1200ml cast iron black tea pot with pine tree & Crane (8620049)

The magpie on plum blossom — 喜鹊赏梅, xi que shang mei — is a design of new beginnings. The magpie heralds good tidings and the plum blossom opens as the year turns, so the pot carries a wish for fresh starts and everything ahead.

At 1200ml it serves five to eight cups depending on the size you use, and a fine grade stainless steel filter sits inside it for brewing loose leaf. The same pot makes green tea, black tea, oolong, herbal infusions — and coffee.

Cast iron holds heat longer than anything else a teapot can be made of, so the water stays at temperature through a long brew. It works on every kind of hob, on a wood burner and over an open fire, while the enamelled interior means no rusting and nothing carried into the tea — a healthy, organic vessel built to be used daily and to last.

Care is simple. Never use washing-up liquid inside the pot. Rinse it through with hot water before changing to another kind of tea, which keeps one infusion from carrying into the next. Once a year, or whenever you remember, rub a few drops of cooking or olive oil over the outside with a cloth and it looks as new.