Yixing

[steanze]

steanze
I’m only looking to add a single 60-70’s zini pot to my collection. Bummer that this isn’t the more coveted zini since the price seems reasonable for early 70’s.

Eh, that's the reason for the price. If you are looking for jiazini, side handle will be the easier option. From my perspective the rear handle is not really worth it, I can sometimes find Qing zhuni around the same price point.

[maple]

steanze

Thanks for info. $1200 is close to what I was expecting from ZAG.

Is there significant difference between this lighter early 70’s zini and late 70’s? I assume it is less desirable that the jiazini right?

Which is 60' and which is 70'? [left-upper and right-bottom are darker. other twos are lighter.]


which is 60'?


in my limited experience. Yes, most of 70' are lighter. But not for all. And yes, it's (60') a little different presenting in brewing (o). but price.....(x)

the detail photo for only 60' in these four.

[Chadrinkincat]

steanze
I’m only looking to add a single 60-70’s zini pot to my collection. Bummer that this isn’t the more coveted zini since the price seems reasonable for early 70’s.

Eh, that's the reason for the price. If you are looking for jiazini, side handle will be the easier option. From my perspective the rear handle is not really worth it, I can sometimes find Qing zhuni around the same price point.

I don’t think I’d be willing to pay well over a $1k for the 60’s and I hate those side handle pots. Guess this pot is probably my only option for pre-77 zini unless i miraculously find one on eBay or Etsy being listed as a children’s toy teapot. I’m sure the one at ZAG will sell 2s before I decide to buy it.

[Chadrinkincat]

@maple

Nice pots!! I can’t spot which ones are 70’s. Also why do you have so many of those pots?

[maple]

maple

Nice pots!! I can’t spot which ones are 70’s. Also why do you have so many of those pots?

to research the presenting of zini. hahaha
I remember i did had >20 zini in (late 70~early 80) - don't know how to describe that lot in this forum - 紫砂請飲中國烏龍
I think it's really brilliant and diversity in that products (紫砂請飲中國烏龍)
some is more brown - zini
some is with dark spot - (黑心砂)
some is lighter and with yellow spot - (Qing Shui Ni)
...etc.
There're many nick-name in Taiwan community (north). And it's a little different name in south also.

I collect that to try the different in brewing roasted oolong.
and also sold them out already..hahah.. it's popular item in taiwan also.

[steanze]

which is 60'?

The bottom one the spout gives it away Nice pots!

[GaoShan]

Yancha

In fact had a session last night with some Zheng yan rougui from lazy cat that had an aggressive roast.

The new clay definitely muted the roast and some other flavors as expected for an unseasoned pot. But unexpectedly for me, the aftertaste was greatly enhanced. I did a porosity check and found almost no change in weight before and after the session (0.02g)! Seems to have minimal porosity compared to other clays.

I'm not sure what can explain this but after the session, and after it has dried, the pot has developed a floral - rosy - scent...

Nice! Given that its porosity didn't change, it might have worked for green oolongs as well (or is it too thick for that). I've sort of given up on my teapot search, but am still eyeing other people's teaware.

[LeoFox]

This one is very thin so should probably work

[Bok]

Nice! Given that its porosity didn't change, it might have worked for green oolongs as well (or is it too thick for that). I've sort of given up on my teapot search, but am still eyeing other people's teaware.

Given up, why if I may ask? Not affordable or able to get what you would wish for, or because you concluded it makes no difference?

[Bok]

60s looks by the nicest of these! The spout on the later ones becomes very clumsy. Nice pyramid!

[GaoShan]

Nice! Given that its porosity didn't change, it might have worked for green oolongs as well (or is it too thick for that). I've sort of given up on my teapot search, but am still eyeing other people's teaware.

Given up, why if I may ask? Not affordable or able to get what you would wish for, or because you concluded it makes no difference?

It's a bit of both. If I want to keep buying tea this year, and I do, I have about US$200 to spend on a teapot, including shipping and other fees. This makes Zhuni unaffordable, as well as most other yixing.

In addition, I keep coming back to porcelain as the best material for high mountain oolongs, and the pots I'm looking at (thin, low porosity, etc.) are very porcelain-like. If the brewing experience is going to be almost identical to porcelain, I'm wondering what the point is. I'm sure there's a clay that would highlight aroma and aftertaste while muting the spinachy and bitter flavours found in many less-than-perfect green oolongs, but even if I knew what that was (Zhuni, probably), it would be out of my price range. I'm on the fence about getting a Hojo pot.

I guess you might say my teapot search is stalled rather than abandoned.

[GaoShan]

This one is very thin so should probably work

Nice! I guess it's more appropriately sized for yancha.

[Andrew S]

@GaoShan: you reminded me of something that I was thinking about recently, which is the allegedly 'accepted wisdom' floating around the internet that light wulong needs less absorbent and less 'muting' clay teapots, such as zhuni.

However, I've found my old reduction-fired zini pot and my modern benshan pot work well with high mountain tea. Similarly, it seems that @Bok likes to use antique duanni for high mountain tea. I see similar stories from others every now and then.

It's probably impossible to offer any kind of advice one way or the other, because it'll obviously be a matter of personal taste for you, but also because many generalsiations don't stand up to close scrutiny in the world of tea and teapots. It is just a shame that many of us outside Asia won't be able to try different teapots in person before we go out on a limb and buy them, so your approach of sticking to porcelain for now makes perfect sense.

However, I think that it's worthwhile to keep an open mind about what options are out there for the kinds of tea that you enjoy. Things like modern zhuni will offer one way of appreciating light wulong, while other types of clay can provide other ways of enjoying them. There's unlikely to be much of a 'right or wrong' approach.

Andrew

[Bok]

However, I've found my old reduction-fired zini pot and my modern benshan pot work well with high mountain tea. Similarly, it seems that Bok likes to use antique duanni for high mountain tea. I see similar stories from others every now and then.

Someone summon me?

Yes, agreed, best to not listen to the conventional wisdom, more often than not it is wrong, or at the very least there are enough exceptions to do so.

I have brewed Gaoshan in everything from porcelain, zhuni, hongni, various zini and duanni, no obvious no go, it depends on the pot and what you like. Arguably porcelain the most boring. I did also like Kobiwako, it has been similar to Duanni for me. Chaozhou can work as well.

Problem is, it needs a lot of tuition pots and luck to find the good match.

[GaoShan]

GaoShan: you reminded me of something that I was thinking about recently, which is the allegedly 'accepted wisdom' floating around the internet that light wulong needs less absorbent and less 'muting' clay teapots, such as zhuni.

However, I've found my old reduction-fired zini pot and my modern benshan pot work well with high mountain tea. Similarly, it seems that Bok likes to use antique duanni for high mountain tea. I see similar stories from others every now and then.

It's probably impossible to offer any kind of advice one way or the other, because it'll obviously be a matter of personal taste for you, but also because many generalsiations don't stand up to close scrutiny in the world of tea and teapots. It is just a shame that many of us outside Asia won't be able to try different teapots in person before we go out on a limb and buy them, so your approach of sticking to porcelain for now makes perfect sense.

However, I think that it's worthwhile to keep an open mind about what options are out there for the kinds of tea that you enjoy. Things like modern zhuni will offer one way of appreciating light wulong, while other types of clay can provide other ways of enjoying them. There's unlikely to be much of a 'right or wrong' approach.

Andrew

Yes, it's a shame I can't try teapots before buying them, and I imagine it's even worse for folks who are buying really pricy antique teaware. Without experience, it's almost impossible to figure out which pots will have the effects I want, which is probably why the common wisdom about tea/teapot pairing carries so much weight for people shopping online.

When I first got into tea, I didn't know what I liked, and I bought a bunch of small samples to figure it out. It must have cost me all of $50, although I made a few bad tea-buying decisions after that. My tastes have changed slightly since then, but the teas I liked back in 2016 are close to the ones I enjoy now, though I buy higher-quality leaves. Too bad you can't "sample" teapots without paying very high tuition.

I'll definitely keep an open mind. It might still be hard to find other clays for under $200, but at least not as hard as finding Zhuni!