Looks to me like you hit the spout. Maybe unknowingly? I hit mine a lot too.... When I'm trying the get out the last bits...pantry wrote: ↑Tue Apr 14, 2020 6:36 pmI'm worried it's a fault of mine, but I don't know what I did that caused it :'(Bok wrote: ↑Tue Apr 14, 2020 6:28 pmDemea a barely noticeable imperfection is in my book something to be expected from a handmade teapot and proof of the human inability to be perfect
Only machines deliver perfect geometry.
What concerns me more is the random chipping. If indeed without fault of yours that shop never ever happen, unless something is wrong with the clay or firing! Do you have pictures of it?
Do I have to slowly warm up the pot first before pouring boiling water in? I know that's the best way (avoiding thermo shock), but I was too lazy.
Here are some photos:
Yixing
haha, exactly the reason why draining-the-pot-practice is frowned upon by many tea teachers
Actually, I heard the cantonese use a term which normally refers to a certain male practice after having a whee...
Big thank you to @Bok and Emmett, instead of buying my first yixing teapot with no knowledge I'll rely on people who know their stuff. I could easily hit a landmine and buy a crappy pot my first go around but I'll stay my itchy trigger fingers 
. I have an affinity with xi shi, and julunzhu pots but my affinity may not match up with my needs or the availability. There is also the clay to speak of and after much reading from marshaln's site it will be a long time before I know which way is up in this realm. If it weren't for this forum a lot of budding tea lovers would be exposed to the ugliness of the teaware market.
. I have an affinity with xi shi, and julunzhu pots but my affinity may not match up with my needs or the availability. There is also the clay to speak of and after much reading from marshaln's site it will be a long time before I know which way is up in this realm. If it weren't for this forum a lot of budding tea lovers would be exposed to the ugliness of the teaware market.Then what do they do? Or what do you do? As far as I know, they do the same in Chaozhou when dividing the pot between the three cups.
Do you pour tea or water over your teapot? Some people say that this must be done to maintain the heat. But I also read somewhere that this would be nonsense. What about the patina? Would a teapot develop a patina even if you do not pour tea over it?
Last edited by Mark-S on Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks, @alejandro2high, @Bok, and @Youzi for the inputs. Yeah, thermal shock should've affected the pot's body first. I don't remember hitting the spouts though (imagine I would've heard it), and one of these pots wasn't even used often! Oh well, will try to be more careful.
I've only heard the same general Xin phrase in Cantonese. What do tea teachers recommend getting all the tea out without counting his soldiers? Just hold your hand and wait until the last drops naturally drip down?
Sounds like an infinite loop where you actually never get to drink any of the tea, because last round's tea is used to "heat" the pot while it's brewing the current round's tea
Seriously though, beyond the first round, which is usually discarded, how would you be able to continue pouring tea over the teapot throughout the session? Perhaps you mean pouring water from the kettle over the pot?
I'm in the MarshalN-camp when it comes to raising pots,
When using it, I almost never pour water over the pot, nor tea. There’s a reason for this, especially if your water source is high in minerals – over time, there will be a nasty ring of mineral deposits on your pot, usually right around the edge of the rim of the lid. This rim will be difficult to clean. The point of using the brush, as some of you might have seen people do, is to distribute the water evenly throughout the pot, so that this line of mineral doesn’t form (or at least, form a lot slower). Also, as a good chemist friend pointed out a long time ago, pouring water over a pot actually helps it to lose heat faster – that water evaporating off the surface of the pot is taking heat away from your pot. I do not believe that there is any tangible and discernable benefit to pouring water over the pot. Some believe the extra heat (if any) will help get more flavour out of the tea, but since your infusions are quick (a few seconds) and the difference in temperature between water in the pot and water-on-pot is minimal (a few degrees, at most?) I have a hard time imagining a physical process that will help you extract meaningful amounts of flavour out of the leaves in that short period of time.
It will, although not as fast. You're bound to get tea on the surface of the pot anyways, unless you're always super careful about not filling the pot to the brim.
@Balthazar
Ok, that was phrased wrong, because I wanted to ask two things at once. I certainly meant pouring water and sometimes tea over the teapot. Water because of the heat and tea because of the patina.
Thanks for your answer. But what about the heat? Does it make sense? Oops, already answered.
Ok, that was phrased wrong, because I wanted to ask two things at once.
I certainly meant pouring water and sometimes tea over the teapot. Water because of the heat and tea because of the patina.Thanks for your answer. But what about the heat? Does it make sense? Oops, already answered.
Thanks for confirming that (it actually makes me feel better to know it from an independent source). Is there any place one can check the current situation as it evolves?
No need to pour tea or water on the outside of the pot. It should develop a patina without those practices.
IMO:Balthazar wrote: ↑Wed Apr 15, 2020 12:04 pm
I'm in the MarshalN-camp when it comes to raising pots,
When using it, I almost never pour water over the pot, nor tea. There’s a reason for this, especially if your water source is high in minerals – over time, there will be a nasty ring of mineral deposits on your pot, usually right around the edge of the rim of the lid. This rim will be difficult to clean. The point of using the brush, as some of you might have seen people do, is to distribute the water evenly throughout the pot, so that this line of mineral doesn’t form (or at least, form a lot slower). Also, as a good chemist friend pointed out a long time ago, pouring water over a pot actually helps it to lose heat faster – that water evaporating off the surface of the pot is taking heat away from your pot. I do not believe that there is any tangible and discernable benefit to pouring water over the pot. Some believe the extra heat (if any) will help get more flavour out of the tea, but since your infusions are quick (a few seconds) and the difference in temperature between water in the pot and water-on-pot is minimal (a few degrees, at most?) I have a hard time imagining a physical process that will help you extract meaningful amounts of flavour out of the leaves in that short period of time.
- The tea stain/mineral deposit that Marshaln mentions is normally easily cleaned from the surface by a soft cloth. The only problem is if the surface is of the pot is porous/not smooth, either the pot is low fired, or not burnished. E.g. in some pots there can be a narrow ring around the rim that wasn't properly burnished, which is perhaps what Marshaln talks about.
- Pouring hot water over the pot before pouring in helps to raise the temperature of the pot so that it pot absorbs less heat from the actual infusion (however the lid needs to fit reasonably well so that not much of the water enters inside). Pouring hot water over the pot after pouring in is questionable, i'm not sure if there is a significant benefit to it, but i still do it sometimes.
Thanks.Mark-S wrote: ↑Wed Apr 15, 2020 1:42 pmHongkong Post: https://www.hongkongpost.hk/en/about_us ... d_898.html
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@Youzi @.m.
Thanks, in the past, I always poured hot water / tea over the teapot because it looks cool (
) and nearly everyone is doing this. But it's very hard to clean the decorations from stains. Good to know, that this is not necessary for the patina to develop. I never thought of pouring hot water over the pot before brewing, but it makes sense, and I will try this with my simpler teapots. Maybe, I can even try this with my decorated teapots since I use filtered water to make tea... The stains could be from the tea.
Thanks, in the past, I always poured hot water / tea over the teapot because it looks cool (
) and nearly everyone is doing this. But it's very hard to clean the decorations from stains. Good to know, that this is not necessary for the patina to develop. I never thought of pouring hot water over the pot before brewing, but it makes sense, and I will try this with my simpler teapots. Maybe, I can even try this with my decorated teapots since I use filtered water to make tea... The stains could be from the tea.