Yixing for noobs

Thanks! The one they are (mostly) referring to has this pot with beautiful clay, like a starry night…it’s referred to in the seller’s description as “mantianxing”. Searches online / babelcarp for that term, or “man tian xing” only point back at some of their listings on ebay. Does anyone know about this clay?? http://tinyurl.com/zddkju4

I would check this page out.
http://yunnansourcing.com/en/8014747-teapots
If you are set on getting it from eBay I would recommend this shop.
http://stores.ebay.com/Berylleb-King-Tea/Yixing-Zisha-Tea-Wares-/i.html?fsub=6984598015&sid=993716515&trksid=p4634.c0.m322

Thank you!

10 Thousand Things I suppose it is a regular zisha clay that has been given a Wuni black look. Mantianxing is just some word the seller came up with to describe it, hence you don’t find that elsewhere.

Psyck that’s what I was thinking…it’s a pretty look though :) Oh completely off thread and all, but also thanks for making me realize you could use html tags in these text fields…is there a list anywhere of supported markup?

https://warpedvisions.org/projects/textile-cheat-sheet/

sweet, thanks. I was actually using <b> tags, but it would keep disappearing…so a link would be textile-cheat-sheet

I keep thinking about this (as it’s harder to find “solo” pots) too. The one issue would be constantly having to worry about measuring the water (for your leaf to water ratio). Sure it’s just an extra step (and maybe cools down water if you haven’t planned it), but over many, many sessions which in themselves may include many, many steepings, that may get tiresome. Other than that, I’m not sure there would be a disadvantage, but I’ll let the experienced ones chime in :)

I think the important thing to watch out for is that the tea leaves, after they have expanded over the initial steeps, should still be completely covered by water. Hence it would depend on the tea that you are brewing – e.g. shu does not expand much and should be OK brewed with a partially filled gaiwan. Gaiwans aren’t particularly expensive anyway, so ideal would be to have sets of different sizes that you can use to full capacity.

@Psyck: ah yes, leaves out of water, that’s a good point to keep in mind!

That golden color is beautiful, a real pretty teapot! But in the end, it’s you and the pot for (hopefully) a long, long life together…so how do YOU feel about it :)

Ultimately, you should find the pot aesthetically pleasing when you use it regularly – and that is an individual preference. So yeah, when you find something that stirs a chord within you, go for it :-)

Just make sure you do your background work first, like reading the article yyz pointed out earlier and scanning through the other pots in the sites people here have suggested.

Nice teapot. I have bought five or six pots from that seller and have always been happy with what I received.

Thanks, y’all :D

She includes a teapot wrap with each pot and a padded gift box with the more expensive pots. Very nice way to store the teapot. She also sells the gift boxes separately.