Best Teapot for Loose Leaf Tea: Clay, Porcelain, Glass or Silver?

The best teapot for loose leaf tea is not a single object. It is a match between a material and a kind of tea. Here is how the main materials behave, and one rule that saves most beginners from an expensive mistake.

Porcelain: the neutral choice

Glazed, fired at high heat and non-porous, porcelain adds nothing and absorbs nothing. You taste the tea exactly as it is, and you can switch categories without any flavour carry-over. This is why most tasting uses porcelain. If you are not sure which to buy, buy this. See porcelain gaiwans and teapots, including the hand-painted Jingdezhen teapot.

Glass: the transparent one

Neutral like porcelain, and you can watch the leaves open. It shows heat quickly, so it is best for teas you do not need to keep very hot, such as green and white. Mind sudden temperature changes; warm glass gradually. See the glass gaiwan.

Yixing zisha clay: the specialist

Unglazed purple clay from Yixing is slightly porous, holds heat well and is traditionally used for one tea type per pot, as it can absorb some character over many brews. It rewards roasted oolong, shu pu-erh and aged tea. Before you buy one, read what makes zisha clay different and the clay types. If the price of a "handmade zisha" seems far too low, ask about the clay and the maker. See the Yixing Shi Piao teapot.

Other regional clays

Jianshui pottery from Yunnan and Nixing from Qinzhou are also unglazed and are used in a similar way, often at a different price point. See a Jianshui teapot and a Nixing teapot.

Silver: for heat and for beauty

999 silver conducts heat very well and is often described as softening water, though evidence for that is mostly anecdotal. Choose it for craftsmanship and heat behaviour. Be careful: the metal gets hot quickly. See the 999 silver teapots.

The rule that saves money

Buy a gaiwan or porcelain pot first, and a clay teapot later. That way you learn what you like before committing to a clay that wants to be used with one kind of tea.

Size

For one or two people, 100 to 150 ml works. A bigger pot suits a group but makes small tasting harder. The gongfu guide explains the ratio of leaf to water, and gaiwan vs. Yixing teapot compares them directly.

Hot water and fragile ware call for care. Keep both away from small children, and warm glass and thin porcelain gradually.