Yixing teapots
Yixing Teapots - The flavor is in the pot!
Traditional Asian teas are brewed in
natural - unglazed "Zisha" or "Zuni" clay pots. This zisha clay has the unique
ability to slowly absorb the flavor of the tea. Over time these teapots
really do enhance the unique flavor of each type of tea.
Serious tea lovers will have a Yixing teapot for each type of tea ( usually 3): Green tea, Wu-long and Black teas, never mixing the type of leaves that go to each specific teapot.
Does it make a difference in the taste?
YES! if you've never tasted wu-long brewed the correct way how COULD you know? After becoming an avid wu-long tea drinker years ago I purchased a Yixing teapot because I thought it was "cool" looking having no idea about its flavor enhancing properties. I was amazed! You can really tell the difference in the fragrance and taste of the liquor (tea liquid). There's no comparison in the taste I found out soon after using the Yixing teapots.
After many brewings the natural tea oils build up and absorb into the inside wall of the teapot. I ran out of of wu-long tea leaves once and simply poured boiling water into my Yixing teapot, no leaves, and it actually produced a few cups of rich wu-long tea just from the oils built up on the inside!
If you want to see some very good quality classic looking Yixing teapots
take a look here.