Gongfu!
For such a recent pressing, this was such a pleasantly approachable feeling sheng pu’erh. Very bright and lightly sweet with much more of a fresh, fruity-leaning profile. Light to medium-bodied notes of white peach, lemon curd, pink grapefruit, lychee, and just a whisp of elderflower. Still green and a bit snappy, too, but definitely not in a particularly sharp feeling way. The finish is most excellent, though, with a stronger and more lingering sweetness from the huigan; and this only got deeper as the session progressed.
Unfortunately, I think this may have been my last session with this particular teapot. Though I did notice it several sessions back, there was a hairline cracker in the lid of the teapot that worsened throughout the session until eventually it caused the side of the lid to chip apart. Sadly, I had mistaken it for crazing when I first saw it. If you look carefully, you can actually see it in the second to last photo of this carousel – before tragedy had fully struck.
Even with the chip, the lid (and rest of the pot) is still technically usable – but I’m definitely concerned about it continuing to worsen to the point where the skull on the top breaks off or the lid splits in half. Such a shame – it’s an incredibly beautiful piece of teaware, and was such a perfect capacity and shape for dragonballs such as this one. If it were you, would you retire it?
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/DLGI40uyZy3/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYOqk19FJG0&ab_channel=DavidDeanBurkhart
It’s always sad when this happens to a teapot. I’ve heard of people repairing lids with epoxy glue. If this is a handmade piece, you could also contact the potter and ask for a replacement lid, which should be cheaper than replacing the entire pot.
To add to Leafhopper’s comment, if it comes down to it, you can definitely repair a broken lid with epoxy. I used marine epoxy w o th great result on a duanni clay that split in half after I dropped it. It set just a hair off but did not impede the functionality of the pot at all. Still going strong 5 years later.