Yixing pot use
I seasoned a yixing with Wenshan Baozhong but I don’t always keep that tea around. What other teas do you think woukd be okay to make in that pot? None? Any green floral oolong? It definitely makes ghost tea that tastes like Wenshan Baozhong so I don’t want to taint it.
Why don’t you reset the teapot to use it for the tea type of your choice.
I could, but if I can expand its repertoire without ruining it, I would prefer that. My question is really whether the pot needs to be specific to that one and only Oolong, or is it okay to use any greener floral Oolong in it that I wish. Are there green Oolong that are so similar to Wenshan Baozhong that if would be fine to use it with them, too? That’s what I really want to know.
Ah I see, then indeed expanding the range to green oolongs would work. I think this article summarizes well all the considerations you can think of: https://www.teasenz.com/chinese-tea/yixing-teapot-per-tea-or-per-type.html
Yes! Yes! That is the perfect resource for what I needed to know! Thank you very much!
In a perfect world, we would have a yixing for each flavor profile. I have some Wuyi oolongs that are extremely different from each other and I wouldn’t want to use the same pot for them as I think it would defeat the purpose of using a yixing, even though they are all Wuyi.
So I will now gladly use this pot for anything that resembles Wenshan Baozhong in profile. We do a lot of buttery oolongs, and I don’t know yet if I want to use it for those. I will use my gaiwain first and see if I think the flavors will compete in a negative manner.
I think using it for green oolongs is the best option as you won’t need to re-season it and it will enhance the flavor of both baozhong and other green oolongs brewed in it. Clay pots should be seasoned to one category of tea, not necessarily a specific tea.
I have a Taiwanese pot dedicated to green oolongs but I seldom brew Baozhong in it. I find white porcelain and glass are the best vessels for Baozhong as clay tends to inhibit some of the aromatics.
A Yixing teapot is suitable for brewing a kind of tea, So if you want to try other teas, you should buy one more teapot.
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