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Recipes or "What do those numbers mean?"

4_Horse_Road_Camp.jpgTea factories, particularly formerly government-owned factories, produce many cakes by recipe, indicated by a recipe number. Recipe numbers consists of four-digits. The first two digits represent the year the recipe was first produced, the third digit the grade of leaves used in the recipe, and the last digit represents the factory. 7542, for example, would be a recipe from 1975 using fourth-grade tea leaf made by Menghai Tea Factory (represented by 2). There are also those who believe that the third number indicates a recipe for a particular production year.

Factory numbers (fourth digit in recipe):

  1. Kunming Tea Factory
  2. Menghai Tea Factory
  3. Xiaguan Tea Factory
  4. Lan Cang Tea Factory or Feng Qing Tea Factory 
  5. Pu'er Tea Factory (now Pu'er Tea group Co.Ltd )
  6. Six Famous Tea Mountain Factory
  7. unknown / not specified
  8. Haiwan Tea Factory and Long Sheng Tea Factory 

Tea of all shapes can be made by numbered recipe. Not all recipes are numbered, and not all cakes are made by recipe. The term "recipe," it should be added, does not always indicate consistency, as the quality of some recipes change from year-to-year, as do the contents of the cake. Perhaps only the factories producing the recipes really know what makes them consistent enough to label by these numbers.

Occasionally, a three digit code is attached to the recipe number by hyphenation. The first digit of this code represents the year the cake was produced, and the other two numbers indicate the production number within that year. For instance, the seven digit sequence 8653-602, would indicate the second production in 2006 of factory recipe 8653. Some productions of cakes are valued over others because production numbers can indicate if a tea was produced earlier or later in a season/year. This information allows one to be able to single out tea cakes produced using a better batch of máochá.

Yixing clay teapot

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A Chinese Yixing Zisha teapot
A Chinese Zisha teapot - "Melon"

Yixing clay teapots (simplified Chinese: 宜兴; traditional Chinese: 宜興; pinyin: Yíxīng; Wade-Giles: I-Hsing) (also called Purple Sand (simplified Chinese: 紫砂; pinyin: zǐshā; Wade-Giles: tsu sha) are made from Yixing clay. This traditional style commonly used to brew tea originated in China, dating back to the 15th century, and are made from clay produced in the region of the town of Yixing in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu.

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[edit] Origin

According to literature[citation needed], the first YiXing teapot was created during the Song Dynasty (10th century) that a monk from Jinsha Temple (Golden Sand Temple) in YiXing handcrafted a teapot from local clay, but it did not flourish until Ming Dynasty (15th century).

[edit] 20th century

Yíxīng teapots are not actually made in the regional city of Yíxīng, but rather in nearby Dīngshān, also known as Dingshu, which falls within the administrative area of Yixing. Hundreds of teapot shops line the edges of the town's crowded streets and it is a popular tourist destination for many Chinese. While Dīngshān is home to dozens of ceramics factories, Yíxīng Zǐshā Factory Number 1, which opened in 1958, processes a large part of the clay used in the region, produces fine pottery ware, and has a large commercial showroom. In addition to the better known teapots, frescoes, oil and grain jars, flower vases, figurines, glazed tiling, tables, ornamental rocks, and even ornamental garbage bins are all manufactured in the community.

[edit] Judging the Quality of Yíxīng

When judging the quality of Yíxīng teapots the following can be done:[citation needed]

  • Tap the pots lightly together: the ceramic should make a distinctly metallic sound.
  • Look at the fit of the lid into the pot, it should be flush and appear seamless.
  • Fill the pot with water, place the lid on, and begin pouring the water. it should pour smoothly
  • While pouring, place your finger over the hole on the lid, this action should stop the flow of water immediately and completely if the lid is well fitted.

[edit] Price

Prices can vary from a few dollars to thousands of dollars per teapot, where some Chinese National treasures have even been deemed priceless. Generally, the price of most contemporary Yixing teapots are dependant on such factors such as age, clay, artist, style and production methods. The more expensive pots are shaped by hand using wooden and bamboo tools to manipulate the clay into form. While lesser quality and thus cheaper Yixing pots are mass produced using a "slip cast" method where slurry is channeled into predetermined moulds and subsequently placed in kilns to harden.

[edit] Characteristics and use with tea
Five Yixing Clay Teapots - showing a variety of styles from formal to whimsical.

Yixing teapots are meant for use with black and oolong teas, as well as aged pǔ’ěr tea. They can also be used for green or white tea, but the water must be allowed to cool to around 85 degrees Celsius before pouring the water into the pot. With "Zisha" (a purple-sand clay found only in Yixing) teapots, a tiny amount of tea is absorbed into the pot during brewing. After prolonged use, the pot will develop a coating that retains the flavor and color of the tea. It is for this reason that soap should not be used to clean Yixing teapots. Instead, it should be rinsed with fresh water and allowed to air-dry.

The physical size of these fine teapots are smaller than Western counterparts because they are designed for individual use. Traditionally, some Chinese would pour the tea from the spout directly into their mouths.

Yixing teacups meant for steeping tea directly in the cup are also available.

[edit] References

  • Wain, Peter, "A Taste of Transition: The Teapots of Yixing", Ceramic Review, 153, May/June 1995, pp.42-45p