Do you know any unique facts about Yixing teapots or Chinese tea practices?
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About Yixing
What should I, as a new customer, know about Yixing?
You should know; How to season, or Quick season, How to clean, and How to prepare your tea in your Yixing teapot.
To Season Your Yixing Teapot
When using a new Yixing teapot, it must be treated for the air holes to function properly.
- 1. Wrap all parts of the teapot and lid separately in washrags. Place the wrapped pieces in a uncovered pot of cold water. There should be sufficient water to cover the entire pot.
- 2. Place some tea leaves in the water. This is optional but highly recommended.
- 3. Bring the water to a slow boil. Rapid boiling may damage your teapot as the teapot pieces hitting against each other may be damaged hitting against each other or the walls of your pot.
- 4. Slow boil for about an hour. Let you teapot cool down in the cookware while fully immersed in water. Let it stand for a day.
- 5. Take the teapot out of the water and rub off any sand residue inside the teapot. Rinse well with water. 6. Repeat steps1,3,4, and 5 with a fresh pot of water but this time rinse with hot water. The air holes in your Yixing teapot are open and ready for use.
To Quick Season Your Yixing Teapot
- 1. Fill your teapot with newly boiled water and allow the water to sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Drain the water.
- 2. Fill the teapot a second time with newly boiled water, add 1 teaspoon of your favorite loose tea leaves. Allow this tea to sit for a period of 5-10 minutes. Drain the tea. You are ready to prepare your first pot of tea.
To Prepare Your Tea
- Fill your teapot with freshly boiled water. Drain the water.
- Put one teaspoon of tea leaves into your pot. Fill the teapot with freshly boiled water. Drain the water quickly to rinse the leaves. ( Some people prefer not to rinse the tea leaves.)
- Fill the teapot a third time with boiling water. Allow it to steep for at least one minute. Enjoy your tea.
To Clean Your Yixing Teapot
- Since the clay has the unique characteristic of absorbing the flavor of your tea, washing with soap will take away from that special quality.
- Never wash your Yixing teapot with any detergents or cleaning agents. Just rinse the teapot with hot water and air dry with the lid off until your Yixing is fully dry.
- Tea stains may build up on your teapot after many uses. Don’t worry about getting them off. Collectors are always looking for tea stains as this is one of the characteristics required for a good antique teapot. Do however avoid dust and grease as these will decrease its value.
Tea Brewing
How much tea should I use to make one cup of tea?
For traditional brewing, one teaspoon of tea is recommended for each cup of water.
If you are brewing herbs or tisanes, you may want to use a heaping teaspoon of herb per cup.
In larger teapots, the English rule is; One teaspoon per 6 ounce cup of water and one teaspoon for the teapot.
Some compressed teas like Pu-erh are 45 to 1; So a small cake may yield a quart of tea.
Why do some people rinse the tea leaves before brewing?
To open up the rolled tea leaves so they will accept water more readily, to rinse off any dust on the tealeaves. Some people believe that allowing the leaves to sit 30 seconds in the teapot and then rinsing out the water gets rid of a great deal of caffeine. Although this has yet to be proven by any scientific method.
Why does my tea sometimes taste bitter?
Generally bitterness is caused by over steeping the leaves or the wrong water temperature.
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