Imperfect Teapots

Well.... I tend not to buy such things in the first place. I suppose this is not possible if you mail order pots (which is why I don't do it). I think the less-than-perfect-fit is not a big problem. A bigger problem is if it drips or pours poorly, or if the spout is easily and often blocked, or some such.

If you have one of these.... are there teas that you don't normally drink but wouldn't mind using a pot for that once-in-a-while brew? Or.... give it away as gifts to people who can't care less (and will most likely end up as a wall ornament)?

MarshalN

snipped-for-privacy@f16g2000cwb.googlegroups.com11/16/06

It's a great question, and my answer is this: You develop a relationship with a teapot, most of which are imperfect in some way, as you would develop a relationship with other bits of this imperfect world. The specific answer to the spout question: You need to decide if you like the pot, and if you do, what tea this pot would like to make. The flaw is not serious with all teas. A painfully slow pour is a far more serious flaw since it ruins the steep time, but you can compensate even for that by shortening the steep time. In other words, the flaws and you work together to produce the brew. Anyway, that's my personal opinion on the matter. Cut the pot some slack. That's the spirit. Most likely you can learn more about brewing tea from a flawed than from a perfect pot, if such a thing ever should be.

Michael

Couldn't possibly agree more. The reality is that the majority of teapots are "imperfect" in some way, and that is the character of a hand made product. To only use and buy "perfect" teapots is a bit pretentious and against the true nature of tea in my opinion. Good tea is not made from only the best equipment and the best leaf, good tea is much more than that.

Sure some basic, time-tested, design standards make sense and help, but beyond that it just doesn't matter.

- Dominic

The hole in the lid helps with smoother pours. You block it and you get gushing. You want a teapot that 'disappears' in daily use. You put up with the quirks in the beginning but that is the bottom line. I think in general commercial pots have the ergonometrics worked out versus the holiday one of a kind gift. I have a mexican lidded clay pitcher I use as a pot once in a while. It's festive. When the tea goes over that edge get out the mop. I've never thrown away a pot I didn't like. When people complain of messy pours it is most like they are overfilling the pot which should be 3/4 at max and I prefer 2/3 with English style pots.

Jim

Danica wrote:

It's really hard to find a good yixing pot in Los Angeles, outside of Chinatown, but even there they don't have the really good stuff half the time. Mostly cheap commercial-made pots, etc. So I am relegated to vendors I trust on the Internet. I made a lot of mistakes before I found good people.

I think the less-than-perfect-fit is not a big problem. A bigger

My first biggest pot problem is ones where you block the vent and the spout continues to pour. I guess that means it's not air-tight. Then drips, then bad clay. I don't buy bad clay anymore but I recently bought a studio copy of a Jiang Rong peach and it pours continually even when I block the vent. And the pot wasn't cheap!

Funny you say that, the other bad-vent pot is a lovely dense zisha clay that makes really good puer tea. It holds the aromas well. The third is made of a zhuni type clay (it has a high pitched ring) and makes good oolongs and green tea.

But I wonder if they had better air-tight quality if the tea would be better? Any thoughts?

I like your way of thinking. Thank you.

Mostly I drink tea from them.

Drinking straight from the spout, you probably prefer what most people around here would consider an imperfect teapot: one that pours slowly.

/Lew

Danica, you seem to imply that there are good Yixing pots to be found in Los Angeles in the Chinatown. If so, please whisper the places to me. Thanks.

Phyll

Danica wrote:

Just thinking of the function of the vessel for a moment (i.e., a container for brewing tea!), what difference does it make if the pot pours or not when one stops the air-hole?

I can understand that it would be a general indicator of quality, but, in and of itself, it surely can't be seen as a major defect. At worst, there is a small place between lid and pot where air can pass, in addition to the air-hole. I cannot imagine that such a "defect" would ever change the characteristic of the tea, nor can I imagine how a tiny additional air-hole would alter the pour of the pot. Do please enlighten!

It has never happened to me, but if I received a pot that "dribbled" when I blocked up the air-hole, I can't imagine myself discarding it. Just as a poster above mentioned, it is a little "character" for the pot, more than anything else.

Toodlepip,

Hobbes

I agree, in so far as the original seller not making any promise as to the worksmanship of the pot, and also the price paid for said pot.

In and of itself, the pot pouring while pressing on the hole is not a huge issue, IMO. If the pot leaks from the lid while pouring, even carefully, then we've got a problem. Or if the spout pours poorly and water dribbles, or some such.

MarshalN

So why all the hoop-la then regarding the vent hole in the lids? Does anyone know?

No, no, you need it as fast as possible, so you can get the maximum health benefits from your green tea. Just pour it down and don't try to taste it...

Hey... we could market this. The teabong.... I see a great need...

--scott

In part because it's handy to be able to block the vent hole in order to control the flow of tea.

And in part because folks do actually care about craftsmanship that goes beyond the minimum required to produce a workable product.

--scott

No teapot expert I, so please take this as a guess: If stopping the air-hole halts the pour completely, then you're *completely* sure there's no leak from around the lid. Overkill, maybe, but certainty.

/Lew

Perfection seems like a lot to ask of a teapot. Functionality seems more realistic. I test the vacuum of Yixing teapots and if the vent hole is accessible, I check whether blocking it stops the flow, I don't regard either of those tests as crucial though. The main thing is how the pot handles and pours. I have tossed pots in the trash or deposited them at Goddwill for irremediable dribbling down the front or one burnt finger too many.

There are teapots with historical, scholarly, or sentimental value quite separate from their ability to hold a pr> I'm curious about people's experience with less-than-perfect teapots.

Blocking the venting hole may be the most popular method of testing a zisha teapot, however, the airtightness of a teapot may not be the most important factor in selecting our teapot.

In the art of preparing Chinese tea, we do not purposefully block the flow of water by covering the air vent. The blocking of the vent and the halt of the flow would create a sudden and disruptive impact to the whole process. The entire process of preparing tea should be smooth and display a feeling of serenity. Timing should not be controlled this way.

Then why do we use this test? It tries to measure the level of craftsmanship--particularily the tightness and tolerance of the teapot. However, in todays production environment where machinery can be used to aid in manufacture of teapots, the tolerances can easily be very high, but without much craftsmanship at all. The most important impact is that the clay used in wholly machine-manufactured teapots are inferior.

So what should we look for in a teapot? Well, as long as our tea does not pour out from under the lid before it even comes out of the spout, we should consider a few other things.

As many people have mentioned, ergonomics are definitely at the top of the list. Balance in an instrument creates comfort and useability. Front, or spout heavy teapots cause strain on the wrist. Other issues of alignment and basic design help with ergonomics and are generally common sense, so I won't drag on here.

The most important factor is the quality of the clay. The pureness of the zisha clay and the proper firing of the clay at adequate temperatures is what directly affects the flavor of your infusion. The airtightness and ergonomics can affect your brewing technique, and subsequently affect your tea. The clay's direct contact with tea, directly affects the outcome of your brew.

How do you look for good clay? That's another article. Let me know if you want to read more.

Bill

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com snipped-for-privacy@f16g2000cwb.googlegroups.com11/

Hi Bill,

Based on your cogent, intelligent, and thoughtful prose above, I look forward to more about clay. Be as specific as you feel you can be without causing our eyes to lose focus. Thanks.

Michael

Thanks for your encouragement Michael. Here we go...

How To Select Quality Zisha Teapots continued:

After a teapot meets ergonomic needs, and our aesthetic standards, the most important factor is the quality of the clay.

I will assume readers know what is zisha (purple clay). Basic information on zisha teapots can be read at this article: "Introduction to Zisha Teapots" at

The best teapots are made from pure zisha clays, that are highly porous, and fired at approximate temperatures of 1,200°C.

How do we look for such teapots? Many people like to test the tone/ring that is made from tapping the teapot. A popular method is to use the lid to gently tap the side of the teapot. (I will mention more about tapping a teapot later). The conventional idea is that the high-pitched rings are produced from clays that are dense. Since high porosity is desired in zisha clay, we may frown on high-pitched rings, which mimic the sound of striking hard metal.

The most common types of zisha clay that produce these sounds are vibrant red. These clays have very high iron content that produce red colored teapots which are popular in the Chinese market. When extra iron is added to the clay, the teapot will not only become very red, it will also become very dense and produce the metallic ringing.

On the other hand, a low dull pitch does not indicate highly porous clay. If the sound is a low, dull thud, it often indicates a teapot that was made at temperatures too low. When teapots are fired at low temperatures, they will emit the odor and taste of clay. Just rinsing the teapot with boiling water will release the pungent odor of dirt. Using such teapots to make tea will produce bitter, clay-tasting brews with scattered and course textures.

There are no styles of tea that can benefit or endure the effects of low temperature clays. Ugly black spots and stains will also develop throughout the teapot after some use. The more you try to nurture and develop the teapot's patina, the worse it gets.

Clays suffering from insufficient temperatures are worse than dense clays. The high-pitched teapots mentioned earlier may not be ideal, but they do maximize aroma. For example, Taiwanese teapots, which are not made of zisha clay, are not porous. They are very dense and make very high-pitched rings. There is absolutely no problem using these teapots to make high mountain Taiwanese oolongs to enjoy their light, fresh character. High-pitched and dense zisha teapots are the same. They work well with light Taiwan and Tiegaunyin oolongs. However, avoid heavy roasted oolong teas or traditional Chao Zhou gungfu brewing techniques with dense teapots. The density of the clay will overly concentrate the astringency and bitterness of even the most well roasted oolongs.

So far: Tap a teapot with the lid and listen to the sound. Low dull pitch = bad Very high pitch = good for light oolongs only (no medium/heavy roasted oolongs) Simple right? Well...not really.

We still haven't considered the thickness of a teapot or its shape. Square shaped, hexagonal shaped, rosettes, etc., do not ring when they are struck. Thick-walled teapots don't ring the same as thin-walled teapots. Cylindrical shapes don't sound the same as round teapots. This means really good zisha clays can ring low and dull if they are made very thick, or if they have shapes with many corners and edges-good zisha teapots can be mistaken for bad clay.

OK, so we can't trust the sound test. Now what? Well, now I gotta go take a break.

Before I go I would like to mention the etiquette of sound testing teapots. Please ask the owner if you may tap the teapot before doing so. The owner may prefer to demonstrate the sound for you. Never use the thin flange under the lid to strike the teapot, because it is the most fragile section of the entire teapot. Rather, use the knob on top of the lid to gently tap the side of the teapot. Better yet, only drag the knob along the side of the teapot and listen to the vibration. Please avoid partially lifting and dropping the lid back onto the body to test the vibration, as the lid can be damaged, and the sound will not be accurate anyway.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Tapping is a very common test and every week people tap my teapots in ways that make my heart jump to my throat. Even tea aficionados frequently commit the acts above. A teapot collector struck my antique teapot that is over 100 years old with the thin flange of the lid. I had a heart attack.

I haven't fully explained how to look for quality, but I hope that I have so far provided some interesting and helpful information. I can share more about clay if anyone is interested in reading such long explanations. This is really a very advanced topic and there's just so much to the art of tea.

Bill Lee