Fat Dragon Egg Yixing Teapot

The classic and beloved Long Dan—or 'dragon egg'—form lends itself to this rendering, in bright, sandy jiangponi. Light in the hand, with walls only a few millimetres in width, it almost seems to be swollen and ready to burst with tea: the body wide and voluminous with a slightly-flattened top, the handle thick and sturdy, and the spout in an exaggerated pucker, channelling the brewed liquor inside through a built-in net filter and out the narrow opening. This fun and original take merges a pop aesthetic with a classic Yixing shape.

The clay

Discovered by accident while building a road between two mountains, both Yixing mines, this is a paragenetic ore called jiangponi (meaning 'downhill clay'), formed from a combination of minerals found in hongni, zini, and duanni—a good choice for the indecisive.

The intersection of these different ores offer differing combinations of each, though even all together, this is a rarer material than other Yixing ores. The processing of the clay leaves speckling in a blended colour, depending on the exact mixture and firing temperature.

Why do I need a Yixing teapot?

The material and the shape of Yixing teapots are ideal for brewing tea. They bring out the tea flavor like no other tea vessel. Hand-made Yixing teapots are also valuable handicrafts sought after by collectors. Their value raises with time, usage and artist popularity.

Yixing teapots are made of a rare and depleting clay mined in the mountains near Yixing, a city in the Jiangsu province. The high density yet porous nature of the clay absorbs the smell of the tea brewed in it. For this reason, it is advised to use the pot with only one kind of tea (for instance with black teas or green teas). Bring your tea to the next level; allow yourself an authentic Yixing teapot.