Yixing

[WhisperingFrog192]

The F1 plum trunk pot arrived safe! It's interesting to compare and contrast with the other plum trunk pot I have.

Nice! The one in the back looks LQER if I am not mistaken.

I believe so, though it's fairly underfired so I usually just use it for shu. More pics here:

Another random chance find.

[LeoFox]

Am curious to learn more about this pot I was generously gifted. It was sold as an tu hong or Wai hong nei zi or outside red inside purple green label shuiping with box and sticker. However was also told that it may be a full reddish Qing shui ni. Given the relatively even redness insight and out. However, it definitely is more rough textured and heterogenous inside compares to outside. Seems to brew a nice yancha. Posting a bunch of pics below. Thank you

[.m.]

Might be niangao tu. There are 2 versions of niangao differing in coarsness and redness: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2179755 ... 3905290543

[steanze]

Am curious to learn more about this pot I was generously gifted. It was sold as an tu hong or Wai hong nei zi or outside red inside purple green label shuiping with box and sticker. However was also told that it may be a full reddish Qing shui ni. Given the relatively even redness insight and out. However, it definitely is more rough textured and heterogenous inside compares to outside. Seems to brew a nice yancha. Posting a bunch of pics below. Thank you

It is a nice pot, a good gift. In my view it is neiziwaihong. Some neiziwaihong have a darker zini interior, while others have a more reddish interior, I think yours is one of the latter. If you look at the underside of the lid, around the air hole, you can see the contrast between the hongni in the immediate surroundings of the hole, and the coarser zini around it.

[LeoFox]

Thank you all for the input! I've heard mixed things about neiziwaihong pots- ranging from them having low quality red clay slip outside and low quality zini inside, and only good for low quality tea - to having excellent heat retention, being able to retain and concentrate aroma, and developing nice shine quickly.


Been forcing a bunch of yancha into it. So far, to me it is not particularly muting - though it does seem to make the top notes less "clear" and the roast seems a bit more contained. The basic flavors of the tea seem mostly intact. What it doesn't seem to do is thicken the tea.

What it does seem to do is provide a very nice finish , and a little smoother soup than porcelain, as well as shine a stronger light on minerality. The minerality may be something from the clay, which has a distinctive mild smell that seems to translate into the longer infusions, and seems to align well with the roasted oolong teas. I suspect that will weaken with seasoning.

The pot also seems to exhude a nice tea smell after some use

[Baiyun]

Consider bringing more money.
Trustworthy.

Thank you.

Enjoyable errand.

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I see you have an exact kiln twin on hand so I wonder if the great lid fit is a shared trait among these? I handled a few factory SPs, same decade and later, and the BD stood out with a flush lid and very little play. I just finished my first session and I am amazed how cleanly it operates.

[Bok]

I see you have an exact kiln twin on hand so I wonder if the great lid fit is a shared trait among these? I handled a few factory SPs, same decade and later, and the BD stood out with a flush lid and very little play. I just finished my first session and I am amazed how cleanly it operates.

Quite a few of these have passed through my hands, lid fit is always the same, actually the whole look and craftmanship is pretty consistent among the Biandeng of the 60s. Slight firing differences can occur, but otherwise pretty much all the same. Shuiping is more varied in quality, but also much larger amounts have been made.

I found the rarer shapes all a bit better executed (for early period), Biandeng, Bianyuan, Bala and Taijian. Xishi and Roubian is hit and miss.

[Baiyun]

@Bok good to know!
It was great to finally handle and compare a few pots and clays side by side. Fast track education for someone with no local tea circle.

Now it's time to get to know the pot

[Bok]

It was great to finally handle and compare a few pots and clays side by side. Fast track education for someone with no local tea circle.

That is the best - if not only way to learn about them.

[Andrew S]

@Baiyun: welcome to the biandeng club; one of my first older pots was a biandeng from ZAG, which I still use all the time.

And on the earlier topic of hongni-coated pots, I thought that I'd share a photo of what I understand to be an example of a neiwailinjiang pot; hongni inside and out, and zini hidden within. That is, hidden unless there's a convenient chip like this.

At first I did not even realise that it was a coated pot, and assumed that it was a different kind of clay; I'm surprised by how delicate the coating is. I was expecting a rather obvious thick layer of hongni on top of an obvious layer of zini.

Andrew

[Bok]

Baiyun: welcome to the biandeng club; one of my first older pots was a biandeng from ZAG, which I still use all the time.

And on the earlier topic of hongni-coated pots, I thought that I'd share a photo of what I understand to be an example of a neiwailinjiang pot; hongni inside and out, and zini hidden within. That is, hidden unless there's a convenient chip like this.

At first I did not even realise that it was a coated pot, and assumed that it was a different kind of clay; I'm surprised by how delicate the coating is. I was expecting a rather obvious thick layer of hongni on top of an obvious layer of zini.

Andrew

Especially the prefactory coatings are done very well, full or half coated, both are usually finely executed. Attached is an example of Fuji workshop, Neiwailinjiang. It’s one of my favourite pots.

[Baiyun]

Thank you @Andrew S. I enjoy it a lot and it has already revealed itself to be versatile and forgiving. No doubt it will pop up in some of the tea threads on here. I will try to represent the colour a bit better, those initial phone pictures came out orange. So hard to capture accurately.

[steanze]

And on the earlier topic of hongni-coated pots, I thought that I'd share a photo of what I understand to be an example of a neiwailinjiang pot; hongni inside and out, and zini hidden within. That is, hidden unless there's a convenient chip like this.

At first I did not even realise that it was a coated pot, and assumed that it was a different kind of clay; I'm surprised by how delicate the coating is. I was expecting a rather obvious thick layer of hongni on top of an obvious layer of zini.

Andrew

Interesting! Another possibility for this pot is that the reduced amount of oxygen in the interior made the color slightly different. The effect is extreme in the case of black bones, but it can also happen in a more graded way.

[Baiyun]

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[d.manuk]

I'm interested in amplifying the fruity and chocolate notes in hongcha. Is there a clay that can do this? Those are two different tasting notes... two different pots needed? What clays are often paired with hongcha and why?