As I just saw mine again, I thought this could be a fun topic: your first ever teapot.
Back home I took out and used again my first ever self-bought teapot. I had bought it in my first visit to Yingge many moons ago... as I later found out it’s a Taiwanese wheel thrown pot. Superficially it looks like Yixing but it’s not. No idea what clay, but it has been my learning to make tea pot for many years, heavily seasoned with Gaoshan. Probably around 80-90ml.
It still is a very nice tool for brewing and I look at it with nostalgia... I owe it a great deal in teaching me about tea. Simply by using the same pot for years is invaluable as a lesson. Worth pondering...
Your First Teapot... show off!
Bought when I was in college, drinking bagged Celestial Seasonings herbal mixes. My buddy and I visited Japantown in San Francisco and I bought this set. There were originally four cups, but one broke over the years. Capacity of the pot is probably 600-800 mL (I've never measured it). It has a ball filter with rather large holes inside, and does work OK with some loose leaf teas, but a lot of fine leaf comes through if used with sencha. It mostly comes off the shelf now for guests, or for large herbal/spice mixes when I don't want caffeinated tea.
This was the next pot, an inexpensive clay pot from my chinatown tea shop, maybe $12.99 or so, capacity about 150 mL. I no longer have it because the collection expanded with pots I liked better for appearance, capacity, or impact on tea; I hope someone was pleased to find it at my local Goodwill.
My first gaiwan was one of these little porcelains, and I say 'one of these' because I have bought multiples of this design over time for use in simultaneous tastings when I want to keep neutral impact on tea and same volume/infusing conditions. I'm pretty sure I have not paid more than $3.99 for one of them, and I love them.
My first teapot was a kyusu made by Kato Tadaomi, aka “Koshin”.
I like the persimmon shape and the kelp that was payed over the top during firing but it doesn’t make the best tea, in my opinion. It’s not bad but it was enough to make me search for clays I liked better.
At $120 I thought I was insane to pay that much for a teapot. Oh how things have changed!
I like the persimmon shape and the kelp that was payed over the top during firing but it doesn’t make the best tea, in my opinion. It’s not bad but it was enough to make me search for clays I liked better.
At $120 I thought I was insane to pay that much for a teapot. Oh how things have changed!
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@debunix, I still have my true first teapot (packed away) that looks similar to the first teapot in your set but square and unadorned. It was black and came with four matching cups. I bought it around 1987 at a Pier One. I used it for drinking that cheap jasmine tea that comes in the yellow tins. Whew, that stuff is nasty and hits hard but it kept me up during marathon study sessions.
In Texas we call those little gaiwans “gaiwan-itos”.
In Texas we call those little gaiwans “gaiwan-itos”.
happy new year, everyone!
fun topic. thanks, @Bok.
my very first tea tools were mugs.
i'd use two of them at a time: one acted as a tea pot, and i'd simply decant into a second one used for drinking. sometimes i'd use a spoon as a strainer. this mostly works fine, and it's all anyone really needs tbh. or is it??
on the left was my first actual teapot. i got it from TeaSwap on TeaChat (the old site). it's a dragon egg 'dhp clay' yixing from yunnan sourcing. it's a shelf bunny now.
in the foreground is what's left of my first gaiwan (lid and saucer). it was on display in some random shop not even for sale, and i begged the owner to sell it to me.
it wasn't a very good one. not much of a lip, and it was thick-walled, so it really did a number on my poor fingers.
after that, my first kyusu:
i consider it an objet d'art, though i have teapots now that i think are nicer.
fun topic. thanks, @Bok.
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my very first tea tools were mugs.
i'd use two of them at a time: one acted as a tea pot, and i'd simply decant into a second one used for drinking. sometimes i'd use a spoon as a strainer. this mostly works fine, and it's all anyone really needs tbh. or is it??
on the left was my first actual teapot. i got it from TeaSwap on TeaChat (the old site). it's a dragon egg 'dhp clay' yixing from yunnan sourcing. it's a shelf bunny now.
in the foreground is what's left of my first gaiwan (lid and saucer). it was on display in some random shop not even for sale, and i begged the owner to sell it to me.
it wasn't a very good one. not much of a lip, and it was thick-walled, so it really did a number on my poor fingers.
after that, my first kyusu:
i consider it an objet d'art, though i have teapots now that i think are nicer.
Oh, awesome! He makes a lot of kyusu in the persimmon style like this. I’m a sucker for persimmon anything. They are fine kyusu (despite my pickiness) so I am sure your friend enjoyed it.
When I was in Vancouver at the start of 2016 I picked up this pot from treasure green.
I had done a day worth of research into yixing tea pots and was coming to the conclusion that no single pot would be the perfect one, so I just went with what physically appealed to me at the time. That way I would at least find pleasure in using it.
I ended up with what I now know is a slightly over fired Dian ni pot of some description, and just under 150ml. At first it was fairly muting, but it seasoned fairly quickly with lighter oolongs. After a few months of heavy use I went with smaller pots, and this one doesn't come out too often. I do still enjoy the short, chubby appearance, and the heavily textured clay.
I had done a day worth of research into yixing tea pots and was coming to the conclusion that no single pot would be the perfect one, so I just went with what physically appealed to me at the time. That way I would at least find pleasure in using it.
I ended up with what I now know is a slightly over fired Dian ni pot of some description, and just under 150ml. At first it was fairly muting, but it seasoned fairly quickly with lighter oolongs. After a few months of heavy use I went with smaller pots, and this one doesn't come out too often. I do still enjoy the short, chubby appearance, and the heavily textured clay.
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As for many my first pot was kyusu too. I got into teas via Japanese greens and was reading a lot about Tokoname and Banko clay before picking up this Shoryu tokoname kyusu. I adore this pot even today. Fantastic pour. And I just love it’s handle. Only downside is its size. At 300ml it is just too big for single brew so it is rarely used :/. Rookie mistake I guess. But it did open the Pandora’s box and started my appreciation — obsession really — with teaware. Shortly after that I got two Tachi’s banko pots and started experimenting with tea and clay.
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I had used a tea infuser to brew my tea for a long time before getting into teapot. When I started looking into teapot, the first idea came to my mind was Yixing Zisha due to the Chinese influence and it's claim as one of the four ceramic arts in China. This was one of my first few tuition pots that has never been used, yet it has provided knowledge and uniqueness to my collection
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My first teapot was a gift that I received several years before I began drinking tea. The person knew, correctly, that the decorations, the symbols of the Chinese zodiac, would appeal to me. I kept it on a spice shelf over my kitchen counter where I could enjoy the lid.
I’m not sure if there’s any tea that wouldn’t be hurt by being brewed in this pot.
I’m not sure if there’s any tea that wouldn’t be hurt by being brewed in this pot.
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