Zheng Shan Tang Yixing Zisha Purple Clay Teapot

Raw material: Downhill mud from Huanglong Mountain, Yixing City
Craft: Handmade
Capacity: 170ml
Size: Length 105mm, diameter 75mm, height 78mm, there are errors in hand-made and measurement, please refer to the actual product.

To brew good tea, three factors are inseparable: water temperature, amount of tea, and brewing time. In addition to the key "water" that affects the taste of tea, there are also "utensils". There are thousands of utensils for brewing tea, including glass, porcelain and pottery. For most people, porcelain and glass are the most convenient tea utensils. They have small pores and do not absorb water. They can restore the most original taste of tea soup, which is very helpful for knowing a tea. Of course, the most important thing is that the price is cheap, you can buy it for hundreds or even tens of dollars.

When you first started to brew tea, the tea set would be broken because of the hot water, and if there was a slight bump in the precious tea set, it would inevitably make people feel distressed.

But why do people like to use expensive purple clay pots?

Because "pottery" has large pores and high water absorption, it has the effect of softening water quality. Even the taste of the tea soup brewed by a good pot and a bad pot is very different.

The purple clay pots in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, China is the most famous. Different clay materials, different grades, and different shapes all affect the price of a teapot. The price of purple clay pots ranges from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Most of the pots with a few hundred dollars on the market are not pure in mud material, pot-making process, and pot-making process, while teapots with tens of thousands of yuan are so-called "famous masters make", as well as its exquisite paintings painted on the pot, which advertise the works of masters and are extremely artistic.

Interestingly, masters generally do not like to use vermilion pots as pots. Because the vermilion mud will shrink by 30% after being fired in the kiln, it is prone to wrinkles, cracks and even deformation, and the failure rate of pot making is very high.
 

However, we still recommend that you start with a red clay pot (the body is red) when buying a pot, because the red clay pot can stimulate the aroma of tea and make the tea soup have a dense and smooth taste.

In 2021, we got 10 purple clay teapots from our friends and put them on the website, and unexpectedly many people liked them.
 

So we decided to go to Yixing to find a pot maker for customization, hoping to make a teapot exclusively for lapsangstore. After trying many kinds of pots, I finally decided to use this pot with the words "正山堂" printed on the bottom. Although it is not a work of art, we agree that it is very comfortable (not hot and light), the spout is wide (easy to pour tea), the craftsmanship is good (the shape of the pot is smooth, and the water flows smoothly), and the spout has a mesh, and the tea leaves are not easy to use. It will block the mouth, which is very suitable for beginners.

It took over three months to receive and we have been using it ourselves everyday. The body of the pot gradually becomes oily, smooth and shiny from the frosted feeling. If you also want to own a purple clay pot, but don't know how to choose and where to buy it, you might as well try this pot. Pair with our oolong tea and experience a wonderful tea journey.

Note: The teapot is made of downhill mud, and it is made of precious old mud that has not been pickled. If the teapot has iron black spots, it is a normal phenomenon.

Why does the purple clay teapot become moister with use?
 

The surface of the mud is oily, just like good jade itself is very moisturizing, but poor jade will not have this effect for many years. The same is true of purple clay. Other characteristics of purple sand ore can be artificially adjusted, but the oiliness is not easy to change. If the oiliness itself is good, the oiliness of the pot made will also be good. It is specifically reflected in the maintenance, when there is too much tea brewed, the tea oil in the tea leaves seeps out of the pot surface, which will form a natural pulp, while the oily pot can only rely on the tea oil on the surface and the oil on the hands to absorb it. The fake pulp will come off after a wash.
 

What is Aged/Old Mud?
 

The mined clay is tumbled, pulverized, weathered, ground, sieved, mixed with water, and made into wet clay lumps of suitable size, which are stored in a dark and damp place (such as a cellar) to improve the properties of the clay. This process is known as the aging of purple sand mud.

Why does the clay of the purple clay teapot need to be aged?
 

The aging of purple sand mud is conducive to the oxidation and hydrolysis of the mud, and the organic matter will gradually decompose, which is conducive to the molding and firing of purple sand products.
The longer the aging time, the better the quality of the pottery produced. Under the same firing atmosphere and temperature, the aged clay will make a smoother pot, which is why the longer the clay is aged, the better.