India Black Teas

Egads! What am I doing with 70 samples of India teas?   For various pathological reasons, I have been drinking a lot of subpar bagged English blends in the morning.  I fell into a strange dichotomy. Whereas I will spend some serious mental energy selecting, brewing, obsessing over China teas,  I treat India teas as a basic commodity like milk that I grab off the supermarket shelves.

I cannot reliably start the day without a dark tea- my brain needs something uncomplicated and strong to wake up.  China hongchas (imperial dianhongs, lapsang souchong), shus and darker roasted yanchas and oolongs have become too mentally stimulating on a weekday and so I have reverted to India black teas as my morning workhorse tea.   I'm not trying to overturn my sinophile bias but I want to put a moderate amount of effort finding a supplier in India for higher quality leaf.

Drinking ageable China teas like puerh reflexively engage my prefrontal cortex from early conditioning. For the first few years of drinking puerh, most sessions became a fatiguing and somewhat frustrating exercise in long term planning. My mind was constantly evaluating aging/hoarding potential of a tea. Even if I want to, it's nigh impossible now to turn my analytical brain off with such teas.  But for India teas, I am blissfully immune.  Pretty good India teas are readily available so I just drink it and enjoy.  

I have been recently trying to avoid decision fatigue in the morning in an attempt to simplify my life.  Our decision making ability deteriorates with each choice made throughout the day regardless of importance and you don't want to blow your cartridge too early on inconsequential matters.  My husband wisely has only two different kinds of socks while yours truly considers socks an integral part of a fully color coordinated outfit and hence I make terrible late night purchasing decisions. A box of 70 tea choices could potentially wreak havoc.  However I find that because I am laid back about India teas,  I randomly pick something and am generally satisfied.  I just keep a booklet of gold stars and smiley stickers in the box to keep track of which teas stood out.

I had planned to try out a different India based vendor like teabox but got lazy and went again with Vahdam/Golden Tips as they carry a much larger selection of samplers.   In my second order, I got the summer flush sampler,  Assam party pack,  a chai sampler, various Earl Greys, and some Nilgiri.  The experience has been an altogether a pleasant way to drop a hundo- and really you could not get this kind of variety and quality with China teas for a hundred.

Egads! What am I doing with a mass produced slip-cast teapot lithographed with songbirds? It's probably a few decades too early for me to be going in this direction.  One late ebay night,  I found this English Heron Cross teapot for my husband to commemorate a pair of wrens nesting in our backyard. I excitedly mistook a mating pair of thrushes illustrated on the bottom to be wrens. Even with this misidentification, the husband (a bird lover) could not help but approve this pot after an obligatory interrogation on why we needed another pot.  

A Cosmic Teapot From A Far

For a belated birthday present, I treated myself to one of Petr's lovely teapots.  When I first opened his box from Czech Republic, I was pleasantly taken aback by this teapot's daintiness-  it is perhaps the most delicate stoneware my hands have touched- nothing nothing like the chunky clunky bowls I made in college. The pot performs admirably in the ways I care about- pouring, heat retention, and ergonomics.

Aesthetics and form have a strong sway on my brewing as much as the functional aspects of a teapot. The severe form of a classical shuiping tends to make me more self-conscious and formal about the "gongfu" in my brewing.  But this teapot's relaxed shoulders nudge me to be natural in my session, to let things just happen.  

I posed this teapot with abalone shells as the layered blues of the flowing glaze reminded me of the deep ocean, but now while I'm tapping out this post, the opalescent milky glaze gives me a different head trip.  I'm seeing a helix nebula against the dark cosmos.  I love layered non-deterministic glazes like this because even the potter won't know exactly how the teapot will turn out till they open the kiln.  Hence no two pots can be exactly identical.  Such glaze patterns are unexpectedly more stunning and complex than what a human hand can actually paint.  

(Just an unrelated story only vaguely tied by pottery.)

Long long ago when I first came to California, I had a potter friend who invited me to go beach camping at Bolinas for a massive raku pit firing.  We were joined by a few of his friends. Soon after dinner, one of the other potter's ladyfriend simply peeled off all her clothes including her purple leg warmers and ran to the edge of the water to do an interpretive moon dance. Then her man watching her for a few minutes did the same.  It was by far the most Marin thing I have ever experienced. While I did not regret joining in on the impromptu naked moon dance,  I did regret not having a pot of my own to fire.  

Pair of Xiao Xiao Xi Shis

I've been searching high and low for a reasonable yixing to brew Su's teas.  Yixing teapot buying always fills me with a sense of dread. First I know with 100% certainty that I'll chip the spout or finial given time.  Second I fear I'll end up with something wonky, dribbly, or fake with my inability to spend more than two figures on a teapot.
 
To ease my shopping pain and fear or chipping, Su recommended a set of ten mini Xi Shis in a rainbow of yixing clays from a Malaysian shop that were beyond adorable.  If I smash a few, I'd be sad but  I'll have backups to last me at least a decade.  If my husband had gotten me something like this, I would be the happiest tea wife in the realm.

Out of all the classic forms, I am a huge fan of Xi Shis even before I knew it was fashioned after a famous beauty(Xi Shi)'s breast. No historical record exists of whether or not the teapot was modeled after her right breast or left breast but the bodacious Xi Shi probably was a creature of extreme symmetry. And most likely the potter did not have such privileged access anyway and had to just imagine it all.

Most of us started life happily suckling mother's milk and so it's natural such a shape should subconsciously evoke fond feelings.  I love natural shapes without hard edges so even without a boob and nipple motif, I would have chosen Xi Shis anyway.  The more I stared at Su's recommendation, I had a fuzzy sense of familiarity.  And in a most bizarre twist of coincidence, I actually had two of those very pots hiding in my tea closet- a dead match in size, silhouette, color, and potter's mark.

Long long ago I bought these mini Xi Shi teapots on my honeymoon in Korea.  They were about 5000W or ~$4 each. I remember being super excited because I'm always on the lookout for small token gifts for friends while traveling. I dragged my husband to pretty much every ceramics shop in Insadong trying to buy more of these but the two happened to be the only two in the entire area. (I was warmed by the thought at least I knew a good thing when I saw one and I don't have to regret that I didn't buy more.)  I thought back then they were not teapots but ink droppers for use in brush calligraphy because they dispense so little water.  

I brought them out last week late at night and was giddy to discover they are surprisingly workable little pots.  You can not imagine how ecstatic I was that I almost woke up my soundly snoring husband.  The little guys are a bit fiddly in the way that most little pots tend to be if they have one unfiltered hole that can get easily clogged and let too much tea crumbs out. But if you are used to them like I am, they are alright.   So thanks to Su, I have rediscovered two yixing teapots in my closet.  I'm so glad I mistakenly thought they were decorative all these years because otherwise they would have been chipped and useless by now.

I've been cheerfully brewing with these teensy 45ml pots and I almost want to buy up the other eight colors- just to reunite the family so to speak.  They cost ten times as much now so I might save my money for an adult sized pot.  Su tells me 120ml is a good size to bring out the true flavor of puerh so my search still continues.  Also Su wisely advises me to brew the same tea in the same consistent way to gauge aging- same teapot, same water, same tea to water ratio.  I'll need multiples of the same teapot to carry me through a few decades once I find one I like.  The search continues...

Yixing Gaiwans

I've been using mostly ceramic gaiwans to brew as it's the easiest way to gongfu allowing me to drink puerh even at work.  Recently I smashed a gaiwan lid and needed a replacement.  For variety, I thought I would look for a cheap replaceable yixing gaiwan.   A bit of yixing clay would help diffuse the basement taste on my budget wet-stored pu and I'm not one to waste a precious teapot on such teas.

I spotted this simple $10 zisha clay gaiwan from an ebay vendor who sells the oddest mix of teaware,  cosplay wigs, erotic anime pillows,  Tibetan "babao male enhancer" pills, and quilted doggy tents.  If you are a tea drinking anime addict with a small dog and a potency condition, this might be one of the few one-stop shops to cater to your exact needs.

Despite the suspicious mix of goods, I saw some mica and silica content on the surface closeup of the gaiwan so I pushed buy.  It's most likely low quality yixing clay but I'm willing to give it a go as my plan B is to use it as a tea caddy if brewing doesn't work out.  It will take another week or so to reach me.  At the higher end, there is the Di Cao Qing gaiwan on ebay but for $38 with shipping, this purchase defeats the purpose of having a cheap breakable gaiwan.

The other yixing tea set which did arrive today is this hybrid contraption which is more like a lidless houhin than anything else. I initially didn't want to buy it because the aesthetics is butt ugly and I wanted to maintain some self respect.  But it's functionality appealed to my sense of practicality - side knobs to prevent finger scorching and a slotted lip to keep those wiggly tea leaves back.  But my better judgement was absent as this thing pours much slower than expected and I may ask my husband to drill a few more holes.  He has enlarged holes on ceramic and yixing teapots for me using a special drill bit before and he really owes me after what happened next.

My husband fingered the curve of the attached demi-top quite suggestively and asked me if it was a miniature chamberpot.  You can't see it from this angle but the demi-top curves perfectly as if it was designed to accommodate a seated pair of buns. You can imagine how such a comment will flavor my tea sessions.

Glass Teapot Lineup

I've been meaning for numerous months to find my friends a starter teapot.  Only one of these is giftworthy. Can you guess just by looking at the lineup?

The leaf pot on the left is awkward since you have to secure the lid while pouring and is bit of a dribbler. I'll probably put it to use as a madeira decanter. The cauldron shaped pot on the right is a new fangled kind of gaiwan, but it has glass filter inside with cut slits. It's pretty but the cut glass slits make me nervous. It's unlikely glass shards would splinter off the edge but I just feel paranoid.  I'll probably use the bottom as a chawan.

The pot in the middle is the training bra of glass teapots- it's perfectly serviceable and is a great way to get started with delicate pots. If you successfully manage not to crack it in the first few weeks, you can move up to something fancier. If you only have one teapot to start, I find glass is a good way to go because you can see exactly what's happening inside. You can brew almost any kind of tea although it doesn't retain heat well and does not impart anything so puerhs won't perform their best in the way they can with yixing. Nonetheless I've had many a good sheng session with glass.

I have yet another 4th candidate from Red Lantern which is yet to arrive which hopefully will be my official gift teapot.

Office Teapot as Decanter

After I saw Gero's post on office matcha, I got inspired to perk up the work afternoon with some quality madeira. I brought in two different madeiras from the Rare Wine Company- the dry sercial and a sweet malmsey. Normally you decant them for a day or two.  In a flash, I saw my glass teapot was perfectly suited for this task.  Madeira in the afternoon is delightfully civilized.

(A most special guest may be visiting the tea closet tomorrow.  I really should go and start scrubbing the house down for such a distinguished personage...)

Teapot for Life

I was watching "Queen of Versaille" yesterday- a strangely absorbing documentary about a billionaire couple trying to build the largest private residence in America.  Despite their somewhat disgusting levels of overblown materialism, I couldn't help feeling that none of us are innocent. All of us have too much of one thing or another.

Behold the dreadful Wedgwood teapot that fills me with consumerist regret. Hektor asked me to reveal this pot a few posts back.  Five years ago, I wanted the minimalist unadorned basalt Wedgwood teapot with a rectangular handle but somehow ended up with this fussy matron of a teapot replete with a neo-classic cherub, toga toting goddesses and a smoke-filled greek sacrifice.  I cringe when I look at it but can't quite bring myself to sell it back on ebay out of sheer laziness. I have brewed tea in it once five years ago and have a dim memory of it being altogether an inconvenient experience.

My china cabinet is filled with such useless space eaters- even worse, more than half of the teapots are chipped or cracked and I can't bear to throw them out. I decided a solution to simplify my life would be to find an unbreakable teapot- with such a teapot I can hit a burglar over the head in a pinch and still brew tea the very next morning. Most importantly- if there ever was the "Big One" and my house was flattened, I would still most likely be able to brew delicious tea in this unbreakable teapot if I could only shovel it out from the earthquake debris.

Unbreakable probably means stainless steel. I'm aware stainless steel brewing is not optimum for delicate teas. But I'm tired of being broken hearted every time the inevitable happens with ceramic and glass teapots. My aesthetic choices for stainless are quite limited.  There's the dumpy but sturdy German Frielings.

There's an even dumpier but overpriced Italian Ufficio Tecnico Alessi Teapot.

None of them even remotely captures my heart and the thought of having to use them for the rest of my life fills me with sighs.  I may have to retreat on this lifetime teapot concept...

The Wrong Teapot

I have a pathological history of choosing inappropriate teapots. But such faulty proclivities are infinitely preferable to choosing inappropriate men. My biggest regret ia a century old Wedgwood basalt jasperware teapot-  I do not know what impulse seized me to buy such a dark and dreadful thing. It's too large to make decent tea. Like you, I make very poor decisions late night on ebay when I've repeatedly lost on treasures my heart really desired. Thank god I married my first choice of men then!

With my last tea order I included multiples of a tiny porcelain rong tian shaped teapot. After heartbreaks over chipping and cracking many a spout, I decided to treat teapots as consumables. These teapots were cute, cheap and tiny and for $5.4, they are not so bad. I tried one for work today and it's a fiddly affair- the hole on the lid is too tiny so it overflows when pouring. I have to open the lid to pour and the stingy spout takes forever to drain.

I've been trying fiendishly hard to make my new work setup more conducive to serious tea drinking. I can't seem to get used to the overly modern design of the space at all. Our new digs has twenty foot ceilings which make a hobbit like myself inherently uncomfortable so I try to hide behind a lot of foliage.  Although not visible in the photo, there is a little Frodo climbing the Fatsia stalk.

Sutra Pot

This lovely bell-shaped pot holds sutra inscriptions on both sides which infuses any tea brewed within it with magical powers of meditation.   This beauty came from Hong Kong sourced by a very nice guy Kam who runs the funalliance but who is now on the teachat wall of shame.  He really had some wacky vintage pots back in the day.

Although I did not heed the old advice about not buying a teapot without seeing it pour, this pot nonetheless turned out to possess the most perfect dripless pour. As is the eventual sad fate of all my teapots, it suffered the indignity of a cracked spout.   I have given up buying anything truly special and have come to treat teapots as consumables.

If I were to have one super power on this earth, it would be the ability to heal cracks. I could mend the Liberty Bell with a wave of my hand.  There would be no shortage of people lined outside my door waiting days with broken hearts or a broken nose that can't be set right.  Maybe the state of California would hire me to take care of both Hayward faults. That would be a big job.  My services would be in high demand and I would have no time to upkeep my teablog even though my teapots would be  perfect and ready to serve.

Vessels of Tea

As it is wiser to spend money on tea than on tea wares, I have not gone crazy with yixing follies and have vowed to make do with what was already in my china cabinet.

I never liked the gaiwan- white porcelain is too clinical for me. I feel too burdened by using a yixing pot as my style is too much wrongfu. I love my rustic Korean teapots best.

This little wee teapot on the left from Insadong is perfect for brewing tiny amounts so I can have several sessions of pu-erh. The giant teapot on the right is made in the traditional Korean way with firewood and potter's wheel.