Tastes of Culture

Produced in the town of Yixing, purple clay is seen as the most suitable of natural materials for teapot production. There’s a place not far from the Beijing Guohong hotel that you just can’t miss.

Their purple clay teapots can release your tea’s aroma and keep it from going tasting bad better than any other material. So many people in China like to use them.

I paid a visit to the Chayuan Tea City, which is located on the south end of the Maliandao Tea Street. Here, I found some elegant purple clay teapots and cups in a shop called Qingyi, which literally means “Affection” in English.

As I set my eyes upon the tea cups shown on the shelves, a shop assistant started telling me about the twelve Chinese Zodiac animal cups originally designed by the shopkeeper, Mr. Chen.

I picked up a tea cup with a lovely image, a delicate small rooster standing on the lid. When I opened the lid of the tea cup, I found that there was a purple clay strainer inside! And there was another miniature rooster standing there.

The inner layer had many small, round holes that allow tea to pass through and keep the leaves at the bottom. So don’t worry about accidently drinking any leaves.

All the prices of their tea cups are very agreeable, all less than $20. The price of the teapots depends on the quality. And you can also find a lot of different kinds of accessories for a tea ceremony, like little tea pets, and some famous Chinese tea too.

Another shopkeeper can speak English very well, and he’s happy to help customers learn the culture and history of Chinese tea and teaware in Beijing.