Zi Sha as a kind of material of tea pots has many great advantages. Zi Sha is a perfect match for the color, aroma and taste of the tea. It is good to keep the temperature without burning the drinkers, never changes the taste or scent of tea soup. The tea can be reserved inside a Zi Sha pot for overnight without changing the taste. Therefore in the Ming and Qing Dynasties some books said that the tea drinkers "abandoned silver and tin kettles and porcelains made in Fujian and Henan, and only used the Zi Sha tea pots made in Yixing".

All the advantages of Zi Sha pot are caused by the properties of Zi Sha -- the purple sand clay. There are many tiny pores on the wall of Zi Sha tea pot, which is not permeable to water, but will absorb the aroma of tea and keep it for a longer time than porcelain or metal pots. The structure of Zi Sha pot is also helpful to reserve the tea: The spout of the tea pot is small and the lid seals the tea pot much more firmly than porcelain tea pots. The tea in the Zi Sha pots is more difficult to get contaminated.

Zi Sha is really a gift from the God to the city of Yixing. It is basically a type of clay for the pottery making. The size of particles and the basic chemical component make Zi Sha have such physical properties as high plasticity, toughness and low shrinkage when being dried. Shining in a special purple-red color, Zi Sha is a perfect material for the tea equipment.

Zi Sha has a high component of iron, which gives the clay its special color. There is no glaze on the Zi Sha pots, therefore the absorption rate to water is as high as 1.6% - 7.05%. This character makes Zi Sha an ideal material for the tea drinkers. It keeps the color, aroma and taste of tea very well. The many micro-pores on Zi Sha pot results a very good thermal insulator. Zi Sha can be heated directly on the fire without being broken.

In one word, Zi Sha has so many physical characters that make it very ideal for the tea pot making which is superior than any other materials.
 

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