I went back to the Fuxing store today. It’s hard to resist a store that’s only 10 minutes walk away.
I was looking more at pots today, and nothing too interesting happened. I did, however, ask them how they season their pots — since they do it. The answer was “nothing special”. In fact, they don’t do anything other than just clean it of the debris that’s left in the pot, and after that, they just brew tea in them. The pots clean themselves out, basically. Obviously they rub the pots dry afterwards, but that’s really about it. As I was there, she was filling out the pot with some leaves, pouring water into it, and just letting the tea sit in the pot (with the leaves) to stew…. and the leaves were still in it as I left. I guess that works. I also suppose it’s because they have so many pots, it’s impossible to do anything else with them.
While there, I drank an aged oolong from 1983. Pretty interesting stuff, although much weaker than the one I had yesterday. The tea is, as she said, slightly sour if brewed too strongly (due to poor storage), so she deliberately made it slightly weaker. It does, however, have pretty decent qi, and I felt very relaxed after drinking it. Compared to younger teas, such as young oolongs or puerh….
Anyway, that’s all for today.
5 responses so far ↓
Anonymous // October 15, 2007 at 12:27 am |
Hi lz, this “nothing special†is the process I’ve used over the years with some 60+ pots.
Except I place them upside down to air dry.
I have encountered a few folks that have “exotic†rituals for: cleaning and seasoning.
I’m sure this is to promote their self appointment as an expert. john
pu_erhmy // October 15, 2007 at 7:32 am |
As for me, this what iI usually do for new pots.
Steep tea leaves (any type that you wish to brew later on, but solely for that type only later on) in the new pot overnight. Use tea leaves that you that you want to throw after drinking. Repeat this for two days, that is, add hot water the next day and steep further for 1 more day. After 2 days of steeping tea leaves in the pot, throw away the water. ust the tea leaves left behind to scrub the sides of the pot, inner and outer. To me, tea is an astringent, hence a good scubbing material.
Pot now is ready to be used.
MarshalN // October 15, 2007 at 11:03 am |
Hmmm, so you use the leaves to rub the outside of the pot as well?
I guess that applies tea oil more directly onto the pot, hmmm, thought worth trying.
I’ve heard some pretty exotic methods over the years, including using tofu …
pu_erhmy // October 15, 2007 at 11:16 am |
Yup, Marshal, not to waste the tea leaves, haha. I rub it too on the outside of the pot as well. No harm done, I suppose.
The pot gets better as you use it, need to treat the pot as like you treat any other person. Rub it, bathe it with hot water as you steep the tea for drinking.
It looks better as time goes by, As for tofu, never heard of it before.
I use everything connected with drinking tea. Only that, never thought of anything else.
MarshalN // October 15, 2007 at 11:21 am |
Yeah I know, pots do get raised, although it took some trial and error to figure out what works and what doesn’t work.