Yixing Sha Diao

Sha diao (砂銚) are traditional sidehandle kettles for gongfu tea. They are fun to use as they do not allow for hesitation, forcing us to brew with an emphasis on fluency of movement. We made these sidehandle kettles in collaboration with Master Tsai Yizhe. They have several innovations over traditional sha diao, including a wider opening that makes adding water easier. They are made of Yixing clay, which adds smoothness to the water. Yixing is typically not suited to charcoal, but this is made from a groggy clay that is strong, but very porous, which means that you cannot leave water in the kettle or it will leak over time. If your kettle is particularly porous (they vary due to firing), you can boil rice in it and then water a few times and this will seal the pores. This is chuan xin diao (穿心銚), which means it has a funnel up the center to help spread heat and make boiling faster. One of the wonders of using a sha diao is that we can follow the traditional gongfu philosophy of preparing each kettle for each steeping, which ensures that the water is always fresh and always the perfect temperature.

These kettles should only be used on charcoal. You can check out our charcoal braziers here.

The volume is approximately 350ml and the dimensions of the sha diao are 7cm at the base of the kettle.