I have answered about infusing with Chaozhou teapot in another discussion, and would like to talk about its clay character here. The way they make these pots is hand-throwing, ie putting a lump of wet clay on a pottery wheel and turn to form. The clay itself is inevitably less dense than the slab-built clay method as employed in Yixing.
The clay itself is innately different. Clay for clay, Yixing zisha is a lot denser and has a unique microscopic double air-pocket structure, while most other clay has a single one. This is one reason that makes zisha of Yixing unique.
Last and most importantly, Chaozhou clay teapots are made with quite a bit of additives and coating. I have tested some that have passed safety, but I am afraid not all will.
Potters from Yixing had come to Chaozhou to learn their way of making pots and there was a small trend of making hand-thrown pots using watered down Yixing zisha. This was a fad involving only a small number of very junior Yixing potters.
