Yixing

[Youzi]

I have heard that there is an online database of Yixing potters. Maybe the age of the potter could tell us more about the production date? Anyone knows where to find these information?

Yeah, I just wrote an article about that, and all the ranks etc. You can check that out. However the DB only includes ranked artists. There are thousands who are unranked.

And I'm quite certain that the potter worked in F1, as all other potters did, who were old enough, during that time, since that's how communism works.

EDIT: Here's a link to the topic with the article: viewtopic.php?f=33&t=1323

[gregcss]

Hello,

I've been using an Early 2000s Hong Ni Shuiping Teapot from Chawangshop (https://www.chawangshop.com/early-2000s ... -90cc.html) for about 4 years now for raw puerh; aged and young and have have been happy with it.

I'm thinking about getting another pot, specifically the 95ml Green Label Factory 1 Wai Hong Nei Zi from EOT (https://essenceoftea.com/collections/yi ... g-teapot-a). At $220 for this one, I wonder if my current pot is good enough. Do you have experience with either of these pots? Do you have any suggestions?

[Bok]

Hello,

I've been using an Early 2000s Hong Ni Shuiping Teapot from Chawangshop (https://www.chawangshop.com/early-2000s ... -90cc.html) for about 4 years now for raw puerh; aged and young and have have been happy with it.

I'm thinking about getting another pot, specifically the 95ml Green Label Factory 1 Wai Hong Nei Zi from EOT (https://essenceoftea.com/collections/yi ... g-teapot-a). At $220 for this one, I wonder if my current pot is good enough. Do you have experience with either of these pots? Do you have any suggestions?

I can give the perspective from the Asian side: no one likes to use NZWH... not Hongni, not as good as a regular Zini and usually crappy craftsmanship. 220 is a bit steep for this kind of pot...

[DailyTX]

Hello,

I've been using an Early 2000s Hong Ni Shuiping Teapot from Chawangshop (https://www.chawangshop.com/early-2000s ... -90cc.html) for about 4 years now for raw puerh; aged and young and have have been happy with it.

I'm thinking about getting another pot, specifically the 95ml Green Label Factory 1 Wai Hong Nei Zi from EOT (https://essenceoftea.com/collections/yi ... g-teapot-a). At $220 for this one, I wonder if my current pot is good enough. Do you have experience with either of these pots? Do you have any suggestions?

I own a few of EOT pots. So far, I like their 90s private order di cao qing. I use it for semi aged Sheng Pu erh

[gregcss]

Thank you @Bok and @DailyTX for your input. I think that $220 is better spent on tea anyway

[DailyTX]

Thank you Bok and DailyTX for your input. I think that $220 is better spent on tea anyway

You have good wisdom haha, I cannot agree more on investing tea over yixing if you are on limited budget. Vintage yixing is more like an antique that you can use. Unless you are into collection, having yixing is not necessary to enjoy tea

[Bok]

Vintage yixing is more like an antique that you can use. Unless you are into collection, having yixing is not necessary to enjoy tea

Vintage yixing is more like a vintage item that you can use.

As to necessary or not, that is another question. Sure you can enjoy tea in many vessels. But – to squeeze the best out of any given tea, there likely is one kind of clay or other material (not necessarily Yixing) out there that fits the bill.

But money is always better spent on better tea than tea ware... unless you have certain addictions like me and some others here

[aet]

There is a 1min advert before the video, so be patient.
https://v.qq.com/x/page/i03493rjjqi.html

I think I have posted some of this here already , so apologies if duplicated information.
Briefly the intro to video:
1) clay is from any areas / mines around or even further places and in various qualities
2) coloring of the clay with many varieties of shades
3) lab test pointing on toxic substances and dangerous for health
4) fake certificates for teapots
5) duplicate of stamps ( those at bottom teapot ) , multi production of one identical stamp

apart of the chem. used on video , there are other chem.substances used . Like one for preventing / reducing contraction of the clay during the firing, so rises up the production efficiency ( less pots will break ) . Some teapots are machine made , the clay is being stretched and rolled between rotating drums like a tape magnetophone ( that requires clay being stretchable, so it doesn't tore apart ).
There are also made in forms like liquid clay being mold there ( to keep viscosity right, some chem. is also used ) , those teapots are not even fired sometimes, the have some chem. adhesive so they turn hard after while.

no point judging a teapot based on price or vendor's reputation. The vendor doesn't go to the mine get the material and doesn't keep an eye of clay production till teapot is made. Some vendors can go to the place of production and check the environment , learn something about tricks they do there in certain time.
Teapot makers just buy already made clay in tubs or bricks of 20-30kg , then make something out of it. Sure that experienced maker can feel if clay is very bad.
Many successful vendors follow the demand and reflect the market, which increases the possibility of fakes on demanded stuff. You need to understand , that if you are looking for something very old and rare ( and whole marketing is built on that factor ) , you are in competition with some million of Chinese tea enthusiasts who also many of them are tea vendors who might have an access to the real , but also fake stuff.
If you buy a teapot because easy to use and it's within your affordable / comfortable price range , you will be happy.
If you buy an expensive teapot because it is rare stuff , you will be upset each time you learn the possibility you have bought a fake ( unless you blindly believe that your is real because this vendor is recommended by everybody and this vendor is famous..etc. )

It is good to understand Chinese economy in this way. If there is a demand but not in stock, they will make it no matter what. That's the make money. They have in culture thing called 面子 (mianzi) - face . Loosing the face means get into the awkward, not comfortable situation, being disrespected ..or something like that (depends on situation ) . When I asked some guys if they are not afraid to loose their face when selling fake Bingdao or LBZ , they told me that these days for the bowl of rice ( means make some money ) , you shouldn't be afraid of anything.

I have noticed that even some foreign vendors ...more reputation - more trying the luck . I wouldn't dare to claim that it's intentionally but I believe the " give up on authentic search " , which is the most time ( and so the money ) consuming part of the business, plays the role as well.

Same stuff applies to tea.

[.m.]

Hello,

I've been using an Early 2000s Hong Ni Shuiping Teapot from Chawangshop (https://www.chawangshop.com/early-2000s ... -90cc.html) for about 4 years now for raw puerh; aged and young and have have been happy with it.

I'm thinking about getting another pot, specifically the 95ml Green Label Factory 1 Wai Hong Nei Zi from EOT (https://essenceoftea.com/collections/yi ... g-teapot-a). At $220 for this one, I wonder if my current pot is good enough. Do you have experience with either of these pots? Do you have any suggestions?

Hi,
It's not a bad pot, a decent zini that should work fine with puerh. But the price is a bit high. A good price should be around 100 to 150 USD.
You can also check here:
http://2088taiwan.com/
https://emmettsteas.weebly.com/

[Bok]

I'm thinking about getting another pot, specifically the 95ml Green Label Factory 1 Wai Hong Nei Zi from EOT (https://essenceoftea.com/collections/yi ... g-teapot-a).

I just saw that the EoT pot comes complete with original packaging, in that case I think the price is more justified. Still doesn’t make the clay itself any better, but as a collectible.

[Mark-S]

I can give the perspective from the Asian side: no one likes to use NZWH... not Hongni, not as good as a regular Zini and usually crappy craftsmanship. 220 is a bit steep for this kind of pot...

This does not make sense to me. Why is NZWH not as good as Zini? I thought that the coating would be pure cosmetical. And what's the preferred order of clay for Asian people anyway? (NZWH, Hongni, Zini, Zhuni, Duanni, ...)

[Bok]

I can give the perspective from the Asian side: no one likes to use NZWH... not Hongni, not as good as a regular Zini and usually crappy craftsmanship. 220 is a bit steep for this kind of pot...

This does not make sense to me. Why is NZWH not as good as Zini? I thought that the coating would be pure cosmetical. And what's the preferred order of clay for Asian people anyway? (NZWH, Hongni, Zini, Zhuni, Duanni, ...)

It’s because the underlying Zini from that period is not as good, and Zini in general is the least favoured among the main Yixing clays(also the most abundant). I’ve heard <unverified> comments from a lot of people here that they make not very good tea compared to pure Zini or Hongni. That’s why they’re generally cheap and people are willing to sell them...

Zhuni (which is technically also Hongni) > Hongni > Duanni/Zini > NZWH.

There is also Neiwailinjiang, which is coated inside out and preferable to NZWH as it behaves more like Hongni, yet gathers patina a lot faster due to different expansion rates of Zini and Hongni under heat. I got one from the 80s and it’s among my most beautiful pots due to the unique patina. I’ve seen one example from the late Qing (which is very rare) and it’s sublime to a point people mistake it for Zhuni!

[Youzi]

Zhuni (which is technically also Hongni) > Hongni > Duanni/Zini > NZWH.

Technically Zhuni is not Hongni, as the raw ore is quite different from most of Zisha.

For first, Zhuni is soluble in water, and Hongni isn't. Zhuni has different handling attributes compared to hongni, during construction. The shrinkage rate of zhuni is larger and the resulting porosity is much lower than hongni.

Furthermore, hongni raw ore is usuall red (there's yellow hongni though), while zhuni is always yellow. (iron oxide red vs iron oxide yellow)

[Bok]

Zhuni (which is technically also Hongni) > Hongni > Duanni/Zini > NZWH.

Technically Zhuni is not Hongni, as the raw ore is quite different from most of Zisha.

For first, Zhuni is soluble in water, and Hongni isn't. Zhuni has different handling attributes compared to hongni, during construction. The shrinkage rate of zhuni is larger and the resulting porosity is much lower than hongni.

Furthermore, hongni raw ore is usuall red (there's yellow hongni though), while zhuni is always yellow. (iron oxide red vs iron oxide yellow)

I stand corrected, thanks! I was under the impression that Zhuni is one layer of Hongni? Like Qingshuini is one layer of Zini.

[Mark-S]

@Bok
Thanks, that's good information. I still have trouble to distinguish between different kinds of clay.

Am I right that this is NZWH?


And this is Hongni?


What are the optical differences between Zhuni and Hongni?