Testing a New Yixing

I've been testing a new tea pot for a couple of months now. Paring tea to tea pot is nothing more than a personal preference, a very subjective view indeed. Sometimes you like the up front notes of floral and high tones in a light Oolong, but sometimes you prefer the long lasting soft lingering aftertaste. Using a different yixing can bring out either the first or latter result.

It really depends on the mood and the weather. This is one of the newest pot I have ever owned, new in a sense that the time it took to my door steps from out of the kiln was less than 2 weeks. (as I was told by the vendor) A mere $45 dollar "test" pot if you will, my first internet vendor purchase of a yixing.... am I worried? of course!

When I first got this, I immediately reported back to the base (teachat). Under tremendous pressure from the chat room.... I then post the first set of images within 15 mins. I thought I was over the peer pressure thang back in high school.


The new pot has a sticky feel to it, a humid and moist skin quality overall. Also a very new clay/fire odor from the inside. After brush cleaned under the tap inside out, it was put into boil for 2 hrs. then cooled, rinsed and rubbed. Another 1 hr of boiling with spend tea, then another couple of hrs final boiling in water. Traditional Hong Kong vendor will put a block of raw cane sugar in the final boiling to "season" the pot. I only tried it once and it resulted a nice shine coating but this method is not my pot of tea.

The most noticeable character on this pot is the clay quality, for this price range I did not hope for anything choicest. Acquiring pots rule of thumbs to me are: 1. Craftsmanship, 2. Artistic details/concept, 3. Clay quality, and 4. Collector's value. I dont expect to get a master craftsmanship or collector value out of this one, but I do expect a good level of clay quality since this is one of the main selling points from the vendor's site.

Without disappointment, this clay delivered. I am torn between it being a Cooked Puerh or a High Fire Anxi, the clay takes away the "pondy" aroma from a cooked and softens the fire/charcoal taste from a high fired. I also tried it with a very nice Nannou raw aged for a few years, but it took away the delicate floral fragrance and made it more subdued, but calming.


One thing I learned out of this experience was, the more you age this pot, the more shine and oily it becomes, more over, the weight of the pot also gets lighter? Just like a good cigar, in this case a Maduro wrapper. You can see the similar texture and the shine from the both surface.

The more you age a cigar, the lighter it becomes, and the taste is smoother and married. Just like a glass of wine, a good aged tea and a good old yixing....