For those of you who season their yixing...if I were to want to dedicate a
pot to an expensive oolong (for me say Bai Hao) then what would I season it
with that would be less expensive? Anyone have a good idea for a "neutral"
oolong that seasons well for the more expensive teas? Or do you just not
season it in the usual way by boiling in steeped tea, and just boil and
clean the pot and then steep in it "raw" as it were?

I've been meaning to ask these questions for quite awhile but I go through
phases and right now I'm in a green/pu-er phase.

Melinda

>.if I were to want to dedicate a
>pot to an expensive oolong (for me say Bai Hao) then what would I season it
>with that would be less expensive? Anyone have a good idea for a "neutral"
>oolong that seasons well for the more expensive teas?

I dunno...Bai Hao is such a singular taste...use a lesser-grade Bai Hao or a
light yet fruity/toasty black? (B.H. was supposedly developed to resemble
black teas.)

When I seasoned my two pots for green and dark oolongs, I did use lesser grades
than I brew for drinking. Doesn't seem to have made any difference.

In seasoning my new puerh pot, I used a cheap but decent cooked puerh for the
first few steeps (didn't drink). Usually, though, I'll be brewing green puerhs
in it, so that may have been a faux pax -- though, to be honest, I don't notice
any problem.

Have not tried the "soak post in tea" method myself.

I do think some clay pots pick up tea characteristics more readily than others.

Joe Kubera

(Joseph Kubera) writes:

> [...]
> Have not tried the "soak post in tea" method myself.

I thought every RFDT post was tea-soaked.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Recently bought yixing for Big Red Robe...seasoned with the best ($$$) I
could afford.

Doug

"Melinda" > wrote in message
...
> For those of you who season their yixing...if I were to want to dedicate a
> pot to an expensive oolong (for me say Bai Hao) then what would I season
> it with that would be less expensive? Anyone have a good idea for a
> "neutral" oolong that seasons well for the more expensive teas? Or do you
> just not season it in the usual way by boiling in steeped tea, and just
> boil and clean the pot and then steep in it "raw" as it were?
>
> I've been meaning to ask these questions for quite awhile but I go through
> phases and right now I'm in a green/pu-er phase.
>
> Melinda
>

Did you steep the teapot in a pan of water steeped with the tea or did you
just brew the tea in it a few times before you started drinking the results?

Melinda

"Doug and Claire English" > wrote in message
...
> Recently bought yixing for Big Red Robe...seasoned with the best ($$$) I
> could afford.
>
> Doug
>

Yes...It is a small 5 oz pot and I brewed some tea, then poured it out into
the bowl (that I soaked the pot in) and then did a second steep, and
completely covered the pot and let it set until the water was tepid...then I
couldn't stand it anymore...I cleaned up...dried the pot and brewed some tea
for its intended purpose, several steeps...worked okay for me...

Doug


"Melinda" > wrote in message
...
> Did you steep the teapot in a pan of water steeped with the tea or did you
> just brew the tea in it a few times before you started drinking the
> results?
>
> Melinda
>
> "Doug and Claire English" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Recently bought yixing for Big Red Robe...seasoned with the best ($$$) I
>> could afford.
>>
>> Doug
>>
>
>

The seasoning of yixing ware is really two processes: removing the
clay-taste and marrying the aroma of the tea to the pot. I don't think
it makes sense to use any tea to season a pot other than the one you
plan on brewing. On the other hand, I think a lot of people waste good
tea by using the pot before the clay-taste is gone.

If you want to avoid wasting tea, I recommend just boiling the heck out
of the pot until no trace of clay-taste remains. After that, use the
pot as a serving pitcher, brewing the tea in a porcelain pot. Pots
absorb the aroma of the tea faster when used a pitcher than a brewing
vessel. If and when the pot acquires a residual fragrance of Bai Hao
(or until you just can't stand waiting any longer) you can start using
the pot as normal.

Cheers,

Cameron

Melinda wrote:
> For those of you who season their yixing...if I were to want to
dedicate a
> pot to an expensive oolong (for me say Bai Hao) then what would I
season it
> with that would be less expensive? Anyone have a good idea for a
"neutral"
> oolong that seasons well for the more expensive teas? Or do you just
not
> season it in the usual way by boiling in steeped tea, and just boil
and
> clean the pot and then steep in it "raw" as it were?
>
> I've been meaning to ask these questions for quite awhile but I go
through
> phases and right now I'm in a green/pu-er phase.
>
> Melinda