I am relativly new to tea drinking and my newly purchased yixing teapot seems
to add more body and earthyness to my pu-erh tea. I seasoned it before use by
submerging it in a pot of pu-erh tea for 15 minutes and then rinsing it. I was
suprised at the taste difference when compared to tea brewed from my porclen
tea pot. I thought it would take much more time to notice a taste difference,
or maybe I like the taste of yixing clay, but I do belive I rinsed it well
enough.

I had a hard time getting answers to my questions in China Town New York. I
went to Ten-Ren I know they had all kinds of yixing pots but getting info about
them was like pulling teeth. The pots there looked like yixing pots I have seen
on the web and I am almost sure due to the large number of pots they had that
some or maybe many of them are yixing but I am by no means fully educated about
the properties of yixing. I eventually found a another place that would at
least tell me if the teapots are yixing and bought one there.

The tea I am using it Ten-Rens Pu-erh tea can anyone tell me if getting
compressed bricks or wheels would be better? Does Ten-Ren have them if so. I
get the feeling I have to know what I want, what it's name is, and how it looks
when I buy from them.

I know that you have to use a yixing teapot for only one type of tea but does
that mean I can use my black pu-erh tea teapot for all black teas or just
pu-erh tea?
I am planning to get a different teapot for each different type of tea I use
but how much lattitude do I have when it comes to the "same type of tea" It
would be nice if I could get only three teapots, one for black, one for
oolong, and one for green. Is this generally possible or is there too much
difference within each catagory of tea.

I want to narrow down the type of teas I'll use most as I wouldn't want to
dedicate a teapot to a type of tea I wouldn't use often. Any help would be
appreciated thank you.

> I had a hard time getting answers to my questions in China Town New York. I
>went to Ten-Ren I know they had all kinds of yixing pots but getting info
>about
>them was like pulling teeth.

Ten-Ren has some very nice pots, but they are a proprietary design from Taiwan,
rather than yixing. Where did you wind up buying yours?

>I know that you have to use a yixing teapot for only one type of tea but does
>that mean I can use my black pu-erh tea teapot for all black teas or just
>pu-erh tea?

Pu-erh teas have some pretty distinctive flavors, and I would consider them as
a separate class.

>I am planning to get a different teapot for each different type of tea I use
>but how much lattitude do I have when it comes to the "same type of tea" It
>would be nice if I could get only three teapots, one for black, one for
>oolong, and one for green. Is this generally possible or is there too much
>difference within each catagory of tea.

You can't do much better than your three pot scenario. A different pot for
each blend would be ideal, but cumbersome and expensive, and most likely would
yield negligible benefits save for the very finest of blends.




--
Eschew obfuscation!

Opother,

I like your idea of separate teapots, but were you planning to have a yixing
for each? Or pots of some other material?

I believe yixings are recommended for oolongs, and sometimes blacks too,
because they are amenable to high-temp brewing and hold heat well. You may
want to consider porcelain or ceramic for green teas, though, as these are more
delicate and take lower temperatures. And something about the elegance of a
fine gaiwan or teapot, I think, complements the aesthetics of a beautiful green
tea.

But this is not to say you can't use a yixing pot for green tea as well. You
can certainly do what you like!

By the way, my "yixing" pot came from Ten Ren in NYC. I guess I liked the
particular pot, though I saw a few others in stores nearby. It seems to work
fine, and has developed a nice tea-aroma of its own. I have been brewing both
lightly and heavily oxidized oolongs in it; some might prefer a separate one
for each type. Then too, some smaller yixings are so inexpensive that it would
be easy to collect a few.

Joe

its always advisable to use one yixing pot for one type of tea and not
brew many different types of teas in it. this is to ensure the purity
of the tea pot. a yixing tea pot will pick up the scent of the tea
brewed in it, e.g. tie guan yin, and over time, this will enhance the
flavour of the tieguanyin tea brewed in it.
using a pot for different types of teas will result in a mixture of
different scents and tea oils captured in the clay, affecting the
future brews.

regarding the qn abt pu-erh tea, i always found pu-erh tea cakes the
better tasting than loose leafs and tuo-chas. you might want to give
it a try.