Hi Danica,

You mentioned about selecting teapots by the color of clay. That's
probably a good place to continue.

Since we can't completely rely on the sound, we must also use our
eyes. What we see begins with color. Zisha is directly translated as
purple sand. The "purple" part comes from the fact it is the most
common raw material color that is harvested. The raw purple color will
typically turn to shades of brown after firing. In addition to purple,
the other common colors are red (zhuni), green (luni), yellow (duanni),
and turquoise (qingni).

There are many common conceptions passed around about the character of
each of the colors-and then there is more. Let's begin with some
common ideas.

Red clay:
Red is an auspicious color in Chinese culture and therefore many
artworks and products are made in red-including teapots. Since tea
is the national drink of China, the market for teapots has always been
huge. However, not everyone is sophisticated enough or willing to pay
for zisha teapots; nor can Yixing meet the demands of the entire
country. So, teapots have been manufactured in many provinces of
China, with many regional types of clay.

What has this got to do with the red color? Well, every province will
make a lot of teapots in red color, because red is popular with the
people. However, many red teapots will not be made of porous zisha
clay. These non-porous teapots will maximize the aroma and brightness
of tea, but will over emphasize the astringency and bitterness as well.
Therefore, the idea about red colored teapots being suitable only for
particular tea styles developed and became a generalization.

This concept about red clay was compounded by the fact that from the
early 1980's iron was frequently blended in zisha clays to create a
rich and attractive red color. The extra iron made the zisha very
dense, and was mostly suitable for light aromatic teas.

The truth about red clay:
Red clays of pure zisha are suitable for many tea styles. The natural
red color of zisha ranges between burnt sienna or red ocher, and
displays tones of orange and brown.
Red clays can be either dense or porous, without significant
correlation to its color. Naturally vivid red teapots of cinnabar and
scarlet--though highly demanded--are very rare. These clays were
mainly harvested during the Qing dynasty and are very scarce today. If
you see a bright scarlet red teapot, it is either a rare find, or it
has been created artificially. (I have only ever seen one example, and
it was a broken--but treasured--antique).

Yellow Clay:
Zisha translates to purple sand-meaning it is sandy and granular.
Yellow clays typically have the most large and coarse granules amongst
the different clay colors. This has led many to believe that all
yellow clays are hard and not very porous-good mainly for gentle
aromatic teas, or mellow teas like cooked pu'er.

This is not entirely false. The majority of yellow clays on the market
is very dense, and will lead people to believe that this logic is true.
However, fine quality yellow clays will enhance the aroma, while
pleasantly lighten a teas weight, smooth its body, and concentrate its
flavor. It sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? Even though
yellow clays are often composed of very coarse granules, the granules
themselves can be very porous. So, yellow clays can infact be used for
many different tea styles.
Watch out for yellow clays that are not fired at adequate temperatures.
Yellow clays are most prone to developing black spots and stains from
use when they are produced from low temperatures.

Purple, Green, Turquoise and other colors:
There are fewer generalizations about the effects of other clay colors.
Interestingly, because purple is common, and because other colors are
rare. Purple is the original and most common color of zisha, so people
do not need to replicate its color, and automatically consider it to
possess the standard qualities of zisha--even without testing. Green
and turquoise are not as common, but there is little demand for these
colors to be replicated, and equally little attention paid to them.
When rare colors such as black clay (heini), are artificially
replicated, they are made in such small quantities that they cannot
create any generalizations in the market.

So, sound testing is not reliable. Colors do not provide a good
guideline. What are we supposed to look for? What kinds of teapots
are suitable for which teas?

Before we get to that, let us consider why these generalizations are so
popular. Many Chinese tea enthusiasts will have heard of at least one
or two of the generalizations that I have mentioned in the last couple
of posts. These ideas are prevalent not because tea lovers popularize
them, but because they are easy to explain--and sell--by the vendors.
Just look at how much I have written to dispel only a few popular
concepts-and I still haven't told you how to look for a good
teapot. Isn't it so much easier to say "A+B=C. Will that be cash
or charge?"

I am not trying to knock the vendors. Running a business is a
difficult challenge. Everyone needs to find a way to pay the rent and
put food on the table. However, vendors have a higher level of
responsibility than the well-intentioned tea enthusiast who is trying
to share his passion. Customers rely on vendors and professionals for
accurate information and quality products. By sharing information on
forums like this, I hope we can encourage the industry to raise the
bar. Customers should be given a chance to select higher quality
products with more professional service.

Most vendors feel that the demand for high quality teas is small, and
that customers can't tell the difference. There is little incentive
to carry expensive products when few people are willing to buy them.
But if vendors don't educate more consumers (and themselves), and
never offer them more choice, the tea industry will never improve and
be taken seriously. Tea will always be a coffee alternative. Wine
will always be more alluring. The true art of tea will never be
understood.

Oops. I am getting off topic. Maybe I should go calm down. Be back
later.

Bill Lee
www.chinaflairtea.com