This Yixing was purchased sometime in 1992 in Singapore, while I was still a secondary school student in that country. It is nothing to show off about, as I think the workmanship is of so-so quality. I didn't know it back then. I thought it was so cool to own a Yixing pot with etched Chinese caligraphy on its body. It is now mostly unused and just a nostalgia piece. It leaks from the top lid, it doesn't pour well, and it drools too much. A horrible performer!As far as I can remember, I bought this teapot for around SGD $30. At today's exchange rate, it would be about USD $19. It's been abused, neglected and seen many tea varieties, from oolong to pu-erh to green as well as jasmine (gasp!). Recently I decided to re-boil and re-season the pot with dark Taiwanese oolong. I'll keep using it from time to time when I'm brewing tea just for myself.
I can see how this pot will pour poorly, but hey, old pots do have sentimental values.
ReplyDeleteI threw away my first one after it suffered MASSIVE mould.
Oooh, yeah, this one also experienced light mould after I forgot to take the leaves out for a week or so. I wanted to perform the restoration project with the dental cleanser (insipired by teafiles blog), but reversed my plan after re-boiling the pot and saw that it's not in such a bad shape.
ReplyDeleteMine was basically covered in mould inside, because I left some wet TGY leaves in it and totally forgot about it for a month or so. It smelled weird (an odd fragrance+mould). It was full of fibre like stuff. It was green.
ReplyDeleteWell, it may not perform well, but it is very nice to look at! If it were me, I would probably keep it on display.
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