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 Tea drinking has been part of Chinese culture since hundreds of years ago. The Chinese believes tea promotes digestion and urination and works as anti-aging when taken in long term. Western studies proved tea leaves contain anti-oxidant properties, which in turn prevent cancer.
When drinking tea, choose loose tea leaves and not teabags. Why? Because loose tea leaves are picked and processed as whole leaf while teabags usually uses the cut, residue or "dust" leaf which contains lesser antioxidants and less fresh compared to loose tea leaves.
"Good Chinese tea is best taken with Zhisha teapot" - this is the message we get when we visited this shop in Wuxi, China which sells mainly Zhisha teapot. What is 'Zhisha'? In Mandarin, 'Zhi' means purple, 'Sha' means sand. Although the name suggest something similar to clay, Zhisha is actually a special type of rocks with high minerals deposit and can only be found in Yixing, Wuxi in Jiangsu province (120 miles to the Northwest of Shanghai, China).
Zhisha rock comes in five natural colors: Purple, Yellow, Red, Dark Green and Beige. Among all, the most expensive one is dark green clay because it is very rare. Once the rocks are mined, it is being machine grind and filtered with water and becomes like a paste, this paste is then used to form Zhisha teapot.
So, what makes Zhisha teapot so special?
* The porous nature of this purple clay works like a tiny air pocket that provides insulation, hence naturally enhance taste and aroma of tea brewed in it.
* Unlike a normal clay which is used to make teapot, Zhisha is lead-free thus contains no harmful properties when brewing tea.
* High mineral deposits found in Zhisha clay works wonders for people who have high blood pressure or high cholesterol. It promotes longevity.
* Over time, it is also believed the seasoned Zhisha teapot can make fine tea without any tea leaves, because the tea taste contained in the pot can turn warm water into pleasant tea-alike taste. For this reason, most people will dedicate a single flavor of tea to a specific Zhisha teapot.
* A well-fired Zhisha teapot is able to withstand heavy pressure as high as 300 pounds! As my hubby was the tallest among our tour group, he was asked to demonstrate the strength of the teapot by stepping on one of the teapot!
* The unique Zhisha clay-made cup is able to hold more tea/water than ordinary cup, as it was demonstrated to us, tea poured into Zhisha cups are brimming about 1mm higher than ordinary cups!
Every Zhisha teapot is individually carved (hand-made) with different intricate designs therefore it not surprising, it become one of hot collector's item among the tea lovers. Few teapots are exclusively made and even take weeks to complete!
A set of Zhisha teapot (comes with cups and box) is priced as low 300 yuan to as high as 10,000 yuan or even higher!
To differentiate a genuine Zhisha teapot from a fake one, one can try to hit (gently) a teapot's lid against its rim or holder. A genuine Zhisha teapot should produce a sharp, crisp metallic sound when tapped due to its high mineral deposit nature.
As we were watching the sifu (master) demonstrated to us the unique features of Zhisha teapot, we were served with Long Jing (Dragon Well) tea brewed in Zhisha teapot...
Selected Zhisha teapot has a specially-crafted-spout that enables water that flows out to form an interesting pattern.
A set of 'Yin Yang' Zhisha teapots we purchased
This one is a magnetic set, so one need not worry about dropping off the lid when pouring tea...
Happy drinking!
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Fancy drinking tea? Try it with Zhisha teapot
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