When purchasing teaware from BTTC, proceed with caution. Get all the information you can, including return policy, before making the purchase.
This is both a review of the teapot and my experience with the vendor.
Ah. So, I had been looking for 2 years for a teapot when one finally caught my eye. This one was it. I had recently passed a brutal Calculus 3 six-week summer session and decided to reward myself with my first ever teapot purchase.
First the pot. I received a beautiful matte black clay teapot, not nearly as striking as the blue metallic finish pictured. It feels great in my hand, is a good thickness for high mountain oolongs (as in it won’t cook them or release heat too quickly) and rarely leaks when the hole in the lid is covered. Even when filled full with water, as the lid is placed no liquid comes out the top. The pot has an internal filter that allows for a 7-second pour both with only liquid and with expanded leaf. The pour cuts off instantly with no drips as soon as the pot is tipped back. The hand-pressed detail on the sides is amazing. The artist’s name is carved into the bottom along with the year of crafting.
Which was awesome and all except I ordered the blue teapot pictured. There was no information nor were there pictures on the page that alluded to different colors being available, nor a drop-down menu where I could pick a color. After receiving the wrong color teapot, I contacted the vendor. I will say the vendor’s response had scammy language and I decided not to follow up as it’s not worth dealing with people like that. Maybe he thought I was trying to swindle him and got defensive. I don’t know. I also had to deal with three different email addresses in my correspondences. Consistency is appreciated as a customer. Three email addresses is excessive.
The teapot itself is very well made and perfect for my desires. BTTC needs improvement in customer relations. I will continue to drink, enjoy and review the tea I ordered while remaining impartial and have some good sessions with this teapot.
Edit: I hemmed and hawed for a few weeks about writing this and still managed to make it sound a little dramatic, which I don’t want, so I made some changes. I just don’t want anybody else to have unfulfilled expectations regarding their teaware.
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I feel for you: this teapot in blue looks fantastic and I would be disappointed as well if I received it in black. To me Chinese teas require a bright and colorful presentation unlike the teas from Japan were black would be perfect.
Sorry to hear about your experience with BTTC. There’s no excuse for poor customer service. I have mixed feelings about them as a vendor. I’ve had some outstanding teas from there and they took care of me once when a certain tea was not up to par. But their spamming and shillery on Reddit makes them look real shady.
I avoid Reddit in general for that reason (and a few others). It’s kind of funny, I had a very strong gut reaction when I was first communicating with the vendor before I received the teapot. ‘Something feels off.’ The written cadence was weird, there was an unnecessary urgency to the communications. I tend to rationally examine my instincts when it’s a non-physical situation but guess having my eyes on the prize clouded my judgement.
You are quite chill about this whole experience. Things like teapots are intensely personal for me: they are supposed to be a center of mine attention on multiple occasions when I want something relaxing, calming and very much “me”. It would me feel with a small bubble of impotent rage every time when I make tea and stare at this decidedly-not-blue teapot. That’s why I tend to buy my teaware in person – at the Asian stores or thrift stores: they are rarely as beautiful as yours but I can touch them, feel their heft, manipulate, etc. It’s like adopting a puppy: I need to have that inexplicable immediate interpersonal connection.
That said I hope you will be totally unlike me and grow to like your unexpected tea companion.
BTTC appears to have a different line of teapots now, and I like their look. But I’m very skeptical about the “no glaze” claim on some of them. I am a former potter, with blue ribbons to show for it, and I’ve produced similar coloring effects. Glaze was involved. ;-)
I see they’ve added a ‘teapot returns’ statement since I last (and first) bought from them. I can only hope they’ve changed their attitude and will honor that statement.
I see what you mean about the ‘no glaze’ claims on some of the pots. Never seen a crackled-clay pot. Crackled-glaze, sure. What do I know.
I feel for you: this teapot in blue looks fantastic and I would be disappointed as well if I received it in black. To me Chinese teas require a bright and colorful presentation unlike the teas from Japan were black would be perfect.
Sorry to hear about your experience with BTTC. There’s no excuse for poor customer service. I have mixed feelings about them as a vendor. I’ve had some outstanding teas from there and they took care of me once when a certain tea was not up to par. But their spamming and shillery on Reddit makes them look real shady.
I avoid Reddit in general for that reason (and a few others). It’s kind of funny, I had a very strong gut reaction when I was first communicating with the vendor before I received the teapot. ‘Something feels off.’ The written cadence was weird, there was an unnecessary urgency to the communications. I tend to rationally examine my instincts when it’s a non-physical situation but guess having my eyes on the prize clouded my judgement.
You are quite chill about this whole experience. Things like teapots are intensely personal for me: they are supposed to be a center of mine attention on multiple occasions when I want something relaxing, calming and very much “me”. It would me feel with a small bubble of impotent rage every time when I make tea and stare at this decidedly-not-blue teapot. That’s why I tend to buy my teaware in person – at the Asian stores or thrift stores: they are rarely as beautiful as yours but I can touch them, feel their heft, manipulate, etc. It’s like adopting a puppy: I need to have that inexplicable immediate interpersonal connection.
That said I hope you will be totally unlike me and grow to like your unexpected tea companion.
BTTC appears to have a different line of teapots now, and I like their look. But I’m very skeptical about the “no glaze” claim on some of them. I am a former potter, with blue ribbons to show for it, and I’ve produced similar coloring effects. Glaze was involved. ;-)
I see they’ve added a ‘teapot returns’ statement since I last (and first) bought from them. I can only hope they’ve changed their attitude and will honor that statement.
I see what you mean about the ‘no glaze’ claims on some of the pots. Never seen a crackled-clay pot. Crackled-glaze, sure. What do I know.