Capacity: Approximately 175ml
This "heini" or "black clay" Yixing teapot is produced by firing original ore lao zini clay in a low oxygen environment in the kiln. The clay has the same properties as lao zini fired in oxidation firing, but appears black instead of brown/purple.
Firing a teapot in a low-oxygen environment is called “wuhui” 焐灰 which can be loosely translated as “smother with ash to fire.” The teapot is stuffed with dry rice straw, placed in a clay box and surrounded with more rice straw before being covered. When it is fired in this way, the straw uses the oxygen when it burns to ash, reducing the oxygen in the clay box while the teapot is being fired. This creates the reduced oxygen environment that gives the clay its black appearance.
This is an Yixing teapot made from dicaoqing 底槽青 zisha, a dark brown-purple Yixing clay. This dicaoqing is original ore zisha from Huanglongshan Number 4 Mine. The clay has been aged for over 5 years. The ore itself was mined years before that, and left for years to weather before being processed. This clay is very versatile and is good for use with most kinds of tea.This clay is very versatile and is good for use with most kinds of tea.
You can read more about Dicaoqing clay in our blog entry here.
This teapot was made by Lin Hanpeng Studio. This pot is known as "half-handmade" as the sculptor uses a molding tool to shape the body, and uses his hands for the handle, spout, holes, and smoothing out the body. In fact, no machine was used in it's shaping as the use of the tool is entirely manual.
You can read more about half handmade teapots in our blog entry here.
Preparation Before Use
Yixing Teapots should be prepared before using the first time. This is called "opening the pot". It removes the dust from firing the teapot.
We recommend rinsing the teapot under warm water two or three times, then filling the teapot with boiling water and emptying it out two to three times. After this the teapot is ready for use.