Zhuni : surface et texture - détails

Wu Yi Rou Gui 2 (F.V.) dans une zhuni de Yixing

Souhaitant goûter à nouveau au superbe Wu Yi Rou Gui rapporté par San Mao et Li Ping, j'ai choisi d'utiliser cette très belle Yixing en zhuni. Et je suis forcé de constater une nouvelle fois encore combien cette théière est capable de transcender un thé:

J'ai trouvé au Rou Gui des parfums fleuris qui m'avaient totalement échappés lors de la dégustation en zhong: notes rappelant les chrysanthèmes... Je l'ai trouvé encore plus harmonieux, fondu et cohérent. Aussi les parfums de torréfaction étaient plus estompés. Le tout plus moelleux et sucré encore... avec toujours cette belle note de sirop d'érable. Un beau sucré qui reste sur la langue... Par contre, comparé au zhong, le côté rafraîchissant (et plus minéral) que je lui avait trouvé passe ici plus inaperçu ou peut-être s'est-il transformé dans le fleuri perçu lors de cette dégustation en théière ?

Pour les premières impressions sur ce thé :

http://jardindethe-jardinsecret.blogspot.be/2013/08/wu-yi-rou-gui-2-fv-recolte-mai-2013.html

Un thé que j'aurais plaisir à continuer à explorer...

Real zhuni from Yixing : more pictures

Genuine Yixing Zhuni : Shui Ping 16 cl

A beautiful exemple showing one of the most classical (and  also most efficient and versatile) shape of Yixing Teapot.

This one is made of genuine zhuni clay ( You can admire the typical structure surface of this rare and famous clay...). It is dense and heavy (163,2 g !). The touch is silky. Patricules of clay are far more smaller  than any other clay. They are incredibly fine. 

The brewing performances are awesome. The tea is sweet, accurate and fragrant... Real zhuni performance are out of reach of any other clay.

I guess it is not very old, maybe 60'S or 70's (because there is a "golf ball" filter). I don't have information... It is a serial made teapot because there is a lot of identical piece. But with this kind of clay, an original piece crafted and signed  would have cost five time more, which would have been unaffordable...

Authentique Yixing en zhuni (parois fine - forme aplatie) - Thoughts about genuine zhuni clay

This one is certainly the most interesting piece of my collection of ancient yixing teapot. And for sure the most instructive in my personal research about understanding ZHUNI clay. Some years ago, I was looking after a thin wall yixing teapot of high quality to use it for brewing very fragrant, complexe and delicate tea, like FENG HUANG DAN CONG or GAO SHAN CHA from taiwan or high quality TIE KUAN YIN. The perfect teapot for such purpose must be accurate and give some mellowness...

When I went to my favorite teashop and most reliable source for ancient zhuni teapot ( Maison des Trois Thés in Paris), I saw some pot and my attention was attracted by one pot which appearence was completly different than others : the clay was like velvet or silk, very fine but without the typical buttery shiny wrinkeld texture of real zhuni. It was very mat, more like satin, no buttery look at all... This teapot was not fitting my idea of what genuine zhuni must be but the price of the pot  was far more expensive than every other pot on the table... So I was at the same time curious and suspicious. And I asked the opnion of Master Tseng which was the  best teapot among all the other teapot on the table, and she designed this one which according to her must be far better than the buttery looking pot... So I decided to trust her and bought it. Back at home, I did many testing and tasting. And after 4 years of use, I must say that this pot is really amazing. Even if it doesn't have the typical zhuni appearence, its performance are awesome. I used it mostly to brew Feng Huang Dan Cong and it deals really weel this challenge. The tea is fragrant, complexe, sweet, mellow, with a long and detailled aftertaste..

So after a  lot of research and reading about what  real zhuni is and how to identificate a genuine yixing, I must say that it is really quite difficult to tell just from the appearence of the pot.

The only truly reliable test to know if you have a real zhuni teapot in you hand is to try it and brew tea that you know perfectly.

If zhuni can be so different it is mostly beacause it come from sediments rocks, and also beacause it can be mixed or processed and fired according quite different ways.

 But there is some indication that you can trust : the typical buttery wrinkeld surface texture, the particules of zhuni are much more smaller than other red clay (they are so small that you can't see them although there could be some larger particules in the main substance). The sound of zhuni  is high pitched. There is always marks of shrinkage caused by the firing (this is one the main property of true zhuni ), sometimes shrinkage marks are obvious (and looks like wrinkles, or even like the skin of an old apple, they can even have cracks inside...), somtimes shrinkage is barely noticeable (and only can be seen with some particular angle of light reflexion on the surface...). But tasting is the only reliable way to know... 

Some others pictures of this teapot :

http://jardindethe-jardinsecret.blogspot.be/2010/03/yixing-interieur-jour.html

http://jardindethe-jardinsecret.blogspot.be/2010/03/theiere-dan-cong.html

Evolution de la patine d'une Yixing (2)

J'avais déjà montré précédemment des photos de l'évolution de la patine de cette théière.

Elle continue à évoluer de façon admirable bien que je ne fasse rien de spécial et l'utilise finalement assez (trop) peu... Cette capacité à embellir avec l'usage rend cette "terre épuisée" aux parois très fines  particulièrement attachante...