shop pictures. But out came this cute little pot. The store pictures (not to mention my phone snaps below) don't really do it justice, it's beautiful. The paintings facing the (right-handed) pourer and the guest seem thoughtfully balanced. The walls are pretty thin (easily visible Qinghua from the inside, fully opaque from the outside). The pour is a pleasant, quiet stream. It takes a few days of practice to reliably start off without losing a drop, but it's not a problem after you get a feel for the pot. (Stopping is another matter: I use solo cup/gong dao bei, or pour two cups without lifting when using this pot. I find it difficult to alternate cups in the Japanese style without dripping.). Most importantly, it doesn't impart any flavors and produces wonderful brews. A new favorite for my oolong exploration.

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That's a nice pot! Let me know if you can find a decent porcelain pot that's under 120 ml. I've been looking for one for quite some time. I actually saw that Mud & Leaves had a couple 120 ml pots, but they seem to be out of stock.
Try Taobao, lots of porcelain and that’s where most of these come from anyways.

A random, five minute search yielded all this and many, many more, all below 120ml.
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Unfortunately, I don't speak Chinese! I guess I need a translator.
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Bok
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Mon Jul 11, 2022 7:10 pm

@GaoShan most use a proxy buyer service. There can be surprises but mostly you have more choice and lower prices for mostly the same stuff as in western shops.
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LeoFox
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Mon Aug 15, 2022 7:40 pm

One quick way to test the effect of a porcelain cup is to pour directly into 2+ different porcelain cups and taste side by side. Here I am comparing two very different cups - a thin, light modern JDZ cup from m&l and a thick, weighty dehua cup from dxjd of about similar volume. The tea is 2019 basic mi Lan xian dan cong from hojo infused 5.5 g/ 85 ml in a jdz gaiwan.






Personally, I am very impressed by the dxjd cup that provided a somewhat rounded but very smooth, deeply sweet infusion with no discernable bitterness. While the jdz cup offered more fragrance, it seemed to lack some depth and had sharper corners (astringency and also a touch of bitterness in later infusions) My wife, not a tea drinker, did not expect there would be any difference - and was quite surprised to discover the difference to be quite noticeable
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teatray
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Tue Aug 16, 2022 3:56 am

Intriguing. I also find differences between porcelain cups but attribute mostly to shape. Curious what would cause the differences in cup perception, generally. I can think of:

Non-taste factors
N1. Shape & texture touching lips/tongue (edge shape/thickness, radius, material: rough/smooth/glassy)
N2. Olfactory presentation due to cup height/overall shape & size
N3. Cup weight, visual and/or haptic factors affecting taste/perception (subconsciously)
N4. Temperature of the cup/soup (might differ when comparing similarly prewarmed cups due to thermal properties, volume, pour timing)

Taste factors
T1. The taste of the soup after touching the cup material (due to reaction/leaking of tiny amounts)
T2. The taste of the material when touching the lips/tongue (not related to texture)

T1 should be blind-testable by repouring into identical glasses. T2 seems like it should be detectable by biting/licking the cup or drinking cold/hot water from it (though differentiation with N1 texture could be an issue, maybe not with porcelain). N4 can be eliminated via water bath. This would leave N1,2,3 as not easily differentiable, if one is inclined to test rigorously. Would be good to know if there's any literature on T1/T2 differences between different types of glazing/glass. I know even pure glass can have different compositions affecting physical properties & health (borosilicate, lead oxide), but not sure about taste (for a reasonable definition of normal, modern glass).
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Baisao
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Tue Aug 16, 2022 9:51 am

My Dehua cups and Jingdezhen cups have different surface textures under 200x magnification. I’ve done blind tastings with spring water with people unprepared for an expectation and their impressions are consistent with mine.
Twistedoolong6
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Sat Aug 20, 2022 12:46 am

Found this porcelain tea set at an op shop for 25 dollars. Not China but seems to be a Malaysian tea set, marked as tenmoku pottery. I love the leaf design of it and squared shape of the pot, like I mentioned for 25 dollars I couldn’t pass it up.
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Ethan Kurland
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Sat Aug 20, 2022 9:34 am

Thanks for the post. Interesting! Will you use it to steep tea or as a server?
Twistedoolong6
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Sun Aug 21, 2022 4:40 am

I’d probably use it to steep tea, not a large volume so could make some good brews, if I add a bit more leafs in for a higher ratio to water.

More an ornamental piece tbh
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teatray
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Tue Aug 30, 2022 4:37 pm

A curious hidden feature of my porcelain teapot (made in M&L's Jingdezhen studio) is a larger hole at the bottom of the ball filter. Not much of an issue with gaoshan (didn't even notice at first), but it became apparent when making other teas & comparing to pots with similar ball filters. The cups from this one just weren't as clean as the top view of the filter suggests. Whatever the reason for the hole (production/better pour?) it seems like a bad compromise. (I tried to ask M&L but didn't get a response.) Anyway, something to consider when shopping/checking porcelain items (has anyone else seen something similar?).
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Andrew S
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Tue Aug 30, 2022 8:11 pm

@teatray: I assume that the intention was to increase the size of the openings just at the base of the filter, so that when you are pouring the tea out and holding the teapot vertically, more of the liquid will drain out than might otherwise happen with a ball filter, to avoid it pooling inside and continuing to brew the leaves, but that's just a guess, and I assume that there would be other ways to achieve that objective.

All of my teapots have flat filters (single or multi-hole), so I am just guessing. It would be interesting to see if the design does actually reduce the amount of liquid left inside compared to a different ball filter. I would guess that it does not, since there's still an elevated part above the body of the pot in any event.

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teatray
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Wed Aug 31, 2022 3:18 am

Andrew S wrote:
Tue Aug 30, 2022 8:11 pm
It would be interesting to see if the design does actually reduce the amount of liquid left inside compared to a different ball filter. I would guess that it does not, since there's still an elevated part above the body of the pot in any event.
Good guess, it does not. Could be another reason for the design, yeah. This pot also has larger holes on the outer perimeter compared to the center, which some also believe to improve drain, but (even though it's a nice aesthetic) it's not really helping much when there's space between wall & outermost filter holes.

BTW Inge Nielsen's ball filter holes touch the wall. I actually prefer the M&L pot for subtler/perhaps subjective reasons (handling/pour/aesthetics), but in that regard hers are the best filters I've tried--not a drop left when testing (without tea).
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GailC
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Tue Sep 20, 2022 3:53 pm

I'm wanting to try more tea than the Lao Cha Tou I'm currently drinking so I started looking for a small ceramic something that was cheap but not complete garbage.

I found this 5oz pot on amazon of all places and it arrived today.
Is it perfect? No, the lid is a little loose and it dribbles if you try to pour fast. Pour a little slower and its smooth. Nothing to complain about for $16 though.

I do wish the knob was a little bigger. I might cut down a cork to fit over it
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teatray
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Fri Sep 23, 2022 9:07 pm

Cute, versatile pot. Hope you discover lots of good tea with it!
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