宜興茶壺 Yixing Teapot

Yixing teapots (宜興茶壺, yí xīng chá hú) come from a single county in Jiangsu Province that has produced the world’s most revered clay teapots for over five hundred years. The material is zisha (紫砂) — “purple sand” — a naturally occurring stoneware clay found only in the hills around Yixing whose mineral composition and firing characteristics are unique to this place alone. What makes a zisha teapot different from any other brewing vessel is the clay’s double-pore structure. Fired without glaze, the pot retains a microscopic porosity: it breathes slightly, absorbs the tea’s oils and flavour compounds over many sessions, and develops what seasoned drinkers call pot character — a nuanced improvement in the tea brewed from it as the clay matures. For this reason, dedicated Yixing users keep one pot per tea type and never use soap. This teapot is a 110 ml piece in classic Yixing form — sized for one to two people brewing gongfu cha with short, multiple steeps. A working pot meant to be used daily, seasoned over years and passed on. Length: 10 cm · Width: 7 cm · Height: 6 cm · Weight: 110 g · Volume: 110 ml.