Steeping Tea Vessels

Yixing Pot
The Yixing clay, also known as purple clay, holds a few mythical qualities that ensure its high place among Chinese tea hobbyists. The first and most important is its high durability and heat resistance. Poorer quality clays would crack under such heated pressure, whereas purple clay seems perfectly suited for high temperatures. The second and most important, their porous nature. It is said that an Yixing clay pot continously used for years with the same tea eventually takes on certain flavor characteristics of that tea. This can eventually be extended to the point where no actual tea leaves are needed to produce the tea. While it would be tough for us to verify that claim, there certainly does exist a few immediate flavor benefits with using the clay that are apparent with any well seasoned pot. Making the teas with such a pot take a bit of getting used to, since you can't see the leaves and water as easily as with other vessels and therefore you must get the timing and temperature just right. The other issue with Yixing clay pots is that you should technically be using one for each tea type that you regularly drink, otherwise you risk ruining some of the flavors that build up within the pot. Generally, we keep one pot for our Da Hong Pao, another for our cooked pu'ers, one for Tie Guan Yin and finally a pot for our most common black tea.

Gaiwan
The Gaiwan is our most preferred steeping vessel of them all, and for so many reasons. First, it is simple and can be very cheap. Price has no direct correspondence to tea making ability; only to feel and design. A single Gaiwan can be used to make all types of teas, with a simple hot-water rinsing in between. And finally, the large mouth allows great access to the tea leaves for both your eyes and the water, which makes perfecting the tea infusion much easier on all tea types. The only two small downsides to the Gaiwan are for larger servings, since the larger gaiwans can be unwieldy, and also the difficult handling of a full and hot Gaiwan for first-timers. But really, once you've made tea with one 2-3 times, the Gaiwan becomes quite simple and comfortable.

Regular Tea Pot
Our frequent trips to the less than stellar Dim Sum houses both in the US and in China have hammered down one tea-tidbit of information that is quite revolutionary for us tea snobs. Making a tea in a large western-size pot (500+ ml/cc) is not always something to be avoided or lauged at. It certainly doesn't work on all teas, but it is important to note when and where this type of steeping method can be relied on to make your tea taste the way it was supposed to. As a general rule, we've seen that our good green teas and most Tie Guan Yins do not fare well at all. White teas, Blacks and cooked Pu'ers work the best out of all teas and Wuyi Oolongs like Da Hong Pao and Shui Xian definitely work well but also lose a bit of their wonderous edge in the few minutes it takes to get the right infusion. That all said, when we now go for Dim Sum we bring two teas with us: cooked Pu'er because it really does work well, and also a great Wuyi Oolong since despite losing some of its beauty, the taste is still intoxicating and really makes us appreciate the tea, food and surroundings on a late Sunday morning.

Glass
A simple glass does not immediately seem like the ideal steeping vessel until you learn more about why you would want to use one, or at the very least once you see it in action. The purpose is to really get to see the leaves; something that an Yixing claypot or Gaiwan would not let you do. Seeing the leaves wouldn't seem like the most important necessity in tea-making, until you start appreciating quality green and white teas. These two categories of tea can be initially admired not only for their raw appearance and taste, like all other teas, but especially for the 'show' that the leaves put on once they begin their infusion with the water. Certain greens and whites are well known for their beautiful properties; whether simply for their incredible and evident leaf quality or more specifically their ability to 'dance' in the water. Teas like Zhu Ye Qing, Bai Hao Yin Zhen and Jun Shan Yin Zhen are very well known for this dancing ability. Before you dismiss this as far-removed-culture that will certainly fly over your head, try it out! Drinking quality green tea 'blind' is tantamount to tea tasting while holding your nose! ..or so it is said.

Cup/Mug
The mug represents the lowest common denominator in western drink-ware. It is often used, always available, and its size and convenience can't be denied! We would be silly not to try making our favorite teas in one if only for our own curiosity or knowledge of our often solitary laziness. However, a little known fact for many is that certain teas are traditionally made in a similar vessel, for personal drinking, exactly as the we hope to do here. Green teas from Fujian, Anhui and Zhejiang province are most often seen being prepared by dropping a few leaves in a glass, pouring water and then served. See the attached glassware steeping info page for more details about glassware. So using a mug, dropping in some green tea leaves and then enjoying is definitely not something to be avoided. This is a method we use quite often. Where this might be even more interesting is how we also often use this for cooked pu'er tea. Try it out. Super convenient and both greens, whites and pu'er hold up well to the mug-steeping method!