Friday, December 30, 2005

The YiXing You Have, Is Better Than the YiXing You Don't.



While we are on the topic of holiday presents and YiXing teapots here is a photo of a great new addition to my tea drinking vessels. My girlfriend picked this "Small Pumpkin YiXing Clay Teapot" up for me online as a Christmas present this year. And while I think it's quite cute and I've been having some wonderful Formosa Oolong in it, it did cost me a few hours sleep on Christmas morning.

I have one of those minds that tend to have hard time settling down and may decide to rehash things that happened the previous day. Usually it happens as I'm going to bed and can be overcome by a good stretch or some such yogic exercise. This time it happened after several hours of sleep had passed. I was anxious to try out the teapot apparently and my mind started to think about it and something my girlfriend said rang a bell in my head. She had said, "It's a little smaller than I was expecting." and although that's never really something you want to hear from your girlfriend I was quite certain that she was referring to the teapot.

Suddenly I was awake in a way that cannot be ignored. My mind was wandering into thoughts like "Did she say that because it was so expensive?" and "Where did this come from?" Not for any distrust of my girlfriend but I know that there are a lot of disreputable places online and I've seen more than a few places selling YiXing teapots for twice or even thrice the going price. Now I'm not referring to legitimate collector quality teapots, I mean the exact same brand and obviously from the same shop but way more expensive. My girlfriend could tell that I liked the present and it wouldn't be like her to spoil it by saying something like "Those bastards ripped me off! @$#@! We're sending that back with a one way ticket to hell!!!!"

By now it's 5AM and I know that I'm not going to get back to sleep until I know whether or not I'm going to say something like that myself. She's fast asleep and I not going to wake her to ask, "How much did my present cost?" so I went to the computer and looked it up. I was quite relieved at her fiscal choice and went back to sleep quite comfortably for a few more hours.

She was shocked but not surprised when I told her what I had done. Although I didn't want to part with it, if she had been ripped off I would gladly have waited another month or so while we returned it and bought the same one from another company for a reasonable price if need be.

I know that all YiXing teapots should be unique and while I accept and appreciate that it would seem that the picture they have online is very different from the one I wound up with. Most noticeable is that the baby pumpkin on my teapot is not orange (visible near the bottom of the handle on mine) and the shape is much more round on their example photo. Like I said, I can appreciate the minute differences of each and every one but the colored orange thing does bother me since I know that details like that are probably what made her choose this one in the first place.

It makes a nice little cup of tea as I've been noticing and that is foremost in my judgment of a nice teapot. I am a little worried about a tiny little line in the center bottom of the pot that I don't recall seeing before yesterday (I did a rather thorough examination of it and it's a very fine flaw if it is one. Most people probably wouldn't even be able to see it.) I'm not sure if it's the beginning of a crack or even if that is something I should worry about. I've heard many a story about famous teapots that were broken then placed back together and made all the better for it. It's not like I've done anything out of the ordinary to it. For now I'm going to go with the assumption that many cups of tea in it will absorb into it making it an attractive character trait. As long as it doesn't start leaking I'm all good.

Now go have a cup.

7 comments

At 12/30/2005 02:42:00 PM, Blogger jane said...

I remember your blog from quite some time ago. It's very refreshing & the green in the background fits absolutely perfect! I have a few teapots, but none are as nice as yours. I have 1 tea cozey too, too pretty to use though, lol, isnt' that foolish?
I'm glad to see your blog around again, it's uplifting.

 
At 12/31/2005 11:08:00 AM, Blogger Marie said...

I can't believe you lost sleep over a teapot!

 
At 12/31/2005 06:46:00 PM, Blogger Chyrene Pendleton said...

Beautiful teapots! I inherited an old one which I use for decoration and now, after seeing your blog, I appreciate even more. Thank you and Happy New Year!

 
At 2/14/2006 02:05:00 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have the exact same teapot... I think. It never seemed practical to use for a teapot though... too small. Just out of curiosity, how much did it cost?

 
At 2/24/2006 06:07:00 PM, Blogger Beau said...

I hope you keep writing posts for this blog. The tea drinkers of the world need this blog, and... well, who doesn't like tea?

 
At 3/02/2006 09:50:00 PM, Blogger Matthew K. Petty said...

First to all who wished me a happy new year I thank you and return it back a thousand times.

To Monica, sorry to let you down like that. I know more is expected of me but I assure you that I am simply a light sleeper.

To Chyrene, I am very glad to hear that a gem has been taken off of dust collecting duty, may it serve you well.

To my Teapot Twin brooke, about $25. Just about right. I've found that the cups from the blue one with the flowers (still without a proper name) are exactly the same size and are such a mismatch that they somehow draw a thick line between the making and drinking of the tea allowing both parts to shine.

To Beau and many others who have expressed concern for my sudden disappearance: Fear not for this is not a permanent state. I hate reading blogs where every post starts with an apology about how long it's been since the last post so I'm hiding it here for you. Well maybe I don't hate them but I'd rather not be that way.

I guess I've been on a bit of a hiatus. Life has been busy and I've started a new job. My tea pushing has been directed into a more personal manner of late while I get the office coffee pot some much needed rest and the office an upgrade (& better breath).

I'm suffering from a bit of the writering blocked. For me it's often that I have something to share but it's not really a complete thought. I try my best to keep my posts in something of a complete thought format. So when I mana...

 
At 6/26/2006 06:38:00 PM, Blogger ~ Phyll said...

Hello Matthew,

Just found your blog today. I have a similar Yixing you posted above.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j292/aharto/MelonYixing.jpg

I also just read your "Adventures of Tea Lover in Wine World" blog...funny. I happen to blog about tea and wine.

Regards,

Phyll

 

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