Picked up a new hobby at the Tea Gallery the other day. Michael has been pairing yixings with different teas to find a match before clients purchase them. This is an idea which has been around from the beginning of this culture.
If my memory serves me right, the first time I heard of it was around 1996. An old pot master retiring in Hong Kong had planted this seed in my head, while we shared a cup of Red Label. He mentioned: "If you start understanding this tea, you should understand how and what this tea is brewing from also... there is a small Universe around us at this moment, we created it by understanding each element in it." Tough Love! I recalled.
Pairing Yixing is not a easy task.... tell me about it. 1st, you have to understand how they make the pot, why the craftsmen do this and that, style, shape, size, thickness, joints, holes sizes.... 2nd, you have to understand clay, what kind, mine, age, generation, process and how it's fired.... 3rd, The history of the pot, why it is made, who it is made for, and what was in it before.... then you have to know your tea! further on, how you made your tea!!
Recently, I picked up calligraphy which inspired me tremendously. Thinking about each character style as a single pot, and how this character could become a composition. Just like how a tea pot could create a good tea moment.
Anyhow, at the end of the day at the tea gallery, we both found out this little 90 ml Square Jade YuYee could provide a better Yin yun to puerh. Jackpot!
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4 comments:
All so beautiful!
Paring a pot with the right tea can be so nerve-racking! I have an old Yixing that I love but it took me almost 2 years to find the right tea for it! I was starting to get frustrated, as it seemed that every tea I made in it just wasn't right, always lacking something. Then one day I made a
1950s Taiwan tea from the Dong Ding area ... and it convinced me! Now it has become my teapot for old Oolongs and does a magnificent job with this family of teas. For example, I find it the absolute best with an old Phoenix Dan Cong, mmmmm!
:-)
Tim, I like my Benshan Luni Shi Piao best for my Wuyi..1)unfortunately, it's half hand-made but very carefully. Shape is 'triangle art' of Shi Piao as thick for heat keeping for Wuyi, and Shi Piao has the greatest pouring quality. 2)it's collector-quality Benshan Luni that has been owned by my acquaintance for long, perhaps from Huanglong #4 or #5. gas-fired at 1200C. 3)Qu Zi Ye was Daoguang Ren (19C), that made pot resembling a tripod. inspired literary men including Chen Mansheng, helped him to created Mansheng 18 style...Share a cup!
What beautiful teapots! I never thought about the concept of specific teas matching specific pots. I have yixing teapots - I simply use one for oolong, one for white, and one for pu-erh.
Tea Escapade
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