You finally bought the teapot. Or maybe it's still in a box somewhere, making its way to your door from the other side of the world. Either way, here's the thing nobody tells you up front: taking care of a Yixing pot or a porcelain gaiwan is nothing like washing the dinner plates.
Do it right, and the piece quietly gets better every year — the clay deepens, the surface warms, the whole thing starts to feel like it belongs to you. Do it wrong, and you can dull a pot that took a master craftsman weeks to hand-build.
This is the guide I wish someone had put in my hands on day one. No ceremony, no jargon. Just what to do, what not to do, and why.
Why Yixing clay is a different animal
Most teapots you've seen are glazed — sealed with a glassy coating so nothing soaks in. Yixing clay (it's a purple-brown unglazed stoneware from Yixing, China) is the opposite. It's porous. Microscopically, it breathes.
That sounds like a problem. It's actually the whole point.
Because the clay is unglazed, it slowly absorbs tiny traces of the tea you brew in it. Over months and years, that builds up a layer on the inside — and on the outside, if you care for it the right way — that deepens the color and, regular drinkers swear, improves the flavor. A pot "seasoned" on one tea develops a memory for it.
Two things follow from this, and they explain almost every rule below:
- Never use soap on a Yixing pot. The clay will drink the detergent and spit it back into your tea for months.
- One pot, one type of tea. A pot you've raised on ripe pu-erh will taste wrong if you suddenly brew green tea in it. Pick a tea, commit.
Porcelain — your gaiwan, cups, and fairness pitcher — is glazed, so it doesn't absorb. That makes it far more forgiving. The care is easier, but it has its own rules (mostly about heat and stains). We'll get there.
Opening your new Yixing pot
When a new pot arrives, it's "raw." Before its first real brew, most people do a simple opening ritual. You don't have to be elaborate about it.
The water method (easiest, and what we recommend for beginners):
- Rinse the pot inside and out with warm water.
- Fill it with plain hot water (not boiling-scary, just off the kettle), put the lid on, and let it sit a few minutes.
- Pour that out. Repeat once.
- That's it. The pot is open and ready.
The tea method (traditional, optional): Some folks simmer the pot gently in water with a few spoonfuls of the tea they plan to use, then let it cool in that tea. It's a nice touch and it "greets" the clay with its future companion. But skip this if you're not comfortable — plain water works fine, and you can't undo a scorched pot.
One caution: never put a cold Yixing pot straight under blasting boiling water, and never set it on a direct flame or stove. Thermal shock can crack unglazed clay faster than you'd think.
Daily care, step by step
This is the whole routine. It takes about ninety seconds and it's oddly calming.
- Pour out the spent leaves as soon as you're done brewing. Don't let wet leaves sit in the pot for hours.
- Rinse with warm water — inside and out, lid and all. No soap, no detergent, nothing but water.
- Use a soft brush (a gentle toothbrush works) on the lid and the spout opening if there's any buildup. The inside of a Yixing pot you can just swish; the clay likes a little tea film left behind.
- Air-dry upside down, lid off. Set the pot on its side or inverted on a drying rack with the lid separate. Trapped moisture is the enemy — it breeds smells and, rarely, mold.
- Give it a wipe with spent tea if you want to raise a patina (more on that next). Otherwise, just let it dry.
That's the entire daily habit. Notice what's not there: no dishwasher, no soak, no scrubbing with powder.
Raising the pot: how a patina actually happens
"Raising" a pot (养壶, yǎng hú) sounds mystical. It isn't. It's just: use the pot often, and occasionally wipe the outside with the tea you've just brewed.
Here's the gentle version:
- After you pour your tea, take a clean soft cloth or a dedicated "tea wipe" and rub the warm, damp pot with the leftover brew.
- Do this a few times a week, not obsessively.
- Over months, the outside develops a soft sheen — a patina — that catches light differently than a brand-new pot.
The mistakes people make here are rushing and overdoing it. Some beginners "feed" the pot by pouring boiling tea over it constantly, which can stain unevenly or encourage a sticky buildup. Slow is better. A real patina takes a year of ordinary use, not a weekend of tea baths.
If your pot ever smells musty, it wasn't dried properly. Scrub the inside with a soft brush under warm water, dry it completely with the lid off for a day, and it'll recover.
Caring for porcelain (gaiwan, cups, pitcher)
Porcelain is the easygoing sibling. Glazed and non-porous, it won't absorb flavors or smells.
- Hand-wash with warm water after use. A drop of mild dish soap is fine here — porcelain doesn't soak it up the way Yixing does. Just rinse thoroughly.
- Skip the dishwasher if you can. The harsh detergents and the rattling against other items are rough on thin, hand-painted pieces. If you must, top rack, gentle cycle, no crowded neighbors.
- Watch the temperature swings. Don't rinse a piping-hot gaiwan under ice-cold water. Glazed porcelain handles heat well, but a sudden shock can craze the glaze (those fine hairline cracks) or, rarely, crack the piece. Let it cool a little first.
- Tea stains on porcelain? They happen, especially inside a gaiwan. A paste of baking soda and water, or dropping the piece in water with a denture-cleaning tablet for an hour, lifts stains without scratching. Skip the bleach — it's overkill and can dull the glaze.
The five mistakes that quietly ruin good teaware
If you remember nothing else, remember this list.
- Soap on a Yixing pot. The single most common, most permanent error. The clay holds the scent and returns it to your tea for a long, long time.
- Soaking it overnight. Trapped water in an unglazed pot = stale smells and, eventually, trouble. Rinse and air-dry, every time.
- One pot, every tea. Flavor crossover muddies both teas and wastes the seasoning you built up.
- The dishwasher. For either material, really. Heat, detergent, and collision are a bad combination for handmade pieces.
- Abrasive scrubbers and steel wool. They scratch the clay's surface and scuff glazed porcelain. Soft brush only.
Storing your pieces
When a pot or gaiwan isn't in rotation:
- Make sure it's completely dry first.
- Store with the lid off or slightly ajar so air moves through. A sealed lid on a not-fully-dry pot is how you get surprises.
- A ventilated shelf or a soft-lined drawer both work. Many people just display them — they're beautiful objects, and the light is part of the point.
- If you have several Yixing pots, keep each near its tea so you don't mix them up.
A note on "imperfections"
Your handmade piece may have a tiny unevenness in the rim, a faint tool mark, a slight color shift in the clay. That isn't a defect — it's the fingerprint of the person who made it. Machine-made ware is uniform; this isn't, and that's the value. Care for it gently and it'll outlast most things in your kitchen.
Your starter care kit
You don't need much:
- A soft-bristle brush (a clean toothbrush is perfect)
- A dedicated drying spot — a small rack or a clean towel
- A soft cloth for raising the patina
- One tea per pot, decided in advance
That's genuinely it.
Where to go from here
If you want to go deeper on any of this, we've written the pieces:
- How to Season (Raise) Your Yixing Teapot, Step by Step
- Why Your Yixing Pot Changes Color — and When to Worry
- How to Care for a Porcelain Gaiwan Without Cracking It
- Removing Tea Stains from Porcelain, Safely
- The 7 Yixing Care Mistakes People Actually Make
- And if you're still learning the brew itself: Gongfu Tea, Brewed Step by Step
If you'd rather start from the top, our complete introduction to Chinese tea culture walks through the teaware, the ritual, and the six types of tea.
A well-kept Yixing pot becomes a quiet companion — the kind of object you reach for without thinking, year after year. Slow is not delay. Slow is intention.
Browse the handmade Yixing and Jingdezhen collection at SONGKILN — each piece is made by a single master, by hand, and built to be cared for.
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