/5/04


>
>
> (I have been posting a lot of newbie questions lately, I hope no one minds.)

Nobody minds.

> I am seeing Purple Clay being desirable, is it marketing or is there
> some truth to it, and if so, why?

Tia,

It's a particular "clay" mined in a particular region around a town called
YiXing, in China. This clay is considered very good for tea partly because,
even fired at a high heat and therefore more glass-like than for example
earthenware, it remains porous. Porosity allows the pot walls to pick up the
molecules of residual tea, improving the flavor of tea brewed in in it as
the pot ages. Therefore, the it ages more gracefully than pots made of other
clays. Some say, undoubtedly rightfully so, that this is not technically a
clay but rather a paste, produced from pulverized rock. OK by me.

In addition, there are traditional forms for these pots that are quite
simple and quite nice. Further, the pots are often made into absurdly
modernistic and animalistic forms that scream look-at-me. These are not
nice. Others' opinions might differ because some people have no taste.
IM*H*O. There is much more to say, but I won't bore you more than is
necessary.

Michael