Teapots

Choosing a teapot size, from 500ml to 1550ml

Start with how many cups you pour at a sitting. Our teapots hold from 500ml to 1550ml; allow around 250ml for each cup, and the smallest pours around two while the largest pours around six. The smaller end suits one or two people; the larger sizes suit a family breakfast or guests who will want a second cup.

Check the fit too. Heights run from 12cm to 24cm, and where we give a diameter it runs from 11cm to 21.5cm, so measure the shelf where the pot will live, or the space under the wall cupboards if it will sit by the kettle.

What is a stoneware teapot?

Every one of our teapots is stoneware. Ceramic is the family name for fired clay, and stoneware is one kind of it, alongside earthenware and porcelain, so a stoneware teapot is a ceramic teapot. Fired at a high temperature until the clay turns dense and hard, it is less porous than earthenware.

Hard is not the same as unbreakable, though. A knock against a tap or a drop onto a tiled floor can chip or crack any ceramic, so give the pot a little room at the sink.

Strainer or no strainer: loose leaf and tea bags

This is the question to settle before you buy. More than half of our teapots have no strainer. They suit tea bags, or loose leaf poured through a separate strainer held over each cup. Some come with a strainer, which keeps the leaves out of the cup as you pour and saves a step if you brew loose leaf every morning. If you use bags, either kind will do. Check the product details for the pot you like against the way you make tea.

Glazes, prints and hand-decorated teapots

Green and multicoloured designs lead the range, and other colours come one or two at a time: blue, rose, purple, red, yellow, grey, brown, black and silver. Some of our designs come in more than one colour, so you can settle on a shape first and a shade second.

More than half are decorated by hand in some way: some carry a printed decal finished with hand-painted details, and some are hand-stamped. Then there are pots in a solid-coloured glaze, which leaves the shape to speak for itself, and a few in a crackle, reactive or shimmering glaze. A reactive glaze can vary in colour from one piece to the next, and the fine lines of a crackle glaze can deepen as the pot is used.

Washing and caring for a stoneware teapot

Every one of our teapots is food safe. Most are dishwasher safe and just over half can go in the microwave, but the answer differs from pot to pot, so check the care rows on the product page before the first wash.

Where a pot is not dishwasher safe, or carries hand-painted or hand-stamped detail you want to keep crisp, wash it by hand in warm soapy water with a soft sponge and skip scouring pads. Rinse it well and let it dry fully, inside and out, before it goes back in the cupboard. Over time, tea stains the inside of a pot; a soak in hot water with a spoonful of bicarbonate of soda loosens the stain.

Setting a teapot with cups, mugs and a milk jug

A teapot is often the largest piece on the table or tray, so it sets the tone for the rest. A multicoloured pot sits happily beside plain cups; a green or solid-coloured one can pick up a single shade from patterned mugs or napkins. We also stock cups, mugs and jugs, so you can lay a cup for each person and a jug for the milk. Stand a hot pot on a mat or trivet to protect a wooden table. One or two of our teapots are Christmas designs, ready for the festive table.