The teapot is the flagship piece of any tea set—it’s the largest vessel, and can be designed in many different ways to give a strong, signature look. The teapot is a familiar member of many households, and some have been using the same treasured teapot for years. That’s the way it is with teapots in history—they’ve been around for a long time, they’re a familiar and comforting part of the tea ritual, and they’re ideal for brewing tea. But although teapots have a long history, they haven’t been part of tea drinking forever.
The earliest tea sets consisted of shallow bowls, where hot water was poured over pressed cakes of tea leaves and spices and left to brew in the cup. The earliest known teapots come from the Yixing province in China, produced during the sixteenth century. These teapots were exported abroad along with China’s active tea export. They were small in size, large enough for a few cups only.