> Well.... I tend not to buy such things in the first place. I suppose
> this is not possible if you mail order pots (which is why I don't do
> it).

It's really hard to find a good yixing pot in Los Angeles, outside of
Chinatown, but even there they don't have the really good stuff half
the time. Mostly cheap commercial-made pots, etc. So I am relegated
to vendors I trust on the Internet. I made a lot of mistakes before I
found good people.

I think the less-than-perfect-fit is not a big problem. A bigger
> problem is if it drips or pours poorly, or if the spout is easily and
> often blocked, or some such.

My first biggest pot problem is ones where you block the vent and the
spout continues to pour. I guess that means it's not air-tight. Then
drips, then bad clay. I don't buy bad clay anymore but I recently
bought a studio copy of a Jiang Rong peach and it pours continually
even when I block the vent. And the pot wasn't cheap!

> If you have one of these.... are there teas that you don't normally
> drink but wouldn't mind using a pot for that once-in-a-while brew?
> Or.... give it away as gifts to people who can't care less (and will
> most likely end up as a wall ornament)?

Funny you say that, the other bad-vent pot is a lovely dense zisha clay
that makes really good puer tea. It holds the aromas well. The third
is made of a zhuni type clay (it has a high pitched ring) and makes
good oolongs and green tea.

But I wonder if they had better air-tight quality if the tea would be
better? Any thoughts?


> MarshalN
> http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN