A tea class about Yixing teapots and aged tea

For regular blog readers, this is a familiar sight for a tea class: This is one is a little special, because I combined two in one: Yixing teapots and aged tea. The opportunity for this class arose from the visit of François from Montreal. He's been reading my blog for a long, long time and is visiting Taiwan for the first time. Since time is precious and he is already an experienced tea drinker, I combined the 2 subjects that interested François the most. And I could even turn it into a very practical workshop, because François was hesitating between these two Yixing teapots: an Yixing Duanni Shipiao on the left and an Yixing Zhuni Gao Qiang on the right: 

1999 sheng puerh 7542

So, the class started with the theoretic part about clay, shape, firing and then we brewed two teas with the porcelain gaiwan and both teapot in order to feel the impact of the material on the teas.

The first tea was a Hung Shui Oolong from Dong Ding from spring 2003 (sold out). The second tea is this 1999 sheng puerh cake 7542.

I brewed the aged Oolong (that's why there are no pictures!) to demonstrate my technique. Then, François brewed the 26 years young puerh with the 3 vessels.

Indeed, the characteristic of both these aged teas is that they don't feel 'old', but still full of energy and lots of aftertaste. Even a few leaves brewed for a rather long time will yield very concentrated aromas.

François made a very interesting observation: following an article I had written about the glazing quality of porcelain cups and gaiwans, he tested several of his porcelain cups with the same tea and found out that the tea's aromas are altered by porcelain. More industrially made cups tend to make the tea taste less natural than porcelains that use more traditional ingredients. So, even the so called 'neutral' porcelain isn't always that neutral! This gaiwan produced a very clean and satisfying result.

The Duanni rounded the taste and muted some aromas and kept the temperature higher than with porcelain. Before the class started, François was more leaning towards this teapot, which would be a good fit for the roasted Oolongs or cooked puerhs he's enjoying the most.

However, being able to compare it with this Zhuni, he felt that the smaller red teapot is doing an excellent job intensifying the aromas and the aftertaste of the teas. It even brought new aromas to shine that we barely noticed in the gaiwan. "No wonder I see so many Taiwanese people using zhuni teapots!", he concluded after adding this teapot to the teas he purchased from my selection.

If you also wish to learn more about tea, but can't wait that you travel to Taiwan, you may join me for my weekly tea class on YouTube. Last Sunday, we studied the specifics of the Wenshan Baozhong process and brewed the important "Yingzhi Hongxin Baozhong" (I explain why it's such an important cultivar, even though it's rarely mentioned). This Sunday, I will explain the difference between green tea and Baozhong.