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Hey tea lovers! 🐉✨ Exciting news as we step into the Dragon Year of 2024 - with Yixing teapot purchase, we're gifting you an exclusive Dragon Year style tea mat to add that extra flair to your tea rituals. It's our way of celebrating with you, but remember, it's a limited-time offer! Don't miss out on making your tea sessions even more special with this mystical addition. 🍵💫

Hey tea lovers! While many of you know us as a premium Chinese tea wares company. We also specialized in teas in Huang Shan region. Huang Shan is home to the most famous Chinese teas – Huang Shan Mao Feng, Keemun and Tai Ping Hou Kui. As natives of this breathtaking place, we have a deep connection to the land and its rich tea heritage.

We understand that finding the perfect tea can be a personal journey, which is why we offer our sample pack. It allows you to explore the diverse flavors of Huang Shan teas and discover the one that resonates with your taste buds.

Each of the teas are sourced and produced directly from the tea farmers, ensuring the quality and the authentic taste.

Sample pack including:
Huang Shan Mao Feng – 10g
Tai Ping Hou Kui – 10g
Keemun Mao Feng – 10g
Osmanthus Keemun – 10g

We can’t wait to hear from your feedbacks on our teas. Join us on this journey and let us be your guide as you explore the enchanting world of Huang Shan teas.

Please note that the tea and tea wares will be shipped in seperate packages according to customs requirement. Usually tea will come slightly later than the tea wares.

Dear customers,

If you experienced any issues during checkout, please contact us at cary.wang@cnteaspirit.com. And we will help you out.

Below we listed common payment errors and their solutions for your reference.

#1: China Tea Spirit does not ship to this location. Please use a different address.

This is a known bug from PayPal. It occurs randomly. If you have seen this error message, please contact us at cary.wang@cnteaspirit.com. We will work this out for you.

What is Shui Ping Yixing Teapot?

Introduction

The Shui Ping – 水平 teapot, also known as the “Horizontal Teapot,” has an interesting origin closely associated with the Gongfu tea culture in southern China. When brewing Gongfu tea, a small teapot is filled with a generous amount of tea leaves and hot water. Due to the limited water volume and the abundance of tea leaves, it can be challenging to extract the full flavor of the tea.

Shui Ping Yixing Teapot
Shui Ping Yixing Teapot

Clever tea enthusiasts from the Fujian and Guangdong regions devised a method to expedite the infusion process. They would place the teapot in a tea sea or tea bowl, and then repeatedly pour hot water over the teapot’s surface. This technique, known as “hot water rinsing,” helped to warm up the teapot and accelerate the extraction of flavors from the tea leaves. Interestingly, during this process, they noticed that certain teapots would float gracefully and steadily in the hot water without tilting or tipping, appearing perfectly level like a flat surface.

This observation led to the name “Shui Ping,” meaning “Horizontal Teapot,” as these teapots displayed exceptional stability and balance. Over time, the term “Shui Ping” became synonymous with this specific teapot shape. The Shui Ping teapot embodies the ingenuity of tea connoisseurs in maximizing the tea’s flavors and represents a unique and sought-after style within the world of Yixing teapots.

Historical Story

The Shui Ping teapot has a history that dates back to the Ming and Qing dynasties. However, at that time it was only occasionally crafted by artisans, and its styles and designs were relatively limited. Among them, the representative works were the “Zhuni Xiaopin” created by Huimengchen, a master potter from the late Ming and early Qing periods. These teapots featured a simple and understated design, exquisite craftsmanship, meticulous attention to detail, and carefully selected clay, but their overall shape remained relatively unchanged.

Huimengchen was known for his rustic large teapots and exquisite small teapots. In the southern Fujian region, where tea utensils were highly valued. A saying circulated: “For teapots, go for Mengchen, for cups, go for Ruoshen”. As a result, the Shui Ping teapot was also referred to as the Mengchen teapot.

Meng Chen Shui Ping
Meng Chen Shui Ping

During the Republican era, there is a master potter specializing in Shui Ping teapots named Wang Yinchun. Born into a poor family in Zhenjiang, Wang Yinchun became an apprentice to Jin A’shou at the age of 13. After completing his apprenticeship, he worked as an assistant at Zhao Songting’s pottery workshop. Later, when kiln owners placed orders for Shui Ping teapots, Wang Yinchun dedicated himself to honing his skills in teapot making. His perseverance paid off, as he not only mastered the art of making teapots quickly and skillfully but also developed a unique technique of inserting his little finger into the teapot to polish the interior.

Impressed by Wang Yinchun’s dedication and hard work, Zhao Songting generously taught him the techniques of teapot making. Wang Yinchun lived up to his master’s expectations, creating teapots with thin bodies, pure clay, and smooth pouring, which garnered a large number of custom orders and brought him fame both domestically and internationally.

Wang Yinchun Shui Ping
Wang Yinchun Shui Ping

Design of the Shui Ping Teapot

The Shui Ping teapot features a circular foot, an oval body, looped handle, straight spout, and a spherical knob. The lid is designed with a joint line, with a thicker upper part and a thinner lower part, creating a snug fit when closed.

The distinctive feature of the Shui Ping teapot lies in its design: the spout of the teapot faces upwards, with the plane of the spout, the mouth of the teapot, and the top of the handle all aligning on a horizontal line. This ensures that the water outside the teapot does not flow back into the pot, and when the teapot is immersed in a tea tray or a bowl, it remains upright and stable, without tilting or tipping over.

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