Help finding a good yixing tea pot.

Finding a good Yixing pot that’s authentic and matches your preferred tea type can be a lot of work. I’d suggest looking through the many posts on the topic to be found on TeaForum.org, where there are people who might be able to ID your old pot and offer recommendations.

Most people dedicate one pot to one type of tea, so it might be worthwhile waiting until you have a good idea of what you enjoy before investing in a Yixing. If you don’t mind gaiwans, I’m sure there are better ones available. A TeaForum member who knows what they’re doing recommended the thin gaiwan from Teas We Like, though any thin-walled porcelain gaiwan should work. Porcelain is a neutral material and can be used with all types of tea.

Good luck with your search! It took me years and a lot of research to get my first Yixing pot, which is a 1990s Hongni that I use for Taiwanese oolongs. I like it and I think it subtly improves the taste of the tea, but it’s not life changing and I’m glad I waited.

Thanks Leafhopper. I will check out teaforum.org. I tend to dive deep into things I’m interested in and right now it’s tea and tea ware so I’m having fun learning all I can.

I have a partially handmade Yixing from Teavivre that I use for Wenshan Baozhong. I like it, but I agree with Leafhopper that it isn’t life changing…but the accoutrements are at least half the fun of any hobby! My pot was not terribly expensive. I have seen some nice ones on verdanttea.com but I don’t know if I will buy any more yixing. I shouldn’t.

I was unbelievably fortunate to find a pot that had never been used and included all the original packaging and paperwork at an estate sale. I paid $6 for it. I posted it on the gong fu cha group on Facebook and asked if anyone could tell me if it was a good pot because all the papers were in Chinese, and I found out it was a very good pot indeed! I still haven’t seasoned that one as I can’t decide to what tea I want to dedicate it.

I do not have great knowledge in this area, but I do know that the shape of the pot needs to be considered for what you are going to steep in it. You want enough room for oolong leaves to expand, for instance, so maybe a dragon egg for that. (I would love a dragon egg pot.) If you are going to use it for a small leaf green, a small round pot would do. (I would love to have a shui ping pot.)

Personally, for dragon well and tai ping and other long straight leaf greens, I love a glass steeper that gives them room to dance vertically.

Well, rats, I may have talked myself into looking at pots again…but if you have facebook, maybe check out the gong fu cha page there and ask advice. Angel of Teavivre sometimes answers questions there, too.

Thanks Ashmanra! I did join that Facebook group you suggested. Also joined tea forum.org and there is a chance that my pots aren’t fake after all. How cool would that be. Those Dragon egg pots are very cute, I can see why you would want one if it’s ideal to brew a favorite in and cute as hell to boot.