Sterilizing my Yixing pot

Some time ago, I finally took the plunge and bought my very first Yixing pot.  I was a bit scared but had found some great pu'er teas and felt confident that I wouldn't be wasting my money on a pot I wouldn't ever use.

Dan, the owner at Trailhead Tea, where I bought the pot, gave me great instructions on how to sterilize it BEFORE seasoning.  So here's what I did.

I started by covering the pot with bottled water.  The desert is notorious for it's hard water and I really didn't want all those chemicals in my pot so I wasted the water but I think for good reason.

I made sure that only the bottom of the pot touched the pan.  You don't want the handle or spout touching the sides.  The lid I put next to the pot, handle up for stability, also not touching the sides or the pot.

I've read a lot of tutorials that say to boil but Dan told me to simmer.  Boiling creates bubbles that are potentially large enough to disrupt the pot.  The large bubbles could knock it over and cause it to break.  We don't want that before we even use it so simmering is a safer way to go.

Heating up.

I covered the pot with water and set my heat to medium.  I wanted to bring the heat up slowly so as not to subject the pot to any kind of extreme temperature difference.  Once the pot was simmering very gently I set a timer for 30 minutes.  Or at least that's what I tried.  I think I got up to look at it every five minutes or so.  It was my first pot so I think I was a bit over protective.

This was as bubbly as my water got.

Once it had simmered for 30 minutes I turned off the heat and left it for a few hours so it could thoroughly cool down. Then I drained the water, which had more dust/sediment particles than I expected, and left the pot out for a day or two to dry completely.  

Yay!  Squeaky clean!  Stay tuned for my take on Yixing pot seasoning.

Tea Shop - Trailhead Tea

I've mentioned before that the tea scene in the greater Phoenix area is a little bit scarce.  As such, when an opportunity presents itself to get out of the city I immediately hunt down any tea shops in the area.

Sedona, Arizona is located about 2 hours north and slightly east of Phoenix.  It's a thriving tourist town that draws hiking and new age enthusiasts alike.  It's home to some famous red sandstone formations like: Slide Rock, Chapel of the Holy Cross, and Cathedral Rock.  It's also renowned for it's mysterious energy votices, that can be found in various places around the town like behind the airport (sound like Welcome to Nightvale to anyone else?).

Chapel of the Holy Cross

Source: Wikipedia

Cathedral Rock

Source: Wikipedia

I was lured up there to visit the tea shop attend a very dear friend's wedding.  The wedding started at 9:26am and since it's a 2 hour drive I chose the safe route and stayed up there Friday night.  My first stop when I arrived was Trailhead Tea.

Located right off the SR179, Trailhead Tea is situated in a big, multilevel shopping plaza.  Parking was a slight hassle but well worth it in the end.  When you walk in you're greeted with a wall of tea in front of you, lots of teaware to the right, and a long inviting bar to the left.  The teaware drew me first, it's hard to find non-Teavana teaware in Phoenix.  They had SO much cool stuff.  I think I squealed when I saw Yixing pots and gongfu sets of various sizes.

When I finally ambled over to the bar I saw that they do tastings!  3 cups of tea; premiums teas $15, and reagular teas $10.  YAY!  After much deliberation I went with a Huo Shan yellow bud, black dragon pearls, and a 2012 DaDuGang Sheng Pu'er.

By this point I'd discovered that the two people in the shop were in fact the owners, Eileen and Dan.  They were amazingly friendly and very knowledgable, especially about where their specific teas come from.  They steeped my teas twice each (THANKS!) and helped me out when I struggled with my tasting words.

I think I was in their store for at least 2 hours and they didn't bat an eye or get impatient once.  It was an absolutely amazing experience.

As for my tea flight: I ened up buying the Huo Shan because it was an interesting mix of white and green qualities.  The black dragon pearls were very strong and bold and would probably convince my coffee-drinking mom to switch to tea.  The DaDuGang was smooth and had the perfect amount of earthy.  I ended up going home with some of that also, along with....*drumroll* my very first Yixing pot!!!!  (Sterilizing, seasoning, and brewing posts to follow).

I stopped in the next day, to get a quick iced tea for the road, decided on white grape, and it too was awesome.  Light and fruity and perfect for a trek in the desert.  If you're a traveler in the area, or a Phoenix local willing to make a (beautiful) drive, Trailhead Tea is definitely worth a visit!