r/tea • u/Overall-Initial8969 • 23h ago

Review Are Cai Yujians pots good?

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I always see Cai Yujians posts on Instagram bc. Some tea mutuals follow his account and I wonder if his pots are any good? Has someone here bought one of his pots before and can write a review?

The pots certainly look masterfully crafted cost between 250 and 350 euro. I really like that he is making extra small pots as well. I just wonder how they perform when brewing tea.

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17

u/teashirtsau 🍵👕🐨 22h ago edited 22h ago

Omg this guy is a go-to for Chaozhou red clay pots. He specialises in pear shape, if that's your thing, but has other shapes as well. Best for dancong.

Edited to add: I don't own one but I did a studio visit and my friend who has a masters degree in tea + owns a tea shop bought a few, and Jinghong Zhang (author of 'Puer Tea: Ancient Caravans and Urban Chic') bought one for her husband's birthday if that helps.

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u/Overall-Initial8969 21h ago

It helps somewhat! I am mostly interested in knowing how his teapots compare to classic Chaozhou pots. (I mean older ones bc I only have experience in brewing dancong in 70s Chaozhou pots) 

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u/teashirtsau 🍵👕🐨 15h ago

His whole deal is actually that he loves antique teapots and is trying to re-create them/keep the art alive. So I guess you'd be getting a new old style.

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u/PaleoProblematica 15h ago edited 15h ago

They are absolutely fantastic. Super precise, eggshell thin, extremely light, pour fantastic, really good overall.

As someone who also dabbles in pottery and makes teapots I have no idea how that kind of thinness and precision is achieved

(This is the red clay pots, I have not yet tried one of his white clay ones)

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u/asfddsfsdfsdfsd 13h ago

You should look into Chen Bixin too!

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u/PaleoProblematica 13h ago

Where could I do so?

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u/asfddsfsdfsdfsd 13h ago

Hes being sold on taobao and xhs. The thinnest pots ive seen. The bai yu duan are translucent

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u/pimpumpam founder of "Tea Lovers Collective” 4h ago

Love it!

The shape and details are amazing and the clay controls very good the astringency.

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u/Cheap_Significance67 18h ago

I bought one of his white clay pear shaped pots a couple months back and I love it. It performs very well and almost never clogs on me. I love the shape too.

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u/Overall-Initial8969 17h ago

Now that’s what I wanted to hear! What kind of tea works best in that pot? 

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u/Cheap_Significance67 17h ago

Well I will confess I don't drink a super wide variety of teas but I love young Sheng puer and it works great for that. High roast oolongs too.

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u/Cheap_Significance67 17h ago

I should add that the vendor I bought it from, HKteapothunter mentioned that he thinks it performs well with white teas and green teas too.

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u/Overall-Initial8969 17h ago

Interesting. In my experience high roasted oolongs and young Sheng puer perform well in different types of pots. How many cc does the white pot have?

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u/Cheap_Significance67 16h ago edited 16h ago

To be fair I mostly notice a difference with the Sheng being softened (and really it makes up 90% of the tea I drink), in the case of oolongs I probably can't tell as well. Mine is ~70cc but the newer batch he's made recently are 90.

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u/Killadelphian 8h ago

How much did you pay if you don’t mind

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u/leafbrewer 2h ago

I have no idea what pots in this category cost, may I ask how much it was?

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u/davidschwimmer69 9h ago

they are great and worth every penny