Buying a Yixing Teapot...

+1 on Yunnan Sourcing. Add Berylleb King Tea on ebay and Mandala tea to other vendors I trust.

I love Berylleb King Tea on eBay. Though I have no idea about their tea wares. I mostly buy tea from them.

Oh dear. I love that the sizes are listed in the description. There are some lovely pots there.. but most of them are bigger than I want. :)

I have looked at this shop before….. but of course I took another look – whimper – not allowed to buy speckled pot….

Should I? :D

no, dont buy it. there is no Yixing for $15. Sorry ;( save some money.

After chatting with tea friends, definitely a fake but could be entertaining. I don’t have $15 to basically waste on it though…

good. every $ counts toward the decent yixing lol

I’m not an expert, so others may disagree, but I don’t see why this would be a problem. I make TGY all the time in a Gaiwan that holds little more than 100 ml, and I know of others who make it in Yixing with a capacity of 150 ml or less! I think, often, Yixing pots with a flat, wide interior are preferred for TGY, as they allow maximum space for the leaves to expand outwards.

EDIT: boychik posted a link to a great article such things a while ago, but I can’t find it… This other one has some helpful info (and backs up my recollection about lower, flatter pots being good for TGY):

http://www.thechineseteashop.com/how-to-choose-teapot.html

Thank you for your reply and the very informative article! The pot I bought will definitely work well for TGY, it’s rather flat at the bottom and low profile. Here’s a link to it, it’s actually a qin zhou pot, not yixing:

http://yunnansourcing.com/en/qin-zhou-pottery/3226-qin-zhou-dragon-kiln-teapot-yao-bian-dragon-150ml.html

Can’t wait to get it and season it up!

yay, that pot is gorgeous. Im sure it will be great for TGY. its more of concern if you choose a pot for sheng. it must be fast pouring otherwise it will be bitter.

Thanks @boychik, I was inspired by @TeaFairy on instagram, it is very similar to hers! Good to know for sheng, I will look for one with a tiny little spout :)

No wanting to hijack this thread, but since we are talking about it. I haven’t seasoned this one yet because I can’t decide what to season it with. Opinions?
http://www.esgreen.com/zi-sha-red-clay-tea-pot-150ml-antique-f-nonpareil-big-red-robe.html
Hmmmmm – I don’t have a good picture of it – will have to fix that tonight.
http://instagram.com/p/wpbD4duE6i/?modal=true

for sheng you have to inquire the seller how fast pouring it is. good sellers always tell how many seconds. generally they say which teapot is good for what tea. Scott always does. take a look at Chawangshop site. they list how many secs and what this pot is good for. also The Chinese Tea Shop. if someone tells you the pot is good for any kind of tea – stay away from this seller

Dexter do you have DHP pot?

I have a pot for dark oolongs, but not specifically DHP. Do I drink enough DHP to dedicate a pot?

DHP has a distinctive taste that I wouldn’t mix with other dark oolongs. Do you drink enough DHP ? I think you do ! If not, make it more often. The tea is beautiful !

LOL ok maybe it’s more like 80% of the dark oolong I drink is DHP – do I drink enough of the other stuff to support the pot I’m already using if I move DHP to a new one…. interesting thought though. Was also thinking about aged blacks….

Do you drink a lot aged blacks ? Also I’ve noticed that aged tea is better in porcelaine. Yixing will suck out all the flavors that you would barely notice anything. it will be flat tasting. Also i want to mention JC blog. he had an article recently
http://thetinmycup.blogspot.com/2014/11/sampling-and-tasting.html

I don’t drink a lot of them yet – but I have a cake and I’m interested in them…. I have a couple (few) pots that I haven’t seasoned – but that red one is beautiful and I feel guilty for not showing it some love. Thanks for the link – I’ll look at the at blog tonight. :))

MissLena – ahhhhh, I’ve had my eye on that pot too, for TGY! You know what they say about great minds, eh… ;)

@ Red Fennekin..well, I’m not going to be an enabler..but there’s one left in stock! :D

OK Dexter, aged teas are expensive. you need a tiny pot for them. 70-80cc, 100cc tops (thats why i love tiny pots besides being cute) 150cc is too big

boychik – We don’t steep teas quite the same, and the larger pots don’t bother me as much as they do you. :)) 150mi isn’t that big for me (I hardly use my 110 shou pot because I think it’s too small) – so I’m not really concerned with the size – more about how narrow/specific I should be about the teas I’m using in each pot. Interested in how to choose which teas I should dedicate a pot too….
I’m also not saying right or wrong with our steeping methods – just different – I do agree with smaller fast pouring pots for sheng. :))

The pots I use most often are for shou at 170ml and a Taiwan Clay teapot at 207ml.

MissLena heh, I did notice there was one left… I’m gonna see how much money I have in a few weeks time and then make my decision, if it’s still in stock! It just seems like the perfect pot for what I’d what – ideal shape, lovely style and reasonable price, given the apparent quality!

I’ve also seen a lovely 100 ml blue glazed one in berylleb’s ebay store – I think along the same lines as boychik when it comes to aged oolongs, etc – small ceramic/porcelain pots are pretty optimal! I think I’ll try to safe up to get both. Or maybe I’ll make a suggestion for a Norouz git… XD