Some questions Yixing teapots and good sources

You need to find a well stocked Chinatown and do some comparison shopping. My last couple of purchases have been from porcelain shoppes. I bought what I call Have Yixing Will Travel gongfu set with all the seals and paperwork. I bought some yixing mugs when touched by the lips produced a tactile sensation which is one of my criteria for yixing. Dont forget the ping. You should be able to turn the lid like it is floating on liquid bearings. It has to look good enough to eat. What youll see in Chinatown gongfu sessions is the pot held vertical without the lid falling out. My local Chinese tea shoppe sells one of these for about $100. I know someone in Taiwan who buys antique yixing from the 80s and before. From what I know the desirable yixing was depleted in the early 90s. There is enough antique yixing around so who knows what we buy today will be worth tomorrow. I dont think anything can beat yixing form and function. I like simple and elegant. I dont like motifs. I dont use yixing on a daily basis because I find gongfu impractical. From what I see you have a base from which to build on your yixing collection.

Jim

PS I dont know the purpose of the Chinese Inspection Bureau. Maybe to make sure antiques arent being exported.

On Aug 25, 11:30 pm, Chris DeVoney wrote:

Hi: If you look on line you can find some Yixing teapots at $19.99 and up. I will send you a link.

An update to the search:

I have bought two pots in Seattle's Chinatown last month: one a Tiwanese from Lin's Ceramics Studio and one a nicely-scribed Yixing zisha. Both were overpriced but attractive and locally available (i.e.,they could be making tea that evening in my home).

The Tiwanese is fully-glazed and holds about eight ounces. The Lin's ping is too shallow and requires a finger through a fast mid-pour. The pot uses an interior metal screen for the spout which works well but a fingerless pour starts less forcefully because of the ping. Given the glazing, teas (except pu-erh) could be mixed freely between brew outs rather than dedicating a pot to a tea type. (I don't think a quick wash gets rid of a pu-erh's smell/taste.)

The Yixing, obviously unglazed, holds about 14 ounces, and is about everything I expect from a Yixing. The ping is deep and rotates freely. Both inside and outside has the right feel. The pour is fast and smooth.

The disadvantage to this and all of the Yixing I have purchase is that they are good for sharing with U.S. teacups but makes too much for my solitary usual drinking vessel at home (a 12- ounce mug ... I know, heresy) or for tradition couple-ounce tea cups. Given the experience, my next Yixing will be smaller to fit a single coffee cup or a couple tea cups. Comparing the quality of this new pot, the other Yixings I purchased may become decorations on a shelf.

The local experience was exceptionally valuable and has honed the search. I did exchange email with Stephane Erler and will buy one of the pots offered within the next sixty days.

I will also add the store selling the first pot is owned by a Tiwanese national. Through a translator, he spoke of the industrialization of China polluting the zisha clay making the brewed tea less safe while Tiwanese tea pots having a glazed white interior and firing at 1400 (or so) degrees prevents it from polluting the tea. I asked several questions, kept a straight face, and enjoyed multiple brewings of a couple oolongs. Note I still bought the pot and one of the medium oolongs. I considered the story the "entertainment."

The advice has been greatly appreciated. Thanks!

cdv

I see several references to the "ping". What do you mean by "the ping"? Are you talking about the lid?

To me, even enough to fill a coffee cup is way too big for solitary drinking... if you are brewing your tea multiple times, you're going to end up with way too much tea this way. You could use less tea leaf, but the results will be different. For me, anywhere between 60 ml to 200 ml (~ 2-8oz) is ideal, and I only use brewing vessels on the larger size of that spectrum when brewing for > 5 people. Even if you use a slightly larger cup, a 100ml (3.5 oz) pot is more than big enough for 1-2 people, even when stuffed with leaf.

Try brewing with a small pot and much smaller cups, and I think you will find that you are better able to appreciate the flavors of the tea.

As far as glazed pots go, I would strongly advise getting a gaiwan or two - easier to use and clean than a pot, and very convenient.

Where did you go in Seattle? I would suggest checking out Floating Leaves; their selection of pots isn't huge, but the owner knows what she is talking about. There is also New Century Tea Gallery in Chinatown, which might be worth a visit if you haven't gone there already. Also, if you make it up to Vancouver, there are some excellent teaware shops there.

Btw, it's "Taiwanese", not "Tiwanese".

I used to be mainly a coffee guy, treating it more as a hobby and passion than a mere cup of joe. But I really enjoyed the coffee, both drip and espresso/espresso concoctions. So maybe I am treating my new passion (tea) like coffee. I am mostly steeping tea in a 10 oz metal teapot to make a mug of tea. Alternatively, I drink tea out of a tall (Japanese ?) style tea cup which is about 8 oz and looks like a thin coffee mug with no handle. I am enjoying it immensely, but maybe I am missing something because I see so much teaware that is geared toward a 2 oz cup, and I read your post that indicates the same. Maybe you treat the tea more like espresso, in that it is sipped in small cups and not "gulped" out of a big mug? I suspect there is no definitive wrong or right way, but I am sure that some teas can be enjoyed more in different formats. Any thoughts, links, book recommendations are appreciated.

Ed

No "right" or "wrong" but each region/country/style is different. A cuppa in England might consist of a larger mug of tea, a cup in a gong fu session might be slightly larger than a thimble. I, personally, range based on the particular tea and what it is best presented as or with my mood. I'll do a mug of regular tea and honey or chai, or a carefully prepared oolong in a small 1-2oz. teacup over many steeps. I've also been known to brew some oolong or jasmine green in a bigger three-piece strainer mug. For reference you would have to pick a country and a region and study their particular style, it varies wildly.

- Dominic