Raising a Yixing pot
I don’t drink tea every day because it can keep me from sleeping if I’m not careful. I very sensitive to caffeine, and at the same time I don’t want to ever get to a point where I’m actual dependent on it.
So that being said I have a yixing pot for puerh that I’ve been “raising” for the past 3 months, but it’s been rather slow since I don’t actually use it daily. Would it be bad/dumb to get some cheap (but not BAD tasting- like fishy or anything) puerh to brew in my pot on the days that I don’t drink puerh so that it can continue to season? Also, aside from the initial seasoning for a yixing pot, do any of you ever occasionally soak your pots in tea overnight to continue to “raise” it?
Personally I let it happen naturally over time, and feel no need to rush it.
I don’t see much harm in letting something steep in the pot without drinking it, except for the waste of tea.
I’d avoid keeping just wet leaf in there, or letting it steep for much longer than about 12 hours though, for risk of mold. Once it molds, you’re gonna have to thoroughly clean the pot and start from scratch.
I never do anything to season my pots other than brewing tea in them.
i do leave tea overnight. sometimes just wet leaves , sometimes leaves and brew. now that is cold i dont worry about mold issue. you know i drink shou pu every night. 5-6 steeps and im so sleepy. cant do it with any other tea. would be up til 3am. try to do it on a weekend. you may be pleasantly surprised.
Lol I KNOW you do from your photos on instagram. Trust me, I’ve tried. Anything past 1 pm (an I’m talking maybe just 4-8 ounces of tea) and I literally won’t sleep all night.I’ll have to stay awake until the next day. Prime example is I had some tea at 3 PM yesterday and I’m still awake. Couldn’t sleep one bit.
Have you seasoned the pot by boiling it in tea liquid? You season a pot by boiling it in about 25g of Puerh of the sort you brew with, i.e. ripe or raw. Boil it for about an hour and ideally let it sit overnight in the tea liquid as well.
I seasoned it like David’s Duckler video on youtube. Gentle simmer in water for 30min , then leaving it with the tea. Sheng pot I didn’t leave any tea leaves because I didn’t want it to get bitter.
If you don’t have any clay taste/smell just continue doing it. Mine still far from being well seasoned even though I make shou in it everyday and leave tea and leaves overnight. Be patient ;)
Maybe that is why it’s more valuable and cherished for us. Not easy happening overnight. Also try to use more leaves. If I brew shou in porcelain gaiwan I use 6g for 100ml. For Yixing I use 8-9g for 100ml because it still "stealing " flavors
Oh wow, I’m definitely not using enough then. Usually I use 7g for my 160ml yixing, but recently I started upping it to 8g. Guess I need to go higher. 160ml didn’t seem bad when I bought it, but now I’m saving for a smaller one because it’s just so wasteful consdering I have to use so many leaves and I can only drink a couple of infusions given my low caffeine tolerance.
You can fill with the less water. Like 1/2 of what you usually add. Small good quality pots are hard to find
I immerse mine in a bowl of strong tea and set it on a mug warmer and cover the bowl with foil to keep the heat in and I let it sit on the warmer for around 6-8 hours. Got that tip from the Hobbit and it works GREAT! they dont steal much flavor at all, if any, depending on the pot and gives me a great head start. I also leave tea or leaves overnight
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