Mutton fat jade porcelain , why has it become the new favorite in the tea industry?Chinese people love to drink tea, which is indeed a good habit. A cup of good tea not only quenches thirst but also allows us to savor the tea dance, tea aroma, and tea flavor at the same time. Drinking tea is not only a sensory enjoyment but also beneficial to our health since tea contains various nutrients. "Drinking tea is good for health" has become a consensus among the public.
Water is the mother of tea, and tea ware is the father of tea. To make a good cup of tea, we not only need good tea leaves but also good tea ware. As the capital of ceramics, China has many excellent tea sets. The most famous one should be the Yixing purple clay teapot. The purple clay material is rare, and the production process is complex. Moreover, purple clay can improve the tea soup, which is highly praised by tea lovers.
However, the purple clay teapot also has its shortcomings. The teapot can absorb the tea aroma, making the tea's fragrance weaker and affecting the tea's quality. Nowadays, the most popular tea ware is Dehua's Yangzhiyu porcelain. It looks like jade but is not jade, with the delicate texture of jade and the texture of porcelain. When viewed in front of the light, it appears clear and translucent like ice, and when viewed against the light, it appears half-transparent, creating a sense of historical and cultural beauty.
The capital of Chinese ceramics is Jingdezhen, and the second capital is Dehua. The porcelain produced in Dehua is different from that in Jingdezhen. German porcelain is most famous for its white porcelain.
Dehua's white porcelain has excellent quality, pure white as jade, fine texture, good translucency, and is known as "ivory white", "lard white", "velvet white" and other reputations. The French once praised Dehua's Ming dynasty white porcelain as "China White," believing it to be the "best of Chinese porcelain." Therefore, Dehua ceramics occupy an important position in the history of ceramic development due to their unique style in China's white porcelain system.
The secret of white porcelain lies in the kaolin produced locally in Dehua. The porcelain soil produced around the Dehua kiln is relatively soft, with low iron content and high potassium content.
Sheep-fat white is the pinnacle of Dehua white porcelain. Sheep-fat jade porcelain only uses high-quality kaolin from Dehua, with almost harsh production processes and extremely low finished product rates. Usually, one finished product can be produced from multiple firings, and the qualified rate of large-scale finished products is even lower. All of this highlights its rarity and preciousness.
In addition to the local kaolin in Dehua, sheep-fat white jade porcelain also adds raw materials such as white agate, feldspar, and quartz. It is handcrafted and fired at an ultra-high temperature of 1350°C. The combination of the porcelain body and glaze is fine and dense: the glaze color is crystal clear and white as jade, and the glaze surface is plump like congealed fat. Every piece of sheep-fat white jade tea set is a work of art, not a handicraft.
Sheep-fat white jade porcelain is the highest grade porcelain tea set of Chinese white porcelain. The porcelain is moist and white but not pale, with a very light beige color, not decorated with any color, only showing the beauty of clarity, elegance, and purity. Like porcelain as smooth as jade, it can better highlight the original color of the tea soup. The porcelain body's pores are dense, easy to gather the tea fragrance, and not easy to retain the tea color.
Using a whole set of sheep-fat white jade as a tea set can highlight the beauty of the tea soup. The warm and delicate white color echoes the color of the tea soup from the outside of the cup. The porcelain body is pure and translucent, with fine texture and not absorbing fragrance or taste, which can restore the taste of the tea itself. No wonder tea lovers nowadays love it
