Welcome to Necessiteas- Home of beautiful Yixing teapots

All about Yixing Teapots and Accessories

                                        Click image to shop our catalog 

 On our site you will find a great deal of information about Yixing teapots.  We hope that you enjoy the information provided and take the time to shop our selection of beautiful teapots.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact us

What are they?

Many believe that the first teapots were created in Yixing China.  Yixing (pronounced ee-shing) is located on Lake Taihu in Jiangsu province, China.  The city is famous for it's fertile land, rich resources and mostly for it's beautiful ceramics.  Research indicates that the ancestors of today's artists were engaged in pottery making as far back as 3000 years ago. Click here to learn more about the history of these teapots. Yixing teapots are made from a very special unglazed clay material called "zisha" clay.  This clay is found throughout the hilly southern area of the Yixing region.  The particular qualities of this clay differentiate it from other unglazed teapots.  Although unglazed, the tea inside the yixing teapot does not seep through. Over time some of the flavor is absorbed into the pot making the tea brewed in it taste rich and mellow.  It is recommended that only one type of tea be used in each yixing teapot.  Click here to learn how to season your pot.

Gong Chun- Click image to learn more about the history of these pots.

Judging a Pot

Creating an Yixing teapot is an art.  The teapot must be beautiful to look at, pour well and balance well in your hand. Click here to view the anatomy of a typical Yixing teapot. An artist will draw inspiration from many areas, nature, human emotion, symbolism. He or she may choose bamboo, dragons, frogs, fruit, coins, insects, historical figures, and many other designs to create the effect they desire. Click here to learn more about an artist's training. The yixing teapot lid must fit well and not jam or rattle.  It should not fall off easily.  The spouts and handles are generally made separately, then connected to the body of the teapot.  The handle should allow for a good grip and the tea should pour easily from the spout.  As the expertise of the artist increases, the price of an yixing teapot will rise accordingly. See our frequently asked questions to learn more about this.   At Necessiteas we try to choose teapots that we think are unique. Among our friends everyone seems to have a different favorite. We believe that Yixing pots should be purchased like any other artwork, functional or otherwise.  You should choose an yixing teapot that you will love to use or display, or that you think would make a great gift for someone.   Once in a while you'll see an item that isn't from Yixing on our site.  We really do love teapots so if we run across one that we think is really exceptional, and our customers might enjoy we'll put it under our " collectors" section in our catalog. 

These yixing teapots make excellent decorating accents as well as wonderful tea. If you would like to see some teapots in one of our customer's homes click here.  If you have a picture of one (or more) of our teapots decorating your home we would love to post it. Just email a .jpg picture to tealover@necessiteas.com and we'll get it up.

Who are we and why buy from us?

Necessiteas is a small company that believes in the beauty of yixing teapots as well as the enjoyment and health benefits of tea. We want you to be satisfied with your purchase from us. The following is our shipping and refund policy. If one of our regular teapots arrive damaged, you may return them within two weeks and we will refund your purchase or replace your pot. Keep in mind that unless the teapot is a one of a kind for us, the item you receive may be slightly different then the one  pictured.  Each of these teapots is handmade and there may be slight differences. This is one of the wonderful things about handmade art. We cannot provide refunds on sale items, or scratch and dent items.  We cannot refund shipping charges. If a teapot is in the Collectors section, then we will insure it for it's full value when we ship. We pack very, very carefully but if a teapot is damaged in shipping we will work with you to get a refund from the shipper. Unless specifically stated, our teapots are not drop shipped.  This means that we inspect each Yixing teapot that we send out.  That's how things end up in our Scratch and Dent Bin. Please click here to see what some of our customers say about us.

Our mascots and family members, Mystic and Ballou would also like you to know that a percentage of our time and money goes to the support of animal rescue organizations.  Please do what you can to help our animal friends.  Please contact us at any time at tealover@necessiteas.com.  Thanks.

Mystic says "Please support great organizations like Lost Dog Rescue or your local animal shelter.  So far, all our sponsored dogs have been adopted including Buckwheat, Spanky, and Jelly Roll and Luther. We have recently added Blaze a nine year old Australian sheep dog (we think) to the Necessiteas family.

                                        Ballou says "click my pic for the best links"