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

[OCTO]

Haha so not up to your standards

@Bok

Hahaha.... without them, there will be no standards for me at all..

[steanze]

Haha so not up to your standards

Bok

Hahaha.... without them, there will be no standards for me at all..

My first pot was much worse

[gradiva]

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.....

12 bucks each is nothing! Cheap tuition. I like that you kept them.
By the way, brought the mantianxing and heiliao out to play again, and neither killed the taste of shou. Mantianxing in fact made a spicy shou a teeny bit spicier, which I thought was interesting. But it did mute an unsmoked lapsang a bit too much for my liking.

[gradiva]

Haha so not up to your standards

Bok

Hahaha.... without them, there will be no standards for me at all..

My first pot was much worse

I would love to see it. What is/was it?

[OCTO]

12 bucks each is nothing! Cheap tuition. I like that you kept them.
By the way, brought the mantianxing and heiliao out to play again, and neither killed the taste of shou. Mantianxing in fact made a spicy shou a teeny bit spicier, which I thought was interesting. But it did mute an unsmoked lapsang a bit too much for my liking.

@sporad

Keep on experimenting with different tea until you find one that suits you best.

Happy journey!

[Rmt]

Made some of my last dancong in the lion pot and the gong chun last night. Compared to the last test the lion pot stood out more here. Made some very pleasant cups of tea, while the gong chun highlighted less pleasant tastes.

The dancong is a cheap mystery tea, that has been difficult to get right. Tend to a brew well in my cz pot, but hard to brew right in a gaiwan. Could be that the cz pot and lion pot are less neutral than porcelain and the gong chun. Brewed the same amount of tea in the actual pots this time though, so it could something to do with heat retention as well

[gradiva]

Made some of my last dancong in the lion pot and the gong chun last night. Compared to the last test the lion pot stood out more here. Made some very pleasant cups of tea, while the gong chun highlighted less pleasant tastes.

The dancong is a cheap mystery tea, that has been difficult to get right. Tend to a brew well in my cz pot, but hard to brew right in a gaiwan. Could be that the cz pot and lion pot are less neutral than porcelain and the gong chun. Brewed the same amount of tea in the actual pots this time though, so it could something to do with heat retention as well

Are you brewing in gaiwan and then dividing it in the teapots or are you making separate brews in separate pots?

[Rmt]

This time i made seperate brews in each pot. Last time I made the tea in the gaiwan, poured it in a pitcher and divided it in the pots.

[gradiva]

This time i made seperate brews in each pot. Last time I made the tea in the gaiwan, poured it in a pitcher and divided it in the pots.

I think I'll start doing that when I narrow best two pots per type of tea.

[OCTO]

The dancong is a cheap mystery tea, that has been difficult to get right. Tend to a brew well in my cz pot, but hard to brew right in a gaiwan. Could be that the cz pot and lion pot are less neutral than porcelain and the gong chun. Brewed the same amount of tea in the actual pots this time though, so it could something to do with heat retention as well

@Rmt

Make no mistake... a good batch of DanCong is not a cheap mystery tea. It may be cheap when compared to WuYi yancha... but it stands firmly on it's own category of pricing.

Cheers!

[steanze]

Bok

Hahaha.... without them, there will be no standards for me at all..

My first pot was much worse

I would love to see it. What is/was it?

It was a large clunky "modern zhuni" from a western facing vendor... ~12 years ago

[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!!

So I've been meaning to ask you: from all these, which pots did it for you? (Hope the one(s) you came in with).

[Rmt]

Make no mistake... a good batch of DanCong is not a cheap mystery tea. It may be cheap when compared to WuYi yancha... but it stands firmly on it's own category of pricing.

Cheers!

I can assure you this particular dancong was very, very cheap haha. Got it for close to nothing from a shop where I was almost unable to speak with the owner due to the language barrier. The bag is marked “dancong” and nothing else. It tastes like dancong and looks like dancong, but I have no idea what sort. It’s definitely not high grade, but it has a nice peachy aroma to it and is very drinkable when I brew it right

[Bok]

I was more lucky with my first Yixing... guess it has to do with being a bystander in terms of Yixing for the longest time, before getting my toes wet - although all down-hill from there onwards

An F1 Neiwailinjiang from the 80s.

[OCTO]

So I've been meaning to ask you: from all these, which pots did it for you? (Hope the one(s) you came in with).

@sporad

I went home with more than one pot that night... hahahaha...