Yixing Tea Sets

About

What is a Yixing Tea Set? For centuries, tea master and tea enthusiasts the world over have sought the perfect method of preparing leaf tea. Either as part of a ritual or simply to obtain the best possible beverage, each culture has developed its own art of tea, adapted to its specific lifestyle. Of course, the practice of drinking tea is essentially to enhance and develop the preparation of leaf tea and adapt it to daily consumption. The tea set is best suited to this purpose. Here, then, is an overview of different kinds of Yixing tea sets, some of which are linked to a specific culture or ritual. Earthenware Yixing tea sets come from the Chinese county of the same name. Thanks to the porous nature of the clay from which they are made, they have the capacity to "remember" the teas that have been infused in them, and so they are called "memory teapots." Objects fashioned from clay date back to the Han dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE), but it was in the middle of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), around 1500, that a significant production began. Toward the end of the 17th century, Yixing teapots arrived in Europe. High demand from European clients led Chinese craftspeople to create some of their pieces with them in mind. Yixing is a town in Jiangshu Province, to the west of Shanghai. Famous for the quality of its clay as well as for the incredible creativity of its potters, Yixing still produces tea sets that enjoy a solid reputation in China and abroad. The center of production is in Dingshan, a community close to Yixing. In addition to the small workshops of craftspeople who work entirely by hand, there are large manufacturers who mass-produce tea sets. Yixing purple clay tea sets are particularly suited to the preparation of black, wulong and Pu er teas. What are the Features of Yixing Tea Sets? Its malleability, which makes it easy to work with and has allowed craftspeople to develop a technique to make the tea sets entirely by hand. Note that Yixing teawares are rarely