Welcome to the first in our series of blogs documenting our tea & teaware sourcing trip to China & South Korea. At Comins we are very fortunate to have friends all over the tea world. When we visit them on our trips we promise to share what we learn & in our recent survey you shared that our blog is one of the best ways to do that. So we hope you enjoy the journey!
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We started this years trip with a whistle-stop afternoon in Yixing to see our old friend Mr Fan and Liqin Fan. We have written about our relationship with Mr & Mrs Fan in our book Tales of the tea trade and I share three extracts below;
- The history of Yixing
- Background to Mr Fan and Liqin Fan's workshop
- How Yixing Zisha pots are made
Photo below : Kiln Wharf : Yixing
Extract from Tales of the Tea Trade : THE PLACE : Yixing in the province of Jiangsu, famed for its purple clay from which the pots are often formed. China is a world where tea is an experience, not just a drink, and once you have tasted great tea from a zisha teapot you too may be unable to turn back. Teaware made from zisha clay has been prized for centuries; its high percentage of clay quartz and iron is considered to be perfect, resulting in teapots that have high permeability and allow the appreciation of the colour, smell and flavour of tea perfectly. They are often adorned with poetry and paintings, each a unique combination of art and practicality, earning the zisha teapot the name ‘the king of teaware’ in China. A zisha teapot cannot be rushed; it can take several weeks to make just one pot, and if it is not perfect it will be destroyed. Competition is fierce, with many hundreds of people making pots in the streets of Yixing. As with tea, the quality and craftsmanship will vary – you need to know what to look for.
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Extract from Tales of the Tea Trade : As we walked along the streets of Yixing we came across a shop that felt quite special. Out the back, a lady sat carefully crafting pots, a not uncommon sight in many shops. The shop was tidy and uncluttered with glass cabinets neatly displaying teapots like works of art, and just one large tea table sat on the side. Mr Fan: ‘My wife has now been making Yixing teapots for 25 years, and makes all the pots for our store. In 1996, my sister and I started studying in the top teapot factory in Yixing, and by 2004 we felt ready to open our own workshop and establish our brand, Zhi Yuan Jing Fang. We mainly focus on Yixing zi ni purple clay. A big part of the popularity of Yixing clay for brewing tea is historic – it became well known through its use by the royal family.’
Mr Fan sells pots in different shapes, sizes and finishes, and you can buy off the shelf or commission pieces to order. He explained: ‘Different people buy different types of pots. If you were starting out in tea the best one to start with is a simple round or fang gu shape. Spend less money, use it often and enjoy it before you invest in the more expensive types. White guan ni clay is more suitable for light tea, zi ni clay is good for Wuyi rock and oolong teas and jiang ni clay is suitable for puer tea. These pairings are based on their impact on the cup of tea, which is down to the make up of the clay. For example, the pore size is different in different clays – the teapots are still breathing – and larger pores result in a different flow of air compared with a pot made with denser clay. These differences affect heat distribution, which impacts on the final cup of tea. Regardless of what pot you buy, you need to take care of it. First, once you make your purchase you need to put it into boiling water and soak it. This is mainly to get rid of the dust from firing and open the pores of the clay before you make the first infusion. After using it you must clean out the leaves and rinse it in hot water, then dry it well before putting it away.’
It was wonderful to be in the store again looking at pots and talking about our desire to share more about teapots from Yixing with our customers. Core to the decision of where to buy pots is the quality of the clay. Mr Fan and his wife buy their clay from the Yellow Dragon Mountain Purple Sand Mine and we spent time looking at the test certificates.
Extract from Tales of the Tea Trade : How are Yixing Pots made?
- The first thing is the zisha clay, found only in Yixing. The Green Dragon and Yellow Dragon Mountain are the most famous areas. These two mountains are located face to face at centre of Dingshu town, with a lake between them that has been formed as the clay has been removed over time.
- The second thing is the artists themselves. The way of making the teapots is special: they are handmade, not using machines
Zisha clay varies in colour, which is why you see a colourful array of teapots on sales in the shops of Yixing, and is subdivided into many different types, each with its own qualities. Handling the pots in the shops in Yixing, it became very clear that zisha pots vary in texture, which is informed by the size of the particles used; these are separated into different sizes using screens that resemble large sieves with varying mesh types.
- A pot made from 100-mesh screen (0.15 mm) will be as smooth & fine as jade
- One made from particles from a 60-mesh screen (0.3 mm) will be coarser.
Once the zisha powder has been chosen, the teapot maker starts the process of transforming it into zisha clay in a process called ‘hammering’. Every teapot maker has his own formula, resulting in unique teapots of different texture and colour. Once made, the clay needs to be wrapped in a tarpaulin and placed in a sealed jar for at least half a year to let the carbonates and organic matter decompose so that water can be absorbed into the clay and evenly distributed. Afterwards the clay must be repeatedly hammered to remove the air bubbles and ensure the particles inside are compact, resulting in a clay which, when cut, has a smooth and compact surface. The main step of forming the teapot body is called dashen tong. The maker taps the clay with their hands while spinning the wheel and tapping the teapot body, aiming for geometric symmetry and beautiful lines. The next step is called gashen tong, which involves taking the hollow teapot and using an arc-shaped tool to trim the lines until it reaches the desired finish. Finally, the handle and the spout: the inside of the spout must be perfectly smooth for the water to flow easily, and only an experienced maker knows how much strength you need to apply and how to make a suitable hole. The final part of the process is to trim the lines without leaving any flaws; a good maker will not rush this part.
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We chose a few pots to bring back which you can view online :
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