Sunday, June 26, 2005

Talks about Zi Sha Teapot3

All of our Zi Sha teapots are 100% hand made. Unlike those mass production teapots, every hand made teapot is unique. No two hand made teapots are identical. This definitely adds the attractiveness to a teapot. How do you tell if your teapots are 100% hand made? A quick exam of the inside of a teapot can answer this question. A 100% hand made teapot only has one unobvious connection line at the joint spot of handle and body. A mold made teapot on the other hand has two connection lines. One is at the joint spot of mouth and body, the other one is at the joint spot of handle and body.

There are plenty of articles discussing things like lid tightness, water flow, etc. We will not repeat those discussions here. Enjoy your tea and teapots!


Tea Lovers at JinYuXuan Tea House
www.teahub.com

Monday, June 13, 2005

Talks about Zi Sha Teapot 2

We now know that high quality clay is very important to the final quality of a Zi Sha teapot. But how do you as a final consumer know that your teapot is made of high quality clay? In general, a Zi Sha teapot made of good quality clay has soft and elegant color that catches your eyes. If a teapot looks either dull or abnormally shiny, which generally suggests that the teapot may be polished, then this teapot is very likely made of low quality clays.

When you lightly knock your teapot body or handle with your teapot cap, the sound that the hit can also reveal the quality of the clay. If it is a crispy sound, the teapot is made of ordinary quality clay with right firing temperature. If it is a metallic sound, the teapot is made of good quality clay. On the other hand, A dull sound suggests either low quality clay or low firing temperature – neither of them is desirable. A teapot with pleasant steel sound that echoes is made of high quality clay and has been used for many years – highly desirable.

So, do you know how to judge your clay quality now? Next time, we will discuss how to judge if a teapot is hand-crafted.

Tea Lovers at JinYuXuan Tea House
www.teahub.com

Saturday, June 04, 2005

Talks about Zi Sha Teapot

We received many emails from customers who purchased Zi Sha teapots from us expressing their excitements about their orders. Unlike many other shops, we focus on functionality instead of fancy style of our teapots. Most of our teapots are in basic traditional styles. So what about those teapots that impressed our happy customers? It is their fine craftsmanship and high quality clay.

Seasoned tea drinkers and Zi Sha teapot collectors know that high quality clay is very important to the overall quality of a teapot. Other than the quality of raw clay, skill level of a craftsman also affects final teapot clay quality. How are the two associated?

As many of us may already know, Zi Sha teapot is a general name for all teapots that made of Zi Sha clay. Zi Sha clay can be further divided into Zi (purple) clay, Zhu (red) clay and Ben Shan Lu (green) clay. Zi Sha clay is a hard mineral. Mined Zi Sha clay will change into tiny soy bean size sands after being exposed to sun light and rain. After further processing, those sands turn into wet clay, or what known as raw clay. Raw clay will need to be aged before it can be used for making teapots. Well aged clay demands high prices.

The time that a craftsman starts to make a teapot from raw clay is when craftsmanship comes into play in the final quality of teapot clay. An experienced craftsman has good clay processing skills and is good at controlling firing temperature.

We will talk about how to judge Zi Sha teapot clay quality next time….

Tea Lovers at JinYuXuan Tea House
www.teahub.com