Porcelain vs glazed stoneware teapot
Two non-porous glazed pots that contribute nothing to the flavour and behave differently anyway. The variable is wall thickness: stoneware carries more material, so it holds more heat in the vessel and gives it back to the water more slowly.
equipment
What is being compared
Point by point
| Aspect | Porcelain teapot | Glazed stoneware teapot |
|---|---|---|
| Wall thickness | Thin. | Thick, and that is the functional difference. |
| Heat retention | Moderate — better than glass, worse than clay. | High. The pot itself becomes a heat store. |
| Preheating | Matters, and a cold porcelain pot noticeably drops the water temperature. | Matters more, because there is more mass to bring up. |
| Flavour carry-over | None; the glaze is inert. | None. |
| Weight | Light. | Heavy, which is a real consideration for a full pot. |
| What it suits | Delicate teas where a falling temperature is acceptable or wanted. | Black tea and roasted oolong, where sustained heat helps extraction. |
The short answer
Neither pot changes the tea and both change the temperature curve, which changes the tea. For green tea a thinner pot that loses heat is often an advantage; for a four-minute black tea steep it is the reason the cup came out thin.
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