How To Season Yixing Teapot That Won't Make Your Head Spin - A Very Simple Method Before you begin brewing tea inside your Yixing teapot to enjoy a lasting tea infusion relationship, you will first need to season the pot. Season the pot is a process of cleansing the teapot and have it ready for the first brew. There is an apparent hygiene reason to clean the teapot, but is it that simple? Why Season The Pot? Authentic Yixing teapot should have an earthy smell and nothing more. Suppose you happen to purchase a wax-coated teapot; in that case, you obviously need to get rid of the coating befo ..read more

History of Yixing Teapot - Learn the Secrets of How Yixing Teapots Became Famous For centuries, Chinese tea drinkers have viewed the Yixing teapot to have a reputation as a superior vessel for tea. This unique teapot has quite a history under its lid that dates back to about 1500. The Yixing teapot was the very first pot explicitly designed to brew tea. The Yixing teapot originated in the Jiangsu province, which sits about 100 miles west of Shanghai. Yixing teapots have been made since the 16th century with a steady influx of potters since the Wanli period of 1573-1619. The purple sand teapot ..read more

I originally titled this post “How to Be Happy in 2021” and had 500 written, but I deleted it all and decided to write something completely different.  You know there are days you feel let loose, and I think Saturday is a good day for it.  I was taking a walk with my dog, and the air is crisp and cold. Winter sunshine scattered its ray on the frost, and everything is shimmering. I saw one or two people on the sidewalk, but it mostly just My dog and me. No one had to leave their house on a Saturday morning. The street is quiet, not even the sound of cars from a distance.  I hear ..read more

How Coffee is Stealing Your Life Right Now and How to Stop Immediately It may seem unfair coming from a “tea person” to tell you to quit coffee. But hear me out.  Before I was a “tea person,” I was addicted to coffee. When I get out of my bed in the morning, the first thing I do is hit the power button on the water kettle. I drink solely black coffee for a while, then start to add sugar and milk. By 2 in the afternoon, I felt a massive dip in my energy level and need another dose.  If you are reading this post, you probably already feel something is wrong in your gut. After all, ever ..read more

Negative emotions are there to protect you. Wouldn't it be a better world if we were to be happy and sing happy songs all the time? But the reality is, for most people, we battle within us all the time.  Negative emotions are something that perhaps all of us are trying to push out. but the more we push it out, the more they find their ways back in at the most inconvenient times When you are angry, sad, or depressed, the last thing you should do is suppressing those emotions. But some occasions are more inconvenient than others to have a meltdown.  Your negative emotion first came int ..read more

Many factors influence tea's taste, such as the time tea is harvested, the kind of teaware used, the water temperature, and the quality of the leaves. Intuitively, seasoned drinkers know a nice cup of tea. Scientifically, very few of us know just exactly why some tea tastes better than the other.  Today, I will talk about why tea tastes different based on the types of teawares, using scientific evidence.  For thousands of years, the Chinese have decided Yixing clay is superior in making tea, why is something puzzled people for generations. In 2017, 8 researchers experimented with com ..read more

Learn the Truth about Yixing Teapots While Yixing teapots are extremely valuable in terms of quality and functionality, are they safe to use to brew tea? After all, the porous clay takes on the aroma, oils, and a patina of every tea brewed inside of it from the very initial day of use. What is the mineral makeup of the clay? Whenever it comes to using cooking utensils or serving ware, it is critical to first make sure the materials they are made from are safe for use with food or drink. Using a teapot is no different. Since many enjoy drinking tea made from their Yixing teapot every day, it is ..read more

Most people know the differences between Authentic and fake Yixing teapot. But can you spot the differences between authentic and fake Yixing teapot via pictures? Do you know what to look for when buying online? In this comprehensive guide, I will walk you through what to look for when buying Yixing teapot online.  For a native Chinese, this question is a no brainer： visit the village called Ding Shu, in the city of Yixing, walk around till you find the perfect teapot.  But most of us don't have the luxury of buying a ticket to China and spend countless hours searching for a teapot ..read more

There is a special relationship between us and the things we own. And for a handmade object, the relationship becomes even more sacred. Although more and more people seek a lifestyle of higher quality and less consumption, to find an item that's handmade with care and love is rare. Commercial products are easy to find and cheap to make. Why would anyone spend time search for a Yixing teapot when they can go to Amazon and find endless styles with endless functions. So for us, tea drinkers, the quest of searching for a handmade Yixing teapot becomes all the more exciting.  Yixing teapot is ..read more

It’s challenging to find a good set of Yixing teapots in the states, let alone finding books regarding such a subject. It’s such a shame. There are some excellent books written in English about Yixing teapots, but very few Chinese Yixing books made it to America.  When a person is studying Yixing teapot, they are also studying Chinese culture. Because of the authors’ experience, the books are often very well written and enjoyable to read. I know many of you would love to learn more about Yixing teapots, but those resources are only available in Chinese.  I decided to write a detail ..read more