Shape of yixing and how it affects taste/smell

Right... I'm sure that's true for many of us (though I imagine you'd find that most pots would work well with some kind of tea you drink).

My other suggestion is to find vendors who are pretty knowledgable / trustworthy, and ask them to select a type of teapot for you. They may not do a perfect job, but over time, they'll probably get an idea of what you want. I've found vendors like Jing Teashop (the one in China), Stephane of Tea Masters Blog, and Guang of Hou De to be helpful in suggesting a pot for a certain size and certain type of tea. I'm sure if you post information about a specific type of tea (with pictures of the dry & wet leaves), folks on here might be able to come up with some suggestions too.

There's an article on Guang of Hou De's blog called "How to Select Yixings for Your Teas : Shape", which has some information about his take on which shapes are appropriate for which types of tea... it should be on this page:

But also just think about how the tea looks when it expands...

Guang also has an article called "The Polygamy Debate of Yixings" (I can't get a link to just the post, but it should be on this page:

But of course, since he sells expensive pots, he has somewhat of an interest in getting you to buy one good pot, just as vendors who sell cheaper pots have an interest in getting you to buy lots of pots. :>

snip

Oh excellent ! That is exactly precisely what I was looking for, thanks so much Will!!

Melinda

In general, I have found larger bodied pots to work out better with these types of teas, and I never use a gaiwan to brew. The reasoning behind this, and I have done extensive research (drinking them! heh), is because you really do want the leaves to open up all the way so you can get the best flavors out of them. If your pots are smaller and you cram a bunch of leaves into it, the flavor will be lacking in the later brews; usually after 3. Taller or more broad bodied pots should work out better with wulongs.

It's the same thing with gaiwan brewing. One of my friends just could not figure out why his TGY fell into the lackluster category after it blew his socks off at the shop he bought it. I watched him brew it once and I saw his problem. He was putting too much tea into the brewing vessel...the leaves could not open up. After 3 brewings, the tea had much less flavor than before; he suspected foul play. I took the gaiwan, turned the leaves upside down in the lid and turned the leaves over so that the ones on the bottom were on top. You could easily see that the leaves on top had already started to open whilst the leaves at the bottom were still tight, wet balls of tea.