Tea time!

When is it not time for tea?

This is a small teapot designed for gong fu tea brewing. This is the Chinese practice where you use a relatively large amount of tea leaves and brew for short periods (30 seconds to 1 minute, typically). YouTube can educate you more fully on this. Brewing this way definitely gets the best flavor out of your tea leaves.

I could go on all day about tea, but I’ll spare you. I’ll just tell you about the clay and firing that made this pot.

This pot came out of a small wood kiln we call the Fire Truck kiln at Pleasant Hill Pottery in Oregon.

The clay was a high iron blend I made at Utah State University and brought with me. The dark color you see is due to firing both up and down in reduction. This means that I kept the atmosphere in the kiln deficient in oxygen. Oxygen was pulled out of the clay, reducing the red iron oxide to black iron oxide. I used waste vegetable oil and charcoal as fuels during the down firing to add extra surface interest.

This teapot has a built-in strainer, making it perfect for brewing loose leaf tea. It is unglazed on the interior to allow for tea tannins to build a patina there. They season in a similar way to your cast iron pan. No special care is needed. Just rinse with boiling water… never use soap!

This teapot comes with two little cups from the same clay and firing.

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Dimensions: Approximately 3.5” tall x 5.5” wide

It holds 250ml.

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My pots are microwave, dishwasher and oven safe. I make them with stoneware clay and fire until they’re vitrified, around 2350°F.

If a pot you like is sold out, just email me and I can make you a similar one! I also take commissions of all sorts; please email me if you have an idea.

I ship with USPS and UPS and send tracking information after sending each order.

I ship internationally; it’s no problem, but it may require a little extra postage. It’s hard to estimate as it changes from country to country. For these international orders, I will contact you if there is a discrepancy between what you pay and the actual cost. 

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See the short video below of me handling this pot…