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Yixing Clay Teapot Care

Yixing Clay Teapot Care

Yixing Clay teapot, from Yixing, Jiangsu province, it fascinates most of tea drinkers because of its unique quality of clay. There are so many types of clay in Yixing Clay category. No matter which type of Yixing Clay teapot, they all have one same characteristic. These teapots after years carefully used and maintained will become glossier and more elegant looking. But without appropriate handling and care, the pot care result will not be awakened completely. Then, how do you take care of this type of teapot? It is a very common question people are looking for.

How to Care Yixing Clay Teapot Set

There are two separate jobs needed to pay attention to for Yixing Clay teapot maintenance; an initial care and daily care. An initial care is one-time job that has to be done before first use of a new teapot. Daily care is the care after each time use of teapot.

 

Initial Care

A new teapot is recommended to have some initial care done before first use. There are few common ways to process initial care. The initial care is basically a series of work that teapot is needed to be boiled in the hot water and continuously heated to eliminate natural mud smell and other bad properties.

Here is two common ways to do the initial care:

    1. Cook teapot for at least an hour with plain water. Place teapot (separate lid and teapot body) in a bigger unlidded pot with cold water to boiling. Set on simmering fire after boiled. Turn off fire after an hour. Leave it to cool spontaneously. Do not cool it with other assistances. Take teapot out from cooled water and place it in an odorless spot to dry.
    2. Cook one more time same as last step but adding a piece of old tofu in it from the beginning. The purpose of doing this step is to eliminate its existing heat property.
    3. Repeat the first step one more time but this time adding a small block of sugarcane at the beginning.
    4. Repeat the first step, but after water is boiled, lower fire to simmering and add some tea leaves into it.

It is not necessary to have all these steps done. Some only have first and last step done for initial care (in this case, these two steps can be done together. After water is boiled, set fire to simmering and add tea leaves into it), and some only have done first, second and last steps. If it is not able to find old tofu and sugarcane, these steps can be skipped.

Now, Yixing Clay teapot is time back to normal work after initial care is completed.


Daily Care

A new teapot is recommended to use after initial care, but the most important part is how you are taking care your teapot every time after you use it. Yixing Clay teapot is needed to be well taken care, especially good quality teapot. After years maintaining, a well-cared Yixing Clay teapot looks glossy, like glazed with a layer of polishing oil, natural and luster.

The method of daily pot care is even more varied. The basic principles are no exceptional of following six points:

    • Completely clean teapot;
    • Avoid greasy contact;
    • Moisten teapot with tea;
    • Wipe and brush appropriately;
    • Clean and dry after each use;
    • Give teapot some resting time;

It is not as complicated as what you think it was. It is all about cleanness after every single use. To maintain teapot in good condition, a few helpful tips need to be watched and specified.

Shower whole teapot with hot boiling water from outside to inside before each use, it is known as “moistening teapot”. It helps teapot for better breathing. There are some types of teas needed to be rinsed. Rinsed tea can be used to shower teapot instead of hot water.

Clean up teapot right after use. Use a pot brush to clean teapot gently (some good and expensive Yixing Clay teapot comes with pot care accessories). Do not remain tea in the teapot overnight. Otherwise, tea stain will be accumulated on the surface of teapot over times that implicitly affects the appearance of teapot.
Make sure teapot is mopped with cotton towel (tea towel) after wash. Never have any contact with oil or greasy hands.

Not only moving-life creatures need break time after work, Yixing Clay teapot also needs a little time to rest after a few times of use. Normally, leave it to dry completely, in about 3 to 5 days rest.

Furthermore, there are some misunderstanding about pot care that we need to avoid. Pot care takes times, there is no short cut can be achieved.

    • Do not use any sandpaper or metal scouring pad to polish teapot, no matter how fine a sandpaper is, it can only damage the natural lustre of Yixing Clay teapot.
    • Do not remain tea in it overnight. Although Yixing Clay has ability to well keep tea in the teapot even overnight, remaining old tea will eventually affect teapot and your healthiness.

It is recommended to have one Yixing Clay teapot only and specially used for one type of tea. Yixing Clay teapot absorbs tea flavor, if one teapot is used for many different types of teas, it will affect the tea tasting. Try the best not to mix up. If you follow all of these basic requirements, your Yixing teapot will maintain in good shape and lustrous year after year. And of course, all of these are based on how good the Yixing Clay quality is.

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