Yixing Clay vs Porcelain - The Taste Test
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- čas přidán 13. 01. 2017
- Don and Celine taste test a roasted Taiwanese Oolong #tea brewed identically but in different materials. One is brewed in a Yixing Clay teapot vs a Porcelain Gaiwan.
The aim is to find out if brewing in Yixing Clay really makes a difference to the flavour and texture of tea.
SORRY FOR THE CUT OFF ENDING - IT WAS A VERY LATE NIGHT EDITING AND I DIDN'T WATCH BEFORE UPLOADING!
To find out more about Yixing Clay pots watch our videos: chinalifeweb.com/shop/product/...
To buy a porcelain Gaiwan: chinalifeweb.com/shop/product/...
To taste Midnight Sun Oolong tea: chinalifeweb.com/shop/product/...
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You guys sure know how to make my wallet scream in terror.
But your taste buds will be singing in pleasure :D
Screaming for good reasons.
paper money beats rock teapot, but the scissors just beat my credit card
15:56 If you want to get REALLY geeky then refer to the Beer-Lambert law; A = εlc. The absorption of light is going to be directly proportional to the distance of the path traveled through the tea. By using gong dao bei of different circumferences you could be substantially changing how the tea looks.
Yes I agree we should have used the same Gong Dao Bei's!
paleobot brew my tea?
This channel is my new favorite. I have I have dove head first down the Tea rabbit hole! Love the videos with your partner in it. her energy is infectious 🖤🙏🏾
What a nice surprise on a sleepless night to get notification about video at your channel :) always love your geeky taste tests. I must try to do some blind tastings myself so curious if I would pick up differences between brewing in gaiwan or clay or between brewing with different water. It's always intriguing to watch you two figuring those out :)
I am sure you would notice the difference between clay and porcelain. Water can be more nuanced and I will be a video on this too.
Really nice and informative comparison. Thanks for that!
I want to see porcelain vs cast iron vs Yixing
Great video! With every new post, I am anxiously counting your ever increasing subscribers as they are approaching 10,000; I am so looking forward to your tasting video featuring the 40 year oolong.
SO ARE WE!!!!!!
I haven't finished watching yet, but I have a feeling this video's gonna make me take the plunge for some yixing. Dammit Don, payday isn't till the 20th! You can't put this out now! XD
Once you get one, be prepared to buy a couple more haha
Haha we have quite a few in stock so no rush Adam!
Bought my first 150ml Yixing Pot „Black Pearl“ today. Was a pretty expenisve one and im going to use it only for roasted Oolong‘s, i Love this pot already😊
Greetings from Germany
3am? still riding out my tea binge hahaha
Yep it was late night filming and editing for us to make sure you guys got a video this weekend, hence the mistake of cutting off the ending (mental note: always check the video before uploading!).
I find that yixing can actually steal quite a bit of the aromatics of a tea until they are seasoned enough by use. Gaiwans are always my default for that reason.
+Tea for Me Please interesting, is this for all teas or more for lighter tea like green Oolongs?
Mostly oolongs but I've experienced this with some sheng puerh as well. Of course, it also depends on how porous the pot is.
Nice test, I would totally try it myself if I had the materials. Just got some white peony and the tea heads t shirt, though, both of which are amazing products. Keep it up :)
Thank you Raquel. We love the idea of our teahead tribe wearing these t-shirts in random places in the world so if you are on Instagram then maybe take a picture!
@Mei Leaf. Cool thanks for the interesting video! What teas do you recommend for winter to warm and wake you up?
I have a variety of teas and I don't want to end up having multiple collection of teawares, could you recommend 2-3 that would be essential on a tight budget for a novice? After watching a few videos I think just having a porcelin and Yixing clay cup would suffice? What are your thoughts? I'm sure your get asked these types of questions a lot do you or have you thought about making a Thread/blog on it. Thank you! Love your videos!
Oh wow Celin watch you out! Cool outfit! ... great I just bought one a Zisha today!
Great thanks Francesco!
Don and Celine well done. I am Chinese tea lover and have dozens of YiXing pots. I am agreed with your comments in the video. If you got chance, testing with more subcategories of YiXing pots. Such as ZiNi, DuanNi, HongNi and ZhuNi. It will blew your mind away.
i have a yixing clay gaiwan, i was wondering whether i can fuse (only) black tea?
I will now start using my yixing pot. Thanks to you
Hi there! wow I want a yixing clay pot now. What's your opinion, can I use it to brew oolongs like this one AND aged/ripe puerh? or would you think I should dedicate it to one of the two?
Hi Guys! Love the video! I am new to the Gong Fu Tea Party! Though I have been watching several of your videos, which are fab to watch! I have learned so much before I have even tried my first cup! I have just bought my first Gaiwan and tea cups, in what I suspect is going to be a long and expensive new habit of mine! Expensive for me anyway! I still need to invest in teas, and after this video, a Yixing clay teapot or two and a tea tray!
My taste in is quite particular and I would like to ask you about where I should start in tasting a variety of teas inexpensively to find the right ones for me. I have been to your website, which is great by the way, however I have never tried the assortment you have available. What I can say is that I have tried the traditional teas, and I love lapsang souchong, Ceylon, Assam and Kenyan teas, I am no fan of earl greys or darjeelings though. Any suggestions on where to start? I am guessing that I am going to like the oolongs and puehr teas though.
Thank you both so much for inspiring me to try a new way of appreciating teas! Keep the videos coming, even if I am a bit late to the party!
you two are so adorable, I wish I was there drinking that tea with you! such sweet tea geeks. it's super cold in Seattle too, but your video warmed me up just watching you guys having fun
Cheers Lydia. Love from us in London!
Aye i'm in the area too, there's a place downtown Seattle called Vital Tea Leaf that's supposedly really good, probably gonna check the place out when the weather warms up.
I've been to their location in San Francisco, pretty nice and very inviting! They like to let people try to Blue people ginseng oolong, always a favorite.
great job .
Do you think you could brew in the gaiwan and use the clay pot as fairness cup, so you would get the cleanest aromas of the wet leaves with the gaiwan and the effect of the clay pot on taste?
Wow I never thought about using a timer or letting the clock count the seconds I’ll try next time when comparing
What would you say to taste Jade Star IV in a yixing pot? :) Have you tried it?
Thank you for another fun blind tasting video, I love to watch those! What is your opinion on pouring some more hot water on pots (after putting the lid on, while the tea is steeping) in order to retain the heat better?
Yep that works for maintaining tempertaure and I use it for tea like Dancong.
Mei Leaf Thank you!
Could you please do a video on the best way to brew herbal teas. Can you brew them gongfu style? Thanks
Me encanta ver sus videos. Yo paso noches eternas con mi esposa degustando té y es la mar de hermoso.
Would you agree that the liquor from the Gaiwan is also slightly cloudy?
Hi Don, Hey Celine please allow me a nerdy question: when I brew puerh or other large leaf tea (see I learn good!) I want to have them close to 100 degrees. Fact is that during a session, let's say the 3rd or 4th brewing, when I'm not so in rush as the first ones, I'm pouring hot water on leaves that actually became cold and the temperature drop drastically (I did a test, even warming up the outside of the pot, the inner water is 75 degrees!). Any remarks on it? Do you suggest to do a brief "wash" between the normal brewing? thanks!
You are becoming a proper tea nerd and we love it Francesco so to answer your question - tea leaves are like people, before doing exercise they have to warm up. If you have left your leaves for a while then a brief rinse is a good idea to warm everything up.
Another superb video! One question that I have and basically came up from your videos.
That is caffeine content in teas. From general sources available I have always lived in the belief that black tea contains the most caffeine (and goes down oolong has a bit less, then green tea and then white tea). For some reason I always thought that it was the fermentation amount that was influencing the caffeine content but now seems like nonsense.
Could you maybe please explain this in some video? From your videos it seems that green tea / white teas contain the most caffeine - but depends on which leafs the tea is made from. I would like to see you covering a bit more this topic.
OK we will do a video on this topic alone.
It looks light a green/light oolong. Do you think it can be called as such?
Is the gaiwan fine for Japanese teas?
Thank you very much for your videos 😊
I think a porcelain gaiwan is decent for any kind of tea leaves.
i drink mostly oolong tea (high altitude/mountain) but not only one type of oolong, would you say yixing is better for me to purchase? but i like the style of brewing from gaiwan where you can have more control and the wide opening. what about using gaiwan with clay material? would it still create a different taste to the yixing clay?
For oolongs Yixing is almost the default, in my opinion.
I have four yixings for oolongs and one gaiwan for everything else.
For the best green teas I will use a tall glass and leave the leaves in
Doesn't the ~ 100 degree C heat kill off the friendly bacteria?
What do you do after you made your first proper infusion? You surely cannot remove the leaves and but boiling water in and then empty and put the leaves back in?
No you keep brewing with the leaves in there. Is that what you are asking?
What do you men by so cold? 3 days ago it was -17 centigrade in Warsaw it was terrible :(
OK OK you definitely win that one!
Guys thank you very much for the video. If I may, I would like to ask you, why don't you guys make a video with some explanation of the production process and of course tasting itself of dark tea (hei cha). I would be very thankful, plus, I might be wrong but among all your videos dark tea (except for puers) is the most underated tea, so to speak.Thank you once again. Hope to see more video coming our way.
I totally agree and we are going to be doing a video on Hei Cha.
Don, My family and I love your Gaiwan on the Chinalife website, but noticed the matching cup in this video isn't available! We would be so happy to buy some for friends and family if they become available! Thanks!
As a side note we just bought your Cone Bandit Puer and it is phenomenal!
Thanks Phillip. Yes we tried to get the cups but the porcelain producers were asking for CRAZY quantities (10k) and I could not justify that purchase but we will keep searching for more teaware. Happy that you are enjoying that Cone Bandit PuErh!
That's great to hear! Thanks for the quality tea and videos!
What about Yixing gaiwan without glaze?
which is the best cleaning method for tea ware? I would love a video of tea ware cares
OK! With clay it is important that you rinse and dry without any detergents!
Mei Leaf thanks 😍
Always a good idea to have different Yixing teapots for your different teas - even going as far as separate pots for young pu-erh, aged pu-erh (further differentiating by having different pots for shu or sheng pu-erh), newer oolongs, aged oolongs, etc. For Yixing wares, cold water rinse will help preserve the flavors that are absorbed into the quartz-heavy Yixing clays - that's why it's important to have separate pots - you don't want to brew a light Big Leaf Baozhong or Bi Luo Chun in a pot that has been used for a pu-erh for example. Never use a dish soap or even a fruit surfacant like Fit for Yixing teapots - these are OK for porcelain, glass, or your metal strainers, but never use them on a material that will absorb the chemicals & flavors. Soapy oolong -- not so YUMMY.This is ALWAYS an excuse to increase your teaware collection to go along with your increasing tea collection!!
Do you both work at your store? I'd like to visit. I'm from portlandia, oregon
Yes I am there pretty much every weekday but I am busy working upstairs. If you come by then ask and if I can I will come to say hi. Celine works at the teahouse a few days a week so she might be there.
What is your opinion on what kinds of tea you can brew in the same Yixing pot? For example, can you brew medium and heavily roasted Oolongs in the same pot and use a different pot for lighter/green Oolongs or should you use separate pots for each tea or even each variety of tea? This question continues with Pu Erh teas. I think using one pot for all Shengs and a different pot for all Shous is not a good idea. But where to draw the line?
Where to draw the line is a matter of personal preference really. The seasoning of the pot over infusions will add colour to any other tea brewed in it but it is subtle and I am personally OK having one for Sheng, one for Shou and one for dark oolongs. Some people separate more, some less but what I find counter productive is having a beautiful pot not being used because it is being reserved for a very particular tea.
Thank you. That makes sense.
how do you select a good yixing clay teapot?
Try this video: czcams.com/video/J-I9oGLslOo/video.html
Awesome video!!!!!!!! Can you guys make a video about the use of pu-erh loose leafs to make bricks pu-erh,cha-tao and cakes? What's the taste of pu-erh loose leaf storage in bamboo sticks and oranges?how is that affect the fermentation process?Does the shape influences the flavor of the pu-erh ? Thanks for all the educational and fun videos !Greeting from Los Angeles California !oh and now I brew GON FU style! I didn't know what I was missing out man....
Thanks Mario. Great suggestions and we will add to our lists, I love that bamboo stored tea.
is this the porcelein Gaiwan you are selling at your site? I cant see if the dish has a hole. And when do you have it in stock again? Thanks for your answer
No this is a different Gaiwan from my collection. We are trying to get more Gaiwan's in stock but the producers are asking for crazy quantities. ANNOYING! We will keep negotiating to get them for you.
thanks Don, I couldent wait and found one elsewhere, but teasamples from your shop are on the way :-)
I would love to see more research done on the heat retention topic. The test that I've seen have confirmed that pre-heating does make a difference, since pouring water into a cold vessel will lower its temperature in a very noticeable way. But once the vessel has been pre-heated there doesn't seem to be a noticeable difference between glass, porcelain and clay when doing short 10-15 second infusions. There does seem to be a difference at around 2 or 3 minutes, but you usually don't do such long steeps when brewing gong fu style. But that was just one test that a single person has conducted using home equipment, I would love to see it done on a larger test sample using more precise thermometers.
We have tested and the difference that we noticed is small but may have an effect on the brewing (after about 30 seconds it was around 5 degrees celsius lower in glass compared with the clay). This was done with an inexpensive digital thermometer though.
The one test I could find didn't do glass unfortunately, only 2 types of porcelain and yixing: no-stream.tumblr.com/post/135301302156/tea-brew-vessels-heat-retention
Interesting article, we will try out more and feedback if we get anything worth filming.
so then a clay tea pot will go bad in time, if there are minerals releasing into the water?
+Brian O'Donnell great question and theoretically I guess this is true yet I have never heard of any accounts of clay pots losing effectiveness. Hmmmm.
Have you ever had a teaware that smelled a little bit like "egg"? I got a Kyusu and after a while i noticed a "eggish" smell and taste to it. Even after cooking for hours and cleaning and everything. It seems to come from the clay itself.
I really dont like it and went back to my Houhin and am looking for other teaware now.
I know that smell and it usually means that either the clay is not great or it was left wet for too long (make sure that your teaware is completely dry before putting the lid to avoid this).
+Mei Leaf I cooked it for several hours, but after just one day it was smelly again. It's a Kyusu that cost me just 30€ so i suspect its just not manufactured properly. Seems like a good Kyusu starts at 100.-
Yes sounds like the clay is not so good I think
I recently bought my first pu erh. It is like a little cake (I've bought 5) and it weights 10g but my gaiwan has 150ml volume so I sculpt about 7.5g. But I have a 200ml teapot so I would use about 10g. And I have 10g cake. Can I pour water directly on cake without sculpting it?
They are usually quite compressed so we advise doing the rinse and then leaving the lid on the pot or gaiwan for 10 minutes to allow the cake to steam open a little before your first brewing.
Mei Leaf ok I'l try it out.
Mei Leaf one more question. I found a set in internet where you have little water try, clay pot and three clay cups. It's called "set for a zeng tea" and I don't know what does it mean...
I assume it is for brewing without a Gong Dao Bei but not sure what they mean by Zeng tea.
I will buy myself a gong day bei anyway and I've found yixing one but it's white inside (it isn't just clay) so "you can look at tea color" but I prefer a glass one really
I don't yet own a gaiwan. sooner or later I shall. thanks for the video!
There's nothing better than waking up early morning getting a whiff of gaiwan brewed tea, it helps thaw out the mind during these cold bitter days.
i want dat gaiwan
You can get a cheap functional one soo cheaply. No excuses!
I like the vieo :D
The ending is cut off though, this video doesn't contain Don's catch phrase "... and spread the word, because nobody deserves bad tea!" Probably the first video without it for a while ;)
Yes sorry I was editing at 2.30am and the fatigue means mistakes!
Wow thanks for the dedication, it' s great how you care for your community!
The different shapes of the glass will reflect light differently.
Thanks, I wanted to be convinced to brew yellow tea in porcelain. So I searched clay vs porcelain. This frees up one of my yixing pots I can use for light oolongs. I wanted to use clay for white tea but I could brew that in the same porcelain. So I can stop buying teapots. Or can I?? I think I can. Instead, I will buy a tea pet. One that goes wee when I feed it
Maybe you should have gotten two brewing vessels that have the same capacity and fill them to the top. That way you know for sure the differences are coming from the the brewing vessel. Now you are comparing tea's that are not brewed with the exact same water to tea ratio.
You´re probably aware of the advantage you have, putting her into the videos! With her cute goofyness and sometimes don´t know what she´s doing :) :)
She is such a delight! I got such a crush on her - it´s rediculous :-D
I feel like I am in love with her, cant stop watching her face :-) /blush
Ahora que he empezado a degustar té oolong ¿qué hago con el montón de latas que tengo de té forté y dammann?... cielos....
Interesting that you can rinse this oolong so short. I have a Jin Xuan and I need to rinse it atleast 20 seconds if not 30 so that the first steeping tastes like anything. The balls just don't open up as fast.
Hmmmm that's strange. Try doing ashort rins and then leaving the lid on to steam the balls open for 20 seconds.
You both are so darn cute together, I really enjoy the little taste tests that you do. You have opened my eyes on how to start playing in the land of teas. Thank you. This has all started from me making Kombucha, I have been making a black, a green from a wawawa a tea bag and yes from watching your videos understand your opinion. An yerba mate loose tea and a hibiscus flower loose. What would you recommend for a loose black and green tea for a Kombucha both cold brew and a hot brew. any preference?
I unbelievably made the same test one week ago, although my taste is much much much less accurate than yours I reached similar (much less detailed) conclusions!
Good to hear that we share the same opinions.
Imagination, that is all. Invest in better tea instead of useloss tea ceramic.
☺️☺️☺️👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
0:56 You realize she's making fun of you before the viewers, ey ? 🥳
Hey D and C - great enthusiasm and effort. From a scientific standpoint - this is sort of a wing it test - not valid from my standpoint. there is no true measurement of water into the pots nor the cups. there is no true measurement of the 2nd pour time. There is no true measurement of color because each glass is separate. Also, I would like a similar test done in clay cups. here you have what I believe are porcelain cups? What is the type of glass used to fill the pots, and material for cups. There is a difference between pyrex (contains metal) and other glass materials. So - while the results may be quite similar, the science here needs refinement. also have a background to hold the glass against so color is equally compared - or even measure a teaspoon or tablespoon of tea and place on a white absorbent material. So these are not brewed identically - but rather similarly. Also - during the tastings, saying you fear you might get it wrong implies a specific intention. I think knowing which is more smooth - especially for oolong or oolong with jasmine is quite important to me. HOWEVER - I have always found that porcelain makes for a smoother taste - and the more earthy flavors were drier. I watched this video because i'm curious about which clay pot to purchase - or use my current fine porcelain that I truly savor each sip..... So please, provide more trustworthy results from using more accurate comparisons. and I would like some novice folks to state their opinion. I have, according to some taste strips, a sensitive pallet - such as a strong dislike for broccoli cooked beyond a bit of crisp - which many folks cannot discern until well over cooked. THANK YOU - it was a bit entertaining until the actual tasting, which I found a bit disconcerting. I wonder if there is something much more current also - this is what google brought up forme.
Hi Don,
Not sure if it's much of a concern or not but some cameras there days now come with facial focus tracking which is very accurate, such as this:
czcams.com/video/G1_Pj92aT_U/video.html
That way you wouldn't have to worry about checking your phone for focus often, although you would probably need to cut away to a different camera for close up views of the leaves etc.
+f0g I will play around with the settings yo find out if my one has this feature. Thank you!
We use Yixing Clay pot. Damn this girl is hottie!
If I get an yixing pot and use it for cheap young shu pu'erh does this spoil it for quality raw pu'erhs? I don't want to start an endless pot collection!
The seasoning effect is slow and some people do not worry about this and mix up teas so it depends on how purist you want to be really. After a lot of infusions of the Shu you may find that this affects the flavour of the raw but it is not going to spoil the tea simply colour it a little.
I think this is not fair comparison, you should not use gaiwan but normal teapot. As when you pour the clay it takes time and produce difference.
Is she drunk? And not just tea drunk.