This Tiger tea pet is made by the Fan Family in Yixing 
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What is a tea pet?  The ceramic creatures that sit on your tea tray are tea pets - a tea tray companion that is thought to date back to 13th century China. As you enjoy your tea you also pour tea over or ‘feed’ your tea pet which will absorb some of the tea - its colour changing over time.  Some people place tea pets for luck but for us a tea pet is a simple, welcome companion who shares time with us over tea & one we can nurture over time

You can read more below & also from our latest blog 

Extract from Tales of the Tea Trade .

'As we walked along the streets of Yixing we came across a shop that felt quite special. [....] This was Mr Fan’s shop, and I rather liked his pots.  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'  Mr Fan explains 'White duan ni clay is more suitable for light tea, zi ni clay is good for Wuyi rock and oolong teas and jiang ni po 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 [...] 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 ring and open the pores of the clay before you make the rst infusion. After using it you must clean out the leaves and rinse it in hot water, then dry it well before putting it away.’  end of extract from Tales of the Tea Trade