First, you should have an understanding of what you want to use it for. If all you like is green or yellow tea, then maybe yixing teapot is not what you need. Porcelain works best for such delicate teas with prominent bright notes, ensuring nothing gets lost, and tea doesn't get overcooked by heat trapped inside of yixing. Yixing teapots are all hand-made rather than being thrown on the wheel. The hard clay is pounded with a heavy wooden mallet into a slab, and the bodies of the teapots can be made in three basic techniques: segmented teapots are press-moulded; round teapots are paddled, and square teapots are made by the slab method. Specialised tools of wood, bamboo, metal and horn, created through the centuries, are used during the process. 3. Are there different styles of teapot, and were different styles used for specific types of tea? Tea Ware Replications: It has become increasingly popular for zisha potters to recreate famous historical tea sets that had been constructed from various other materials. This type of tea set is used mostly for display. In ancient times not much effort was made to sort the raw Zisha ores. Only Masters of the time took the effort to make their own clay recipes. This is how the famous legendary Zisha clays came to existence, such as Tianqingni, Dahongpao, Lipini, etc.

Yixing, also known as zisha, is a type of clay from Jiangsu province in China, commonly used to produce teaware such as: teapots, gaiwans, cups, mugs, tumblers and tea pets. Yixing zisha is written as 宜兴紫砂 in Chinese. The Chinese pin yin it’s written as: yíxìng zǐshā. How to pronounce Yixing? We think this is the closest we can get: ‘e-hsin’ What does Yixing/Zisha mean? Duan Ni - clay with medium porosity and good heat-retaining properties. The color varies from golden, beige, and light yellow to blue and green. It pairs well with lightly-oxidized Oolongs. Nature and Mythology Motifs: To beginning tea drinkers these tea pots are very appealing because they require little knowledge of tea to be appreciated. Often depicting common animals and mythology, these pots are delightful to look at. The purple clay teapot originally is Chinese first hand-made clay handicrafts, and its raw materials' origin is in Yixing of Jiangsu Province. So it is also called Yixing purple clay teapot. The purple clay teapot is of function and ornamental.

Features and care instructions

Because of the wide Firing range of Dicaoqing it can have a large variety of colors after firing. Brownish Orange, Brown, Dark Brown, Dark Grey Brown. Do not use sandpaper or washing cloth to wipe the pot body. A very special tea towel should be used to wipe valuable pot body. Well, I hope this was an informative overview of the basics of Yixing Zisha. In later posts, I’ll delve deeper into the various clays and techniques for making teapots. I also plan to make Q&A-s with some potters from Yixing. The mineral and metal content of Zisha includes iron oxide, kaolinite, quartz and mica, making teapots very strong when fired and resistant to damage compared to more delicate Western pottery. High quality Yixing clay is 3-6 times less absorbent than other clays which helps teapots to retain the fragrance of teas. Lao Zini is not an exact term. Some people think, that since Lao (老) means Old, then Lao Zini means Zini, that has been aged for a long time, like 20-30 years or more. However Yixing potters use the term Lao (老) with different meanings, so if you buy a teapot directly from the Artist, make sure to ask what they mean by Lao (老). Usually there’s two things that Lao (老) could mean.

Jet head and jet consistency. Many have seen a viral video demonstrating the difference between teapots with good and with the bad flow. – Bad teapots had an inconsistent jet, breaking too soon, while a good pot's jet was going in a silent continuous flow even from a significant height. It is, of course, stunning. And it is terrific when a master is so good at his craft that he can create such flawless things, which are indeed very pleasant to use. But does it play a significant role in good tea brewing?Once you get the teapot, try brewing various teas in it, and you'll see which pair best. As one fellow tea-head said: " a tea should be choosing a pot, not the other way around ". You can be making educated guesses based on various characteristics mentioned above, but at the end of the day, you won't really know until you'll test it. Tea and clay are, in a way, a living matter, full of surprises. Yixing Teapots June 5, 2008 A brief history of Yixing Teaware (Zisha Hu or “Purple Sand Pot”) Red Yu Ting Hu Yixing Teapot The color of the finished teapot can be anything in the range of and between the other Zisha types.

As a kind of tea set for appreciation and practical uses, purple clay teapot is the favorite thing for literature lovers in different historical stages in ancient China. Speaking of purple clay teapots, it originates from the Song dynasty and developed in the Ming dynasty, and peaked at the time ruled by Kang Xi and Qian Long in the Qing dynasty in terms of techniques and appreciation and collection. Also, the main characteristics of purple clay teapots are the common wealth of the descendants.Zini got its name from the color of the fired clay, which is usually composed of various shades of brown and purple. Qinghuini, is also quite versatile and so can be used with any kinds of tea. It is worth noting, that a new Zini teapot at the beginning could be more muting, but with seasoning and time it’ll adopt to the tea you use it with. Dicaoqing (底槽清) is probably one of the most well known subcategory of Zini. It is a special grade of the Zini Ore. Before Industrial mining, people dig trenches into the ground, to find Zisha ore, and Di Cao Qing would be found at the bottom of the trench, this is how it got its name (Di/底 Cao/槽 – Bottom Trench). There are two ways to prepare a zisha tea pot for use. One requires boiling the entire pot in water, but unless you are experienced with this process it is easy to damage the delicate structure of your pot. We recommend the method described below because it is both safe and effective.

According to researches, the manufacture of teapot in China is from Ming Dynasty. After the first teapot was made, masters and professionals have stepped on the stage, with a variety of purple clay teapots produced by them in the world one by one, and anecdotes about teapot legend also spread from generation to generation, and people like to talk them all the time. Yixing teapots have been made since the 16th century, and there has been a steadystream of known potters since the Wanli period (1573–1619). 2. How are Yixing teapots made? This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sourcesin this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( January 2013) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Ribbed Tea Pot: This is a very difficult design that is similar in shape to a round tea pot. It takes a very skilled craftsperson to create a ribbed tea pot that is perfectly matched between the body, lid, and spout.Sometime between the late Song Dynasty to early Ming Dynasty, zisha clay was identified as an ideal material for brewing tea. The reason for this is its distinctive mineral content. The clay is rich in iron, quartz, mica, kaolin, hematite, isinglass, in addition to many other trace minerals. The iron contained in the clay helps sustain the temperature of the heated water, allowing for a very rich and complex infusion of tea. The quartz and other components leave mineral remains after the clay is fired at 1100-1180 degrees Celsius. This creates a distinctive double pore surface. This highly porous structure is the key element that makes Yixing ware indispensable for fine tea drinking. These many microscopic holes not only allow the pot to adapt to drastic changes in temperature, but also allow the tea to breathe which in turn brings out the fragrance, color and taste of the original tea leaf. The tea’s delicate oils are absorbed into the walls of the pot, creating yet another enhancement of flavor. Therefore, brewing one type of tea will give a distinctive character to your zisha ware. An explanation of how Yixing teaware is made Because Zhuni is soluble in water it doesn’t go through a weathering process, as the ore would be just washed away and nothing would be left of it. Instead, they let Zhuni age for a longer time. 3. Crushing — 粉碎 — Fěn suì The Zisha ore has to be crushed first Furthermore, because of Zini’s porous structure, it could greatly improve the taste of the low-quality tea the common people drank in those times. Older teapots have a distinctive patina from the infusion of tea oils and constant use which can dull the pitch. Many new teapots have a similar shine from a wax coating that is applied to protect the clay and make them look nice on the shelf. (see how to remove this coating below). Expert Evaluation: An expert in Yixing teapots can evaluate the teapot’s style, markings, and condition to determine its approximate age.