Jianshui Zi Tao Purple Pottery Teapot – One of China’s Four Famous Pottery

Jian Shui Zi Tao Teapots, Tea Cups, Tea Jars, Gaiwans, Pot

Kinds of Jian Shui Teapots, enrich your tea table

Jian Shui Zi Tao Gaiwan with colorful painting that makes it lovely and delicate.

Jian Shui Zi Tao Tea Cup, Tea Mug, a good office partner.

Various types of Jianshui Zitao Jars, it is good to store teas, rice, flour, dried fruits, etc.

Jianshui Zitao Pot, which is one of the most popular Zi Tao Utensils among locals, has the characteristics of acid resistance, alkali resistance, and long-lasting heat preservation. The food stewed by Zitao pot is delicious and exquisite.

Brew Teas – Zi Tao Teapot VS Yixing Zisha Teapot

Yixing Zisha Teapot is usually regarded as “light teapot”; the maker focuses on the style of the pot. Jianshui Clay Teapot is famous for “painted teapot”; the maker focuses on the painting and carving on the teapot.

Aside from the differences in clay, molding craft and decoration craft, Jianshui Zitao Teapot and Yixing Zisha Teapot are also good to brew various types of tea.

Jian Shui Zi Tao purple pottery teapot is characteristic in high density, good heat conductivity, and fast heat dissipation. Because of the high density, the tea aroma substances are not easily absorbed by the teapot. Jian Shui Teapot is suitable for making semi-fermented and fully fermented tea, such as black tea, Pu’er tea, white tea, black tea and so on. It has the greatest ability to stimulate the tea taste.

Yixing Zisha Teapot is characteristic in low density, weak heat conductivity, good heat preservation, and special double pore construction that results in strong adsorptive (absorb the odor or aroma of tea leaves). It is good to brew teas with heavy taste like Puerh Tea, Oolong Tea, Dark Tea, Black Tea, and so on. You can refer to this article of How to Choose a Proper Yixing Teapot for a Single Type of Tea

Let’s take Puerh tea as an example to analyze

Young Raw Puerh Tea – Jian Shui Zi Tao Teapot

When brewing young raw puerh tea, the young new tea leaves would be destroyed if the water temperature remains too high. The content tea polyphenols and theine is high in young tea, so the tea liquor should be poured out quickly to avoid bitter and astringent taste.

When brewing the same Young Raw Puerh Tea in similar shape of Yixing Zisha and Jianshui ZitaoTeapot, the Jianshui teapot will be better because the temperature will not remain too high due to its characteristic of good heat conductivity and fast heat dissipation. The density of Jianshui purple pottery clay is high, so the tea aroma is not easy to be absorbed by the teapot. Thus the aroma of tea will be clearer.

Compare with Jian Shui Zi Tao Teapot, Yixing Zaisha Teapot is characteristic in good heat preservation, which may destroy the tea as the temperature will remain too high. The double pore structure of the Zisha is adsorbent thus the teapot will absorb the tea aroma of the young tea.

Conclusion: it is better to use Jianshui Zitao Teapot to brew Young Raw Puerh Tea

Young Ripe Puerh Tea – Yixing Zisha Teapot

New ripe tea will have pile flavor after pile fermentation, so usually the new Ripe Puerh Tea will store for a period of time to let pile flavor dispersed.

The taste of Young Ripe Puerh Tea brewed by Jianshui Zitao Pottery Teapot is somewhat similar to that brewed by Gaiwan, but it is slightly better than that of Gaiwan. The degree of adsorption is lower than that of Yixing Zisha Teapot. The Yixing Zisha teapot is the ideal companion for Young Ripe Puerh Tea. The most outstanding physical structure of Yixing Zisha teapot lies in its double-pore structure, which can absorb the miscellaneous and pile flavors of Young Ripe Puerh Tea.

Conclusion: it is better to use Yixing Zisha Teapot to brew Young Ripe Puerh Tea

Aged Raw Puerh Tea – Yixing Zisha Teapot

After long time of storage, it is better to remain high water temperature to motivate the aroma and taste of the Aged Raw Pu-erh Tea. The characteristic of good heat conductivity will lead to fast heat dissipation, which will results in slightly weak taste of the tea. Yixing Zaisha Teapot is characteristic in good heat preservation which is good for brewing Aged Raw Pu-erh Tea.

Conclusion: it is better to use Yixing Zisha Teapot to brew Old Raw Puerh Tea

Aged Ripe Puerh Tea

Jianshui Zitao Teapot is suitable to brew Aged Tender Ripe Puerh Tea which will avoid high temperature to destroy the tea.

Yixing Zisha Teapot is ideal for brewing Aged Ripe Puerh Tea with lots of tea steams and old leaves because the good heat preservation will allow the inner substance in the teas steams and old leaves fully release.

Conclusion: Jianshui Zitao Teapot to brew Aged Tender Ripe Puerh Tea
Yixing Zisha Teapot to brew Aged Ripe Puerh Tea with lots of tea steams and old leaves

Making Process of Jian Shui Zi Tao Utensils

The delicate and complex making process of Jian Shui Pottery is filled with the pure and warm emotion of the artists.

There are six major crafts processes:

1. Prepare the raw clay
2. Molded by hand
3. Illustrate the designs
4. Cave and Fill with clays of various colors
5. Fired in kilns
6. Hand Sanded

Seasoning Jianshui Zitao Teapot

Many people found that the newly purchased Jian Shui Zi Tao Clay teapot has strange odor. To dispel any doubts, I would like to explain the odor of the new Jianshui Teapot. Every object in nature has its own odor, so does the Jianshui Purple Pottery’s own distinct earthy odor, the fire smell generated during the firing process, and possibly the smell of vegetable oil in the process of removing static rubbing during polishing.

It is important to season a new teapot. After cleaning the teapot with clean water, place it in the pot and boil 10 minutes with tea leaves (the tea leaves should be the kind of tea that you will use the teapot to brew). Then cool down and simmer for 10 minutes, repeat two or three times, then leave for 3-5 hours. After the teapot has been seasoned, the earthy odor of the new teapot can be removed. This can also remove the “fire smell” of the pot, and at the same time, the new teapot can be nourished more thoroughly for the first time.

Note: During the seasoning process, you can cover the body and lid of the teapot with new gauze. Keep the water flowing over the pot, and try to use a small fire to prevent the pot from colliding with the pot wall and causing defects.