It's All About Tea — teapot

If you are on the path of brewing loose leaf teas and learning Gong Fu Cha, you have undoubtedly heard of yixing clay teapots. You start browsing the subject and find bits and pieces of information that are often conflicting and leave you even more confused. 

We hope that this article will help you better understand yixing clay and figure out what type of yixing teapot you need, why you need it, and what to pay attention to when shopping for one. (Read more)

The story of the teapot in China begins at the same time as does the story of Chinese porcelain. During the Song Dynasty. Henan was the cultural and economic center of the Song Empire, and much importance was placed on improving the arts during the time. Hence, during the Song Dynasty, many pottery kilns were built, and the craft of porcelain ware was perfected. (Read more)

Any tea advice blog you turn to will say the same thing. Never use soap to wash your teaware. This is absolutely correct. Soaps and detergents can impart unfavorable flavors on delicate teaware. Usually, a quick rinse with hot water should suffice. However, what about those times that our teaware needs a little extra cleaning? (Read more)

Learning the sophisticated art of gong fu cha, we begin to understand the subtleties involved. First, we learn that tea is alive. And only by treating tea properly, preparing it the way it deserves, we are granted an impeccable, sweet, and aromatic brew.

Then we learn about teaware. We understand how to take care of the teaware — with care and never using dish soap. Gently drying after each use. We also learn that teaware is alive, particularly the clay from which the teaware is made.

A Yixing teapot is not just about the clay's porosity, the way it looks, the name, or even the way it makes your tea taste. It is all about the way you take care of it. If not correctly taken care of, a Yixing teapot is just about as useful as a run-of-the-mill ceramic teapot. (Read more)

Earlier last month, we wrote a little bit about the history of the teapot. While kettles for brewing tea have existed for millenniums, teapots as brewing vessels didn't appear until the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). This was around the time when loose leaf tea started gaining popularity over powdered tea. Thanks to the teapot's evolution, today we have not only many shapes, but also many different teapot materials to choose from! (Read more)