Bian Hu Lu ni pot / 03 yi wu brick

         I recently became the proud new owner of a Bian Hu Lu Ni pot from the on going yixing garage sale. This pot has been used by its previous owner for yancha. With in minutes of opening the box I put that match to the test and I find it to be a good fit. The pot does a good job of settling the abrasiveness of the fresh charcoal roast on EOT's 2011 Dancong Yancha. I will probably end up using this pot for yancha as it is a much more reasonable size for rock tea at 95 ml than my 125 ml shia piao. But  I feel I owe it to the pot to play the field a little bit before committing it to a rocky marriage.I have been warned that this pot can subdue aromas so it may not be the best match for young sheng. But this pot may be a good match for adolescent sheng. Tea's that are in that transitory stage that have started to gain some more mature flavors yet still have the edge of youth.

     To test this pairing the 2003 Yi Wu brick from Houde seems a good choice. This brick has been stored in Taiwan since its birth giving it a little boost in the ageing process. Being from Taiwan we can guess that this is a brick of a slightly higher caliber than other bricks. In order to see the degree of change I decide to rotate infusions of the tea between this pot and my thrift shop shui ping.

I start the first infusion (9grams) in the Lu Ni pot. It is immediately apparent the effect that the pot has on the tea. None of the roughness that I had experienced with past sessions is present. It rounds the tea almost the perfect amount not going so far as to dull the tea but just removing a little harshness. This tea is of the camphor, leather, and tobacco nature being of a lower flavor profile. It has a very slight drying effect on the tongue. There is a long lasting but not strong huigan.

In switching the tea from one pot to the other I notice that the tea while easily fit into the Bain Hu must be forced into the Shui Ping. The tea is slightly more astringent and the mouth feel is missing a little something that was added by the other pot.Yet I was actually expecting the difference to be greater. This tea has that much sought after Zhang Xiang (camphor) taste. I do not know if I have ever had a truly mature taste. But I have a feeling that this is a stage in development and teas do not tend to keep this taste as they become more mature.  The wet leaves show some serious looking large, thick, and hairy leaves that have been well rolled and take some time to unfurl by hand.  not your avg brick  seconds.

          The tea and pot both I feel are both good scores. The only significant fault that I find with this tea is its durability. The tea seems to suddenly drop off .Unfortunately at the time of writing this I discover that they have sold out.

      It would have made the job of choosing a tea for this pot had not been such a good match for this tea. I wanted to use this pot for yancha. But I should try to let the pot choose the tea it is best suited for and not let my needs and preconceived notions on clay and shape determine its mate. Either way further testing will most likely be necessary.