We’ve been working for the past few months with some potters in Yixing to make jars for tea storage. The shape is modelled after a Ming Dynasty tea jar - beautiful in its elegant lines and generous curves.
The Zini is an aged clay from pure Huang Long Shan ore, with no additives - something that's not so easy to find - especially for tea jars. These were twice fired in a tuiban gas kiln - where the jars are slowly moved through the kiln over a period of 24 hours, ensuring even, steady firing.
It's still early, and it will be interesting to see how the teas change over the course of years, but in our tests so far, both the Zini and Duanni jars seem to be working well for storing tea and "waking up" the tea from newly broken tea cakes. The teas stored in the jars seem to become more smooth and rich.
