The selection of a teapot is as individualistic as the person chooses it. Like the saying of ‘love at the first sight’, you should choose a teapot you like – follow your instincts and pick the one tickles your heart! There is no correct way to choose a teapot!

Having said that, teapot made from different materials do have different characteristics:

Glass
Many people love glass teapots because they consider the visual transformation of the dry leaves opening up to regain its original leafy shape an integral part of tea drinking.

To keep the glass teapot from tea stains, soak it regularly in diluted detergent water. Rise in hot water and air dry.

Porcelain
For many, porcelain is the traditional material to make a teapot. It maintains a good infusion temperature while being relatively carefree.

As most porcelain teaware are fairly delicate, we recommend against dish washing.

Clay
Because of its porous nature, clay can enhance the texture, aroma and taste of the infusion. However, also because of its porous characteristic, clay teapot will take up the aroma of the tea it is used for. For this reason, many people have a different clay teapot for different teas.

Yixing teapots are highly regarded – they are strong (a person can stand on it and it won’t break!) and can improve the quality of the infusion. Go to a reliable merchant as there are a lot of imitations on Yixing teapots.

Other materials used are jade, agate, crystal, silver, stainless steel and glazed iron. We advise strongly to avoid teapots made from pewter, aluminum, uncoated iron, plastic, lacquered bamboo or other synthetics. These materials oxidize easily and can (even if not harmful) greatly affect the taste of the tea.

A note about small teapots:
Many of our customers ask why choose small teapots – the reason is better tea making practice. Smaller teapot encourages you to drain all the tea out of the teapot (into your cup(s)) once the tea is made. This way you won’t have over-steeped bitter tea left in the teapot. Once the first infusion is completely drained, add water to make the second infusion and so on.

If you are planning to buy teapots just head over to our website Teas.com.au