Purple art culture has a long and illustrious history. Imagine Su Dongpo in his time, with a fine pot of Tea, surrounded by a few friends, engaged in scholarly discourse, the elegance of the literati's life expressed to the fullest. Nowadays, modern people living in a materialistic society need a return to this kind of refined state. And perhaps this return starts with a cup of tea and a Teapot…

Among various Teapots used for brewing tea, purple clay teapots stand out due to their unique material properties, making them a favorite tool among tea enthusiasts. Purple clay teapots enhance the color, aroma, and flavor of tea, eliminating any cooked taste, allowing tea drinkers to enjoy the perfect experience through taste, smell, and sight.

The Characteristics of Purple Clay Teapots That Enhance Tea Brewing

1. Purple clay teapots are fired at high temperatures, resulting in a large number of spiral, double-circulatory pores within the pot. Good quality purple clay teapots can achieve porosity rates of up to fifty percent. This is one of the key reasons why they are excellent for brewing tea.

2. The body of a purple clay teapot is relatively thick, so when hot water is poured in, there is no risk of it being too hot to handle. In winter, the hot water does not cool down quickly, which particularly enhances the aroma of the tea.

3. Another lesser-known feature of purple clay teapots is that when left in a room, they keep water warm in winter and cool in summer, softening the water quality. They are like miniature wells.

4. Purple clay teapots also purify water. Scientific research shows that certain trace elements in the clay are beneficial to human health.

The Benefits of Brewing Tea with a Purple Clay Teapot

【Preservation of Color, Aroma, and Flavor】

The high iron content in purple clay, after firing at around 1200°C, results in the reorganization of molecules into a scale-like structure, forming a large number of open and closed dual-pore structures. This unique, highly dense, porous physical structure has strong adsorption capabilities. Due to these dual pores, the teapot allows air to pass through without leaking water, ensuring that the color, aroma, and flavor of the tea remain unchanged during brewing.

【Aroma Without Tea】

When brewing tea with a purple clay teapot, the tea's aroma is rich and lasts longer. The small spout and tight-fitting lid of the teapot, combined with its rough inner walls, effectively prevent the early dissipation of the tea's aroma. Over time, a layer of reddish-brown tea rust forms on the inner walls of the teapot, enriching the tea's flavor even more.

Due to the strong adsorption properties of purple clay, it can absorb the tea's aroma as well. If a teapot is used for an extended period to brew tea, even plain boiled water will have a tea fragrance, thanks to the absorption of the tea's aroma by the clay. This is why tea brewed in a purple clay teapot has an especially fragrant and fresh taste.

【No Cracking or Scalding】

When using a purple clay teapot to brew tea, you won't burn your hands. The coefficient of linear expansion of purple clay is slightly higher than that of porcelain, and since there is no glaze, there is no issue with thermal stress between the body and the glaze. After firing, purple clay teapots have sufficient resistance to sudden temperature changes, thus having slow heat conduction. (However, caution should be taken with red clay teapots, which may require pre-warming before use.)

【Grows More Lustrous with Use】

The surface of a purple clay teapot features a coarse arrangement of sand particles. The longer it is used, the thicker the patina becomes, giving the teapot a lustrous sheen and a gentle, elegant aura. As the saying goes, “cherished and loved, like a precious gem in the palm; over time, it resembles purple jade outside and green clouds inside, becoming a rare treasure.”

There was a tea merchant who had been accustomed to brewing Biluochun in glassware to allow customers to admire the graceful dance of the Biluochun leaves. Later, he tried brewing Biluochun in a purple clay teapot and found that not only was the tea more flavorful and fragrant, but it also retained an extra infusion of aroma compared to brewing in glassware (i.e., while the third infusion in glassware would show a significant drop in aroma, the third infusion from a purple clay teapot still had an aroma similar to the second infusion).

Also, if a purple clay teapot is properly maintained, it will become even better at enhancing the flavor of tea, making the brewed tea taste even better!