Yi-Shing teapots

It is said that if you use a Yi-Shing teapot for many years, you can brew tea just by pouring boiling water into the empty pot.

This is just one of the many wonderful properties of these poetic little teapots. For hundreds of years, aficionados of the many varieties of tea found in China have extolled Yi-Shing teapots as superior to all other types for brewing oolong teas.

The special zisha ("purple sand") clay (containing iron, quartz and mica, and found only in Yixing) from which they are made absorbs the delicate flavors of the tea, and the teapot becomes more seasoned with each use.

Dedicated collectors spend many happy hours brewing their favorite oolongs in their favorite pots, and polishing them with a special "tea towel" until they develop a shining patina.