OurHours: W-S 12-7 SU 2-7
805 Main Street, Boonton, New Jersey 07005, United States
Teaware - available at our shop
Zisha clay tea pots
Before we sell our prizable zisha clay teapots, we season them, assuring their quality and durability. Zisha teapots are made of sandy Yixing clay that allows the pot to breath nutrients from the clay. Click on image to order online.
Tea cups
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We offer a variety of attractive tea cups that complement the profound ritual of making Chinese tea. These small tea vessels need not be larger to hold the exquisite liquor of Chinese tea. Visit our store to find your own treasured teaware.
Tea trays
Tea trays
Our wood, bamboo, and stone tea trays offer a beautiful and practical tea service area. Matching the natural appeal of the clay teapot and cups, our tea trays add to the special mood that comes with drinking or sharing Chinese tea.
Yixing clay tea pots
Our Zisha Clay Pots
For around one thousand years, the zisha purple sand clay of Yixing, China, has been the favored material for fine teapots. Zisha clay has unique properties that make it perfect, practical, and safe for tea drinking.
Zishaclay’s sandy quality makes it porous enough to allow the pot to breathe, pulling the tea fragrance into the walls of the pot. This enhances the tea drinking experience over time. The porosity also reduces the likelihood of mold formation and disburses excess heat in brewing.
Yixing China’s zisha clay is most safe for tea drinkers for other reasons. Since the clay deposits vary in color, they can be mixed as desired to produce different colored pots; therefore, no artificial dyes or colorants need be introduced. This clay is not merely safe, its richness in minerals makes it nutritious!
Zishaclay’s desirability has spawned a magnificent culture of teapot craft mastery in the area of Yixing. Tradition and innovation thrive there, and the beauty and utility of the teapots bear witness to it.
Seasoning Teapots for Safety
In order to season teapots prior to sale, Feng Xiao Liu stuffs them with tofu and sugar cane, then boils them in filtered water. A teapot made from impure materials will not pass this test (For greater profit, some teapot makers substitute inferior clay, yet advertise zisha high quality clay.) After the seasoning process, Fengxiao determines a poor quality teapot by its odor and appearance. She then will discard or return the inferior pot.
As a result of seasoning, each pot sold at Sinofilia Tea Shop is guaranteed to be healthy and ready for great tasting tea. Using and caring for a fine teapot will add to its value and collectability now and into the future.
Lake Tai, Yixing, China, where the Zi Sha clay is mined and crafted into beautiful teapots.
Seasoning Newly Received Teapots: adding tofu, boiling, cleaning
Tea trays
Ancient Style Large Wooden Tea Tray - recently sold
Please come to the shop to see our selection. Tea trays convert any table into a tea table for enjoying tea service in the traditional Gong Fu Cha manner. They have drains like our large tea tables do.