I have bought some used yixing teapots, they have old tea stains in them. I know I can't used soap to clean them, I doubt washing them with water will remove the stains. How do I go about cleaning them? They looked dirty. If I can't used soap to wash them how to i go about washing them?I am lost. I do not know how the teapot was seasoned last time, How do i get rid of the old seasonning as well? Can I actually reused seasonned teapots? Any help in cleaning and reusing the teapot would be great.
I own a single used pot. First I gave it a thorough job with a toothbrush [no paste], afterwards I cooked it in my pressure cooker for an hour and I was OK with the result. Another thing that comes to my mind would be ultrasonic cleaning, again in H2O, mayyybeee some neutral vinegar as the remaining acid/ smell can be neutralised later.
I personally don't believe that they are the age he describes them to be, and the way they are aged seems suspiciously similar. I suspect that they are mostly forgeries, however they are pretty well executed, with most of the ones I've seen having a good metallic tone, hand join lines for pots where they would be appropriate, etc.
But there's no way he's selling actual stuff from those time periods for that price, expensive shipping or not. If you're just looking for a nice pot to brew tea, and don't mind spending some time cleaning, check his stuff out, but don't think you're getting a steal on an antique teapot.
Good points, Will. Exorbitant shipping is, in my opinion, a mild scam. Claiming false dates and doctoring goods to make them look older is a real scam, and I personally would take my business to someone who is not a liar. Additionally, what treatment is he using to make these things look older? It might very well not be safe.
SN, Jing Tea Shop and the Ebay seller Yunnan Sourcing are both highly reputable sources of reasonably-priced yixing teapots. I would recommend going with them.
but are the teapot worth for the price eventhough it is not that old as they claimed? i mean i had my eyes on some zhuni pots. i have seen yunnan sourcing pots, will be getting some from him. I also heard that used pot are far much expensive than a new one?
i found it rather weird, why would an used pot is more expensive than a new one. Used pot looks dirty I wouldn't want to drink for it. I really need extreme cleaning with the one used pot i had. If not clean properly, the tea has some kind of taste or aroma. Gross!
I continue cleaning and cleaning till it was perfect.
I do believe, that his pots are faked - they are not genuine old pots, or at least they are "made used" probably with some colourings, pigments or maybe worse. I bought 3 pots from him, one was new (no problem), the other two were "old" but when I looked into one of them I saw, that "tea stains" ended pretty sharply...
check out this photo - the "tea stains" next to the filter
No - because of the mystique of old pots, and the fact that old, well seasoned pots are worth more. Now granted, an old, well seasoned, but properly cared for pot probably wouldn't look as dirty as the 5000 friend ones, but the fact that they're dirty maybe makes people believe they /could/ be as old as he's saying.
Plus, it would probably be easier to tell that the pot is not antique if it's not tea-stained.
And going back to what you were saying in another post about preferring clean pots... a well cared for, seasoned teapot can be worth more than an equivalent new or used "clean" teapot. Also, many types of clay that are prized (e.g., zhuni) are now extinct or hard to obtain, and the processing of yixing clay has changed, so older pots (most of which are used) are prized over "new" pots.
I could be wrong, but from what I've heard, teapots of this type and age (if genuine) are worth a good amount of money, regardless of condition; I don't see why this guy would spend his time selling them to foreigners on ebay when he could sell them in China for more money with less hassle. Given that the Chinese have been experts at forgery for years, I find it hard to believe that the 5000friend pots are not forgeries, even if they are good ones.
Anyway, the only way to really resolve this is to have someone who is expert with this stuff evaluate a few of the guy's pots.
Danica has posted about her experiences with him on here in the past; she has been happy with some of the pots she's gotten from him. I wasn't super happy with the one I got, but I haven't really used it in a while.
Anyway, if the pots brew good tea, I don't see any reason not to use them... just don't think you're getting a steal on some priceless treasure.
i had eyes on his zhuni pots as well. i have heard that yixing teapots are cheap in yixing and expensive elsewhere in China. so seller in yixing can offer a low price for old teapots. Anyone has any thoughts on that?
I wouldn't buy just any pot labeled zhuni from him. I have one pot that an expert looked at said was 50s clay and a good pot, I paid $109 plus shipping for it, and also a really nice zini pot, larger, that was $125. Both were good pots. I've also got some cheap pots from him that make really great tea--one in particular makes killer high altitude taiwan oolong. But the little cheapies he sells aren't great quality--he has even dissuaded me from getting them and made recommendations for better ones. He does claim that they are all authentic yixing clay. Keep in mind zhu ni means red clay and it's just that--not necessarily good quality.
He claims they are not forgeries and I have no real idea whether they are or not, maybe it's the custom to lie there. But I can say with proof that he has some nice pots; they just cost more.
thanks for all the feedbacks. I am looking for a special zhuni pot for my wuyi oolong tea especially for Da Hong Pao. I heard a good zhuni pot is really great it. So I am hunting for one good pot for that.
5000friends has some zhuni pot at 24.90 not too big just the right size for me o brew the tea for myself!
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