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This is your pot--on tea. Labels: Pot Profile, Yixing 
How do you get such a strong patina so quickly? When you are done with a pot for the day do you rinse it with water or just leave it as is after removing the leaves? Does the tea/leaf end up sitting in the pot for several hours each time you use it?

February 16, 2011 at 6:16 PM Sir William of the Leaf said...

What kind of camera did you get?
And I am envious of your teapots! They are turning out fantastic! I am hoping my teapots develop such a wonderful patina as yours!

February 17, 2011 at 11:20 AM Philippe de Bordeaux said...

What a pleasure to see again your beautiful photos, and ustensils such as these teapots.


Best Regard.


February 17, 2011 at 3:23 PM Elliot Knapp said...

I don't think I'm doing anything specific to build up patina quicker than usual--I think it's more an issue of regular use. I use the yancha pot probably 5 times per week and the dong ding pot probably about the same number of times--they're my most-used pots, so they've got a lot more patina than, say, the zhu ni that I use for gaoshan oolong. I think it also helps that I mostly make roasted oolong and pu-erh. The darker the liquor, the darker and quicker the patina goes on. In answer to your specific question, though, I probably do a mixture of all 3: I often rinse the pot with hot water, but depending on just how lazy I'm feeling I might dump the leaves right after the last steep (if the pot's hot the remaining tea evaporates pretty quickly), or I even might accidentally leave the spent leaves in there for a while...you have to be careful, though--any more than a few days and mold will start growing. I learned that lesson quite a while ago. There are a lot of theories on how to season pots and I don't know if anyone really knows for sure how it actually works. A theory I've often thought about is that anywhere where tea liquor contacts the clay and evaporates will build up faster--that would explain the drip areas, lid skirt (the tea evaporates numerous times during a session as the hot lid is removed) and why the inside of the pot takes longer. Really, though, I have no idea and my rule of thumb is to just use the pot regularly and let seasoning happen naturally.

Thanks for stopping by--glad to see your blog is still rolling along! I got a Canon Rebel XS--it's the most basic Canon DSLR but great for my less-than-novice skill level and needs. Don't worry about your pots' patina--just keep using them and it'll happen all by itself. Do you have any older pics of your most-used pots? I'll bet you can already tell a pretty big difference even if you don't feel like the pot's extremely seasoned.

Thanks for stopping by. You've got some great tea photos yourself!

February 17, 2011 at 10:54 PM Teaware for Sale (Updated October 21, 2013) The Octave Doctors
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