Yixing Teapots are extremely rewarding. Treat them well and they will give back the best tea possible, as well as grow in luster and depth of color. High quality hand-crafted teapots are investment objects, and increase greatly in value if they are used properly. Here is a quick reference guide to using your yixing:
1. Prepare a very clean pot and boil water in it. If you have hard water, filter it or use bottled water, or the sediment will get into the tea pot.
2. Using a slotted spoon with no smells or stains, lower the tea pot, and separately, the lid into the boiling water. Allow the yixing to rest on the spoon, and not the bottom of the pot, otherwise it vibrates too much with the bubbles.
3. Boil for 3-5 minutes. Remove pot and lid and allow to dry completely.
4. Choose a tea whose flavor you want the pot to absorb. Steep tea in the pot, pouring each 10-15 second steeping into a larger bowl until the bowl is full.
5. Remove tea leaves and let pot soak in the bowl of tea with lid soaking separately.
6. Remove when tea has cooled completely and let pot dry.
7. Pot is ready to use. The first few steepings will still be light because good clay keeps absorbing for a while. After 3 sessions or so, you will notice the flavors getting more complex, and the tea pot becoming more lustrous.
Other info: Never use anything but water to clean an yixing pot. Soap will be absorbed and create a permanent soapy flavor in the tea you steep. Always allow your yixing pot to dry completely between uses, and before replacing the lid and storing. A teapot stored wet with the lid on will mold. If your teapot molds, reboil for 10-15 minutes and re-season. Take a picture of your pot when you start using it so that you can compare in a year to see how it has grown. Have fun!
Thank you! I just used this to season my first yixing pot!
Hi, I’m in Xiamen and I am a tea addict. I found your site and love it!
I have many Yixing pots now and I want to know if you have learned any secrets on how to get them to become dark and beautiful. Thanks! S
How fun! I really want to visit Xiamen soon. I have lots of friends there who tell me that it is the best place on earth. As for yixing, the best method is to use every pot, every day. Be sure to pour tea over the pot with each steeping, and then let a final steeping sit in the pot for 20 minutes or so before pouring out and over the pot. Clean the pot out at the end of each day with hot water, and rub with clean hands and a cloth. Allow it to dry completely between each use. The speed and nature of the changes will also depend on the quality and color of the clay, the quality of the teas used, and the kind of tea you devote to the pot. Better tea seems to age pots more quickly, perhaps it has a more potent concentration of tea oils? Just venturing a guess to explain my observations. Have fun!
I just bought one of these for shu puerh!!! So excited to start using it
Thank you for this article, very helpful! I am seasoning my Yixing teapot for the Dancong Oolong as I type this!
Is there any way to re-season a Yixing teapot? I started using a Yixing (5 times) for brewing pu-erh teas and now i would like to re-season for brewing Oolongs…how would I do this??