Looking to pair some pots. Ideas on where to begin?

[OCTO]

See my recent experiment of Yancha in a 300ml pot, it does work! Couldn’t say it’s worse or better, just different expression of the same tea

[gradiva]

I want to know more! At least how many (and what type of) pots and what kind of clay(s)?

hahahaha... will surely share more when I can dig up my old photos. I've done them with most of the traditional clays and some modern clays too. But after a few rounds, you will be able to come to a definitive conclusion of what shape, size and clay you prefer for a given type of tea.

It's never easy to get one batch of teapots that comes from the same source, using the same batch of clay and fired in the same uniform manner. If you do, it's always very costly. Every time I do that, it will easily cost US$3000 to secure a handful of pots that's worth investing our time and money in. No point getting mediocre pots to try... not worth spending that amount of hard earned money.

Another option is to band together a group of fellow tea drinkers who are willing to share the order. Sometimes we do that too. A group of 6 can select a design each. Then you will have 6 pots of equal clay and source. It's fun!.. hahahaha...

My 2cents... Cheers!!

“Every time you do that”? Omg, how many batches are we talking about? Enough to open a museum, I am imagining already...

I can totally imagine joining a group to share an order like this. Maybe if I locate enough Berliners at some point.

So looking forward to those old photos and notes!

[gradiva]

I had been wondering about pots being too big, particularly for yancha (I keep reading about how people pack it all the way to the top and sometimes even beyond). So what does a half-full pot do to it? I assume the temperature disperses faster, so would pouring boiling water over it compensate for that heat loss, for example?

For yancha it does not do it... because if you're using a cha dan you need the walls to press down on the leaves when they expand. Otherwise you'll have crushed leaf bits everywhere. For puer it is not as big of a deal in my opinion

Sorry @steanze, not sure I understand what you mean. Leaves not constructed by walls makes them fall apart? (A “cha dan”? Tea egg?)

[OCTO]

“Every time you do that”? Omg, how many batches are we talking about? Enough to open a museum, I am imagining already...

I can totally imagine joining a group to share an order like this. Maybe if I locate enough Berliners at some point.

So looking forward to those old photos and notes!

@sporad

This was my latest session organised by my tea buddy. This batch is the 2nd batch after we are in agreement that this specific clay brings out the best in Shou/Ripe PuErh. We have seasoned and raised 2 pots before coming to this conclusion. You can see 2 that are very seasoned and with well developed patina in this photo. This batch was ordered specifically for Shou/Ripe PuErh drinkers.

黑朱砂Heizhusha.jpg (122.45 KiB) Viewed 7424 times

You will see slightly different shades of black mainly due to ceiling light reflected off from different angles on the surface of each pot.

Clay Name : 黑朱砂Heizhusha
Clay Type : Blend of HeiNi and ZhuNi
Vintage : Modern Clay Blend (post 2000)

Cheers!!

[Bok]

Bam! And that is how it’s done!

[gradiva]

“Every time you do that”? Omg, how many batches are we talking about? Enough to open a museum, I am imagining already...

I can totally imagine joining a group to share an order like this. Maybe if I locate enough Berliners at some point.

So looking forward to those old photos and notes!

sporad

This was my latest session organised by my tea buddy. This batch is the 2nd batch after we are in agreement that this specific clay brings out the best in Shou/Ripe PuErh. We have seasoned and raised 2 pots before coming to this conclusion. You can see 2 that are very seasoned and with well developed patina in this photo. This batch was ordered specifically for Shou/Ripe PuErh drinkers.





You will see slightly different shades of black mainly due to ceiling light reflected off from different angles on the surface of each pot.

Clay Name : 黑朱砂Heizhusha
Clay Type : Blend of HeiNi and ZhuNi
Vintage : Modern Clay Blend (post 2000)

Cheers!!

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW

[gradiva]

Thank you so much for sharing that great pic with all those amazing black pots, @OCTO. It must be great to have such a community to do experiments like these with.

May I ask you about Heizhusha and perhaps modern blends more in general? You are probably aware that one of the pots I have is supposed to be made of "mantianxing". Looking at your picture, mine looks quite similar, the tone of the black seems right on. The only difference is that the speckles of mine are tan/yellow instead of red, which makes me assume seems mixed with duanni instead. I have looked around and haven't found much information on either heizhusha or mantianxing, only listings of teapots being sold for at least a couple hundred dollars.

Anyway, I had set my dark teapot aside after being alerted of being a potentially toxic clay, so I guess I'd love to learn a bit about modern blends so I can either retire it for good or maybe bring it back to the pairing line. May I dare ask what would you do if this little thing fell on your lap? Would you say it deserves a chance or permanent banishment?

[OCTO]

Thank you so much for sharing that great pic with all those amazing black pots, OCTO. It must be great to have such a community to do experiments like these with.

May I ask you about Heizhusha and perhaps modern blends more in general? You are probably aware that one of the pots I have is supposed to be made of "mantianxing". Looking at your picture, mine looks quite similar, the tone of the black seems right on. The only difference is that the speckles of mine are tan/yellow instead of red, which makes me assume seems mixed with duanni instead. I have looked around and haven't found much information on either heizhusha or mantianxing, only listings of teapots being sold for at least a couple hundred dollars.

Anyway, I had set my dark teapot aside after being alerted of being a potentially toxic clay, so I guess I'd love to learn a bit about modern blends so I can either retire it for good or maybe bring it back to the pairing line. May I dare ask what would you do if this little thing fell on your lap? Would you say it deserves a chance or permanent banishment?

@sporad

One of the immediate answer you should get while doing the matching lineup with a neutral vessel in this case a Porcelain gaiwan, it to weed out pots that are not brewing right. There are so many modern clay blends in the market now, it's almost impossible to get in-depth information on them. As some forummers have correctly pointed out, some Yixing teapots are laden with chemicals. These pots will surely kill the taste of your tea.

Now coming to your question... if your little baby pot doesn't kill the taste of your tea, I would say continue using it. That's why I always insist in a neutral vessel for reference so that our emotions don't mess up our mind. You know... cognitive dissonance can be a pain at times... hahahaha....

my 2 cents!

Cheers!!

[steanze]

Sorry steanze, not sure I understand what you mean. Leaves not constructed by walls makes them fall apart? (A “cha dan”? Tea egg?)

One traditional way to brew yancha is to keep smaller leaf fragments at the center bottom of the pot, surrounded by the larger intact leaves: https://www.kyarazen.com/chaozhou-gongfu-tea/ As the laves get wet, the walls of the pot keep the larger leaves in place, and the larger leaves act as a "filter" holding the fragments in place.

If you try that in a pot that's too large, larger leaves and fragments will swirl around, and you'll likely end up with a clogged spout - not something you want when making yancha...

Yancha in a 300ml pot is a fun experiment, but that is not how I would brew my yancha...

[gradiva]

Sorry steanze, not sure I understand what you mean. Leaves not constructed by walls makes them fall apart? (A “cha dan”? Tea egg?)

One traditional way to brew yancha is to keep smaller leaf fragments at the center bottom of the pot, surrounded by the larger intact leaves: https://www.kyarazen.com/chaozhou-gongfu-tea/ As the laves get wet, the walls of the pot keep the larger leaves in place, and the larger leaves act as a "filter" holding the fragments in place.

If you try that in a pot that's too large, larger leaves and fragments will swirl around, and you'll likely end up with a clogged spout - not something you want when making yancha...

Yancha in a 300ml pot is a fun experiment, but that is not how I would brew my yancha...

Oh, thank you! Very cool. I will read up on it. I love kyarazen’s website, btw. Been reading a bunch of his stuff but hadn’t made it to that one yet.

[gradiva]

Thank you so much for sharing that great pic with all those amazing black pots, OCTO. It must be great to have such a community to do experiments like these with.

May I ask you about Heizhusha and perhaps modern blends more in general? You are probably aware that one of the pots I have is supposed to be made of "mantianxing". Looking at your picture, mine looks quite similar, the tone of the black seems right on. The only difference is that the speckles of mine are tan/yellow instead of red, which makes me assume seems mixed with duanni instead. I have looked around and haven't found much information on either heizhusha or mantianxing, only listings of teapots being sold for at least a couple hundred dollars.

Anyway, I had set my dark teapot aside after being alerted of being a potentially toxic clay, so I guess I'd love to learn a bit about modern blends so I can either retire it for good or maybe bring it back to the pairing line. May I dare ask what would you do if this little thing fell on your lap? Would you say it deserves a chance or permanent banishment?

sporad

One of the immediate answer you should get while doing the matching lineup with a neutral vessel in this case a Porcelain gaiwan, it to weed out pots that are not brewing right. There are so many modern clay blends in the market now, it's almost impossible to get in-depth information on them. As some forummers have correctly pointed out, some Yixing teapots are laden with chemicals. These pots will surely kill the taste of your tea.

Now coming to your question... if your little baby pot doesn't kill the taste of your tea, I would say continue using it. That's why I always insist in a neutral vessel for reference so that our emotions don't mess up our mind. You know... cognitive dissonance can be a pain at times... hahahaha....

my 2 cents!

Cheers!!

Ok, great,, thank you so much. I actually retired it before starting the tastings so I will bring it out tonight for the shou test. Let’s see how that goes.

I was just telling @Bok that I am only mildly emotionally attached to the pot, if only because it was the first one I bought. I like the basic xishi shape a lot and I thought the color looked interesting. But I have not actually developed any real relationship with it because I stuck to gaiwan brewing for all these past months. I knew basically nothing about yixing when I got it, other than a couple of basics and a list of recommended modern yixing online vendors. So I’ll be very happy if it passes the test, but if not, i won’t be terribly heartbroken because it’’s good looking enough to be on the shelf and I am “only” 110 bucks poorer (which is substantial but I am telling myself it could’ve been way worse).

[OCTO]

I was just telling Bok that I am only mildly emotionally attached to the pot, if only because it was the first one I bought. I like the basic xishi shape a lot and I thought the color looked interesting. But I have not actually developed any real relationship with it because I stuck to gaiwan brewing for all these past months. I knew basically nothing about yixing when I got it, other than a couple of basics and a list of recommended modern yixing online vendors. So I’ll be very happy if it passes the test, but if not, i won’t be terribly heartbroken because it’’s good looking enough to be on the shelf and I am “only” 110 bucks poorer (which is substantial but I am telling myself it could’ve way worse).

@sporad

Don't worry! I still have my first pots!... hahaha...

IMG_1647.jpg (255.39 KiB) Viewed 7376 times

[gradiva]

I was just telling Bok that I am only mildly emotionally attached to the pot, if only because it was the first one I bought. I like the basic xishi shape a lot and I thought the color looked interesting. But I have not actually developed any real relationship with it because I stuck to gaiwan brewing for all these past months. I knew basically nothing about yixing when I got it, other than a couple of basics and a list of recommended modern yixing online vendors. So I’ll be very happy if it passes the test, but if not, i won’t be terribly heartbroken because it’’s good looking enough to be on the shelf and I am “only” 110 bucks poorer (which is substantial but I am telling myself it could’ve way worse).

sporad

Don't worry! I still have my first pots!... hahaha...

aaah. how long ago did you get them? and what are they? where did you get them? high "yixing tuition"? (oh, so many questions...)

[Bok]

I was just telling Bok that I am only mildly emotionally attached to the pot, if only because it was the first one I bought. I like the basic xishi shape a lot and I thought the color looked interesting. But I have not actually developed any real relationship with it because I stuck to gaiwan brewing for all these past months. I knew basically nothing about yixing when I got it, other than a couple of basics and a list of recommended modern yixing online vendors. So I’ll be very happy if it passes the test, but if not, i won’t be terribly heartbroken because it’’s good looking enough to be on the shelf and I am “only” 110 bucks poorer (which is substantial but I am telling myself it could’ve way worse).

sporad

Don't worry! I still have my first pots!... hahaha...

Haha so not up to your standards

[OCTO]

@sporad

aaah. how long ago did you get them?

Thats about 20 years ago and they are still on my display.

and what are they? where did you get them?

HeiNi and HongNi. Both are blended. Got them from a local teashop.

high "yixing tuition"? (oh, so many questions...)

They cost me about USD12 each.....