Well.... I tend not to buy such things in the first place. I suppose
this is not possible if you mail order pots (which is why I don't do
it).

It's really hard to find a good yixing pot in Los Angeles, outside of
Chinatown, but even there they don't have the really good stuff half
the time. Mostly cheap commercial-made pots, etc. So I am relegated
to vendors I trust on the Internet. I made a lot of mistakes before I
found good people.

I think the less-than-perfect-fit is not a big problem. A bigger
problem is if it drips or pours poorly, or if the spout is easily and
often blocked, or some such.

My first biggest pot problem is ones where you block the vent and the
spout continues to pour. I guess that means it's not air-tight. Then
drips, then bad clay. I don't buy bad clay anymore but I recently
bought a studio copy of a Jiang Rong peach and it pours continually
even when I block the vent. And the pot wasn't cheap!

If you have one of these.... are there teas that you don't normally
drink but wouldn't mind using a pot for that once-in-a-while brew?
Or.... give it away as gifts to people who can't care less (and will
most likely end up as a wall ornament)?

Funny you say that, the other bad-vent pot is a lovely dense zisha clay
that makes really good puer tea. It holds the aromas well. The third
is made of a zhuni type clay (it has a high pitched ring) and makes
good oolongs and green tea.

But I wonder if they had better air-tight quality if the tea would be
better? Any thoughts?


MarshalN
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN