Place to buy Yixing?

Hey Morgana! Awesome that you want to make that move!

It really depends what you are looking for and how much you are willing to invest. Personnaly, Because I didn’t know how the experience would turn out, I wanted decent clay quality, at the lowest possible cost. This is what I first purchased almost 2 years ago. A full set. The value can’t be beaten IMO for a first experience (it has excellent reviews on teavivre’s website):

http://www.teavivre.com/economical-yixing-zisha-tea-set-14pcs/

Why is it so cheap you ask? Well Angel at Teavivre had explained to me that the set is sold more as a promotional item to showcase their teaware collection. Also, it is not handmade, but mass produced. But it doesn’t mean the clay isn’t of good quality. I think someone had inquired also on the website why it was so inexpensive. I use it for shou only and I’m super satisfied, I also use the pitcher, and obviously, there are too many cups, but it means you can afford to break a few, lol!

I later bought a second one of better quality, for green / high mountain oolong.

http://www.teavivre.com/xi-shi-yixing-clay-teapot/

It’s better quality, but honestly, I don’t see that much of a difference cause I am no expert. But I fully trust Teavivre so I’m very satisfied with my purchases. Have fun shopping, let us know what you end up buying :-)

P.S. I used David’s Duckler’s video to season them both. Worked like a charm!!

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0wzsBNHO6C4

I’ve really enjoyed my yixing teapots from Yunnan Sourcing at either http://yunnansourcing.com/ or the US store at http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/. There have been several recent threads here on the steepster discussion boards about yixing, so you might start with those as well. I use mine for shou pu-erh, a separate one for sheng pu-erh, and one for oolongs. It is a fascinating world of teapots. Let us know what you decide. I also recommend David Duckler’s method noted by TheTeaFairy.

I agree with the Yunnan Sourcing recommendation. Scott has nice, good quality yixing teapots.
http://yunnansourcing.com/en/8014747-teapots?orderby=price&orderway=asc

Garret at Mandala Tea is another good source (although their selection is a little more limited).
http://shopmandalatea.com/tea-wares/yixing-pots.html

Finally, Puerh Shop is my third source. They tend to have the most extensive selection with four different sections on their website.
http://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=120&zenid=04eff0f52ujj2eb1aq9o5np1r5

Note: I have purchased my own teapots from these three sellers. Good luck and enjoy the search!

http://www.mrslinskitchen.com/yixing-teapots.html

I got one from here, and I really liked it. Seemed like decent quality and good prices.

Wow, I stayed up until 2 a.m. last night reading about Yixing online and I also went back and revisited some of the earlier Steepster threads (amazing variety of threads there, some of them were almost like watching an episode of Antiques Roadshow ;-)). There’s so much to know, it seems.

I have a follow up question which is that it seems as though there’s a big jump in average price as between Yunnan Sourcing/Teavivre etc. and some of the other names that show up in threads frequently, like Dragon Tea House and Jing Tea Shop. I wondered whether anyone knows what accounts for the difference (assuming it isn’t simply random)? Is it the difference between partially hand made and fully hand made? Is it a difference in the sourcing of the clay and/or additives to the clay? Something else?

I suspect I will end up going with a very traditional design from Teavivre or Yunnan Sourcing to get my feet wet (Mandala has some pretty things too, but a few are out of stock). I can’t see spending $150+ for my first pot unless there’s a health or safety reason to do so, as for example assuring that the clay is pure and doesn’t contain heavy metals. But my guess is there’s really no way to do that without getting the pot in hand and testing it unless the vendor posts their certifications as Teavivre does.