Cauldron

A Cauldron is a block that, when filled with water from a bucket by right clicking, will fill up with water. This water can be used to refill three Glass Bottles. These bottles are then brewed into Potions with a Brewing Stand.

History
Alchemy was first hinted at in July 2010, when Notch hinted that redstone dust would later be used in potions. Potion effects were introduced in Beta 1.8, and expanded on in the Beta 1.9 Pre-release.

The cauldron was originally going to be used to make Potions by using Brewing Recipes. But later on, it was replaced by Jeb with the Brewing Stand because of the inconvenient method of brewing with the cauldron. As of Beta 1.9 Pre-release 3 Cauldrons can now be crafted and used to store water (once a Cauldron is emptied, it can be refilled with water from a bucket). Each Cauldron holds three bottles worth of water.

"The reason why I don't think the potion effects will be in 1.9 is because there's not enough time to add the brewing system."

- Jeb_

"Potions are delayed because *add to cauldron, pick up, look at tooltip, pour back into cauldron, repeat* was extremely tedious"

- Jeb_

"A quick discussion with @notch led me in on a new way of doing the potion brewing. Cauldron is out..."

- Jeb_

"Look back at me! Your Cauldron is now a Brewing Stand. Anything's possible when working with interaction design."

- Jeb_

"I'm fully aware the potions are very thin (diet?), but it looks cute http://i.imgur.com/cNX6J.png (Always work in progress, of course)"

- Jeb_

Trivia

 * Cauldrons cannot hold Lava or Milk, but the potions that were once put inside of it in earlier versions had a texture similar to Lava.
 * Potions could be brewed in 1.9 Beta Pre-Release 2 by adding a bucket of water along with various other ingredients to a Cauldron. By adding different ingredients to the cauldron, over two thousand different potions can be brewed.
 * When broken, Cauldrons do not drop any water, only the Cauldron itself.
 * When a Cauldron is being mined with water in it, the water will start to get cracks in it as if it is a block.
 * As of 1.9 Pre-release 3, Cauldrons are available in creative mode and can be crafted in Survival mode.
 * As of 1.0.0, Cauldrons can be used to legitimately store water within the Nether, as opposed to water evaporating by trying to place it down with a bucket.
 * Even if a Cauldron has water in it, a Piston can push it.
 * Even if a Cauldron has water in it, it will not extinguish any mob (including the player) that is on fire.
 * In creative mode, if you attempt to fly inside a cauldron with a block above your head, a glitch will occur causing you to be "stuck" in flight form without being able to lift or lower yourself.
 * Standing in a Cauldron while the cauldron is being pulled by a piston will cause you to go through the cauldron rather than to be carried with it.
 * On November 8, 2011, Jeb tweeted a reply to a suggestion for boiling food in a cauldron, saying he may consider it later.
 * It's possible to push a minecart inside of a cauldron by using pistons and half-slabs.