Capacity: Approximately 155ml

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.

You can read our blog entry here to learn more about the reaction that occurs in a reduction environment to give the clay this appearance in our blog post here.

This teapot was made of original ore lao zini (old purple clay) mined from No. 4 Mine in Huanglongshan Yixing. It has been aged for 8 years. This clay is very versatile and is good for use with most kinds of tea. Click here for more information on zini and tea pairing with Yixing Teapots.

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.