Tips for Buying Yixing Clay Teapots

A few of my readers recently asked me for some advice on where to buy Yixing (宜興) clay teapots here in North America. Each of these potential buyers did not want to spend a lot of money and they wanted pots that they could use often (rather than just sitting on a shelf looking pretty). They also appeared to have already done a fair amount of online research and had run across tons of (sometimes contradictory) information and a baffling array of options and prices.

So for those readers and any others who might be interested, here are my tips for buying Yixing clay teapots:

1. Buy teapots that appeal to you aesthetically, feel well made and balanced, and pour well. Easier said than done eh?

2. Buy local if possible. Small retail tea businesses are truly a wonderful thing and deserving of local support. If you live near a place that sells Yixing teapots you should feel really lucky. Ask the buyer where they get their stock. Some may import directly (which is wonderful) while others will wholesale from larger domestic distributors (such as a notable Bay area company called CCCI). There is really nothing too special about these mass produced teapots but they can still be a good choice if they look nice, pour well and are well priced.

3. Buy used. This might be a controversial tip when talking about a porous, flavor absorbing, highly personal item such as Yixing clay. (Sort of like buying used underwear.) But I'm a big fan of thrift stores, antique stores, garage sales and rummage sales and you really never know what is going to turn up. All I'm saying is keep your eyes open. Even if the teapot is well used it may still brew great tea or be otherwise salvageable... and for just a couple dollars it is probably worth the risk. You could even get lucky and score a well seasoned treasure. Also, sometimes clueless people will receive unwanted teapots as gifts, never use them, and then just give them away. In fact, just last weekend, I found such a pot for $1 at a rummage sale. I am drinking Alishan out of it as I type this. It looks like a panther. I'll add it to my League of Pots later this month.

4. Who said you have to "buy" anything. No, I'm not suggesting you go out and steal a teapot, but there may be other ways for you to score your dream pot. If you have a marketable skill, art or craft, perhaps you could make a trade with another tea loving friend (including an online tea friend). If that's not going to work, you could always start dropping hints with friends and family around Christmas or your birthday.

5. Don't buy teaware at a corporate chain store (especially if it's in a mall). This last tip is just my own personal opinion. You're invited to do your own research about individual stores and make up your own mind about where to spend your own money.

I hope some readers will find this post to be a useful tool. I'm certainly no expert on this hugely intricate subject and I'd really appreciate it if some of my truly Yixing savvy readers would add more helpful comments. I'm also inviting readers and trustworthy vendors to share links to themselves or their own favorite places to buy Yixing teapots.

BDTB's Holiday Sale!

Hello Tea Friends. I am currently in the possession of a few high quality vendibles and I would really love to place them all in good homes. So, if you're doing some holiday shopping, and feel like giving some of your money to a good-natured, 29 year old, tea-crazed, Seattle dad (aka yours truly)... please take a look!

#1 The Meaning of Tea Documentary film on DVD
Status: 2 available at $22 each (the best price I could find online)

#2 The Music of The Meaning of Tea on CD
Status: 6 available at $12 each (the best price I could find online)

#3 The Meaning of Tea Book "A Tea Inspired Journey"
Status: Sold Out

#1, 2 & 3

#4 Organic "Golden Monkey" Chinese Black Tea (Meaning of Tea brand)
(I really love this tea and think you will too.)
Status: Sold Out

#4

#5 Organic "Rejuvenation Tea" Herbal Blend (Meaning of Tea brand)
Product of Vermont. Contains Nettles, Peppermint, Raspberry Leaf, Milky Oats, Lemon Balm, and Calendula blossoms.
Status: Sold Out

#5

#6 Blue Glaze Cup and Aroma set from Taiwan
Status: Sold Out

#6

#7 Floral Glaze Cup and Aroma Set from Taiwan
Status: 6 available at $5 per set

#7

#8 Small Glass Cha Hai (aka fairness cup, aka decanter)
Status: 1 available for $5

#8

#9 Medium Sized Glass Cha Hai (aka fairness cup, aka decanter)
Status: 1 available for $5

#9

#10 Small Pretty Gaiwan (Perfect condition except for a little rough glaze on lid's handle)
Status: Sold

#10

#11 Small Clay Teapot
Very well crafted by a friend of my mentor Jason Chen.
Status: Sold

#11

#12 Medium Size Clay Teapot
Very well crafted by a friend of my mentor Jason Chen.
Status: 1 available for $40

#12

Please email me at blackdragontea@gmail.com if you're interested in buying anything. Payments can be made via cash, Paypal or check. Orders can be shipped (add $5 for the lower 48 states and more for other places), delivered, or picked up depending on your individual needs. All items are in perfect condition and I guarantee their quality 100%. I'm not expecting you'll have any problems but if you do just email me and I'll find a way to make you happy. Thanks! 謝謝您!

A Message from the Guguan Tourism Board

Guguan (谷關) is a hotspring (溫泉) resort village located in Taichung county, Taiwan (台中縣, 台灣). Every year, this peaceful little town attracts thousands of hotspring-loving tourists from all over the world. But even with all of those visitors, you can still find some pretty posh places to soak your bones without spending a lot of money. In the last five years, I have enjoyed two very relaxing overnight visits to Guguan, and each time I've only spent about US $50 (including all meals and lodging).

The town clings to two sides of a deep ravine that have been stitched together by a few rad suspension bridges. Resort hotels are all over the place. Don't stay at them unless you have a few hundred dollars budgeted... but do hit them up for a good soak. Some resorts, like the Four Seasons Spa Hotel, will open their pools to non-guests for around $10 to $20 depending on the time of year. But if that's still too steep... you can also find some wonderful pools in the $5 range.

I really love the Chinese verb "pao" (泡) meaning "to steep" (as in tea leaves). It is the same word used for soaking one's self in a hotspring. So if you would like to have a dip, just say "wǒ yào pào wēnquán (我要泡溫泉)." Which means: "I would like to steep myself in the hotspring."

Here is one of several pools in which I've soaked:

The tea scene in Guguan is decent... there are a few little cafes that serve good tea, fresh juice and snacks to the health-conscious visitors. But the best tea in Guguan can be for found for free in the parks and pagodas. If you see some folks sitting in the shade and relaxing with a portable stove and teapot go right up to them and say "nihao" (你好). Tea lovers from any culture love to meet one another, so ask them what type of tea they are drinking and if you can taste a little bit. Chances are they will share a little and you'll spend all afternoon sipping oolong and chatting.

The trails around town are very beautiful and offer some short, rewarding hikes. As you power your way up a flight of stairs to the next scenic look-out you may hear some other hikers yell "jia you" (加油) as they huff and puff. This literally means "add oil" but is often translated as "step on the gas" or "make more of an effort."

Strolling along the Shaolai footpath (捎來步道).

In addition to the many beautiful hotsprings and hiking trails around Guguan, the travel map that I picked up for free in the hotspring museum (also free) stated the following: "There are other natural wonders in the Guguan Scenic Area as well--a thousand year old sacred Chinese white pine tree and a Pig of Destiny."

I've got to go back and find that Pig!

Taiwanese Tea Sale!

This morning I picked up my tea from US customs at Sea-Tac airport. Needless to say, I am so happy to finally have my tea back!

isn't it lovely?

The following is a quick rundown of what I got, how much it costs and where you can buy it. More detailed information and descriptions of some of these tea will be posted in the next couple weeks but in the meantime, feel free to ask me any questions via email (blackdragontea@gmail.com) or leave them as comments on this blog post.

茶 茶 茶

These 3 teas are available immediately from Black Dragon Tea Bar (aka me)*:

1. Lishan Ming Gang Tea Garden (梨山明岡茶園) Winter 2009 High Mountain Oolong
An unopened 150 gram bag in a cool green tin = $45 (or you can pay $9 per ounce).

2. Mei Shan Bei Huo (梅山焙火) Winter 2009 High Mountain Oolong -SOLD OUT-
An unopened 300 gram bag = $80 (or you can pay $8 per ounce).

3. Da Yu Ling (大禹嶺) Winter 2009 High Mountain Oolong
An unopened 150 gram bag = $45 (or you can pay $9 per ounce).

茶 茶 茶

These 3 teas are available starting Friday, January 29, 2010 at Teacup**:

1. Shan Lin Xi (杉林溪) Winter 2009 High Mountain Oolong = $160 per pound

2. Alishan Zhang Shu Hu (阿里山樟樹湖) Winter 2009 High Mountain Oolong = $160 per pound

3. Lishan (梨山) Winter 2009 High Mountain Oolong - $160 per pound

茶 茶 茶

These 2 teas will be available at Teacup in 2 to 3 weeks**:

1. Wenshan Baozhong (文山包種) - This is same tea I blogged about here.

2. Wenshan Baozhong Hong Bei (文山包種烘焙) - A medium roasted Baozhong tea from Pinglin.

*Please email me at blackdragontea@gmail.com if you're interested in buying one of these first three teas. Payments can be made via cash, Paypal or check. The tea can be shipped (add $5), delivered or picked up depending on your individual needs. All orders over $40 will include a free gift. 謝謝您!

**Please call Teacup at 206-283-5931 (or stop by) in Seattle if you want to buy any of these teas.

Gratitude

I recently met a new tea friend, whom I will call J. He came to Seattle for just 24 hours as part of a noble, personal mission (for lack of a better word). I do not want to put words in my new friend's mouth so I will not describe anything from his point of view. Instead, I will share my own ideas. These ideas have been growing inside me for years but were renewed by J's visit. Put simply, I (and a growing number of other people) believe that tea is much more than a healthy and delicious drink. It is also a powerful symbol of modest, compassionate, and sustainable living. As tea's mainstream popularity grows (a good thing) all tea lovers should keep this symbolic meaning pure by being humble, helpful, fair, tolerant, ecologically aware, and thankful.

Xiao Xiao's big day

You may already know that quality loose leaf tea is a great value. I usually tell my clients that a pound of tea brews 180 to 200 cups, which means that the price per cup can fall anywhere from one penny to a few dollars. While I'm sure this all varies greatly from person to person and tea to tea, I still feel this statistic is a pretty accurate rule of thumb.

One day Xiao Xiao and I decided to find out just how much brewed tea we could make using my last 8 grams of 1997 Nannuo shou cha. This tea cost $128 per pound, so 8 grams would be $2.26.

Xiao Xiao!
(What he lacks in size he makes up for in spirit.)

Xiao Xiao holds enough tea to fill three small teacups, but because I was drinking solo, I poured a third of each infusion into a large mason jar, a third into another small drinking cup, and the rest into my own cup to savor. We went for 13 delicious infusions.

After I was done the mason jar held 10 ounces of tea:
(This room temperature mix of all 13 infusions tasted great too!)

... and the cups looked like this:
(I didn't drink all of these, because I was already feeling a super puer buzz.)

(They are shown here in order from left to right, top to bottom.)

30oz of tea is 3.75 cups so this time a $128 per pound tea worked out to about $0.60 per cup!

After our little experiment, Xiao Xiao was very sleepy (brewing 30 ounces of tea can be very hard work when you're the size of a golf ball) so I made him a nice little "nest" out of some used tea leaves and let him rest.