TeaChat

Best for what? It has some uses.

Sorry, I meant to brew tea in. Well I went to earth fare a little bit ago, and I found some assam tea, and I found an irish breakfast tea from adagio there. I figure I would try those while I wait for my order to come in.

all those names are tea store names. Just copy and paste into google

I've never brewed anything in cast iron teapot so couldn't say from personal experience. A lot of more seasoned drinkers though have tried these and give them thumbs down mostly.

One example of a simple but good setup to test the waters... from US vendors would be...
Gaiwan: http://www.rishi-tea.com/product/classi ... ot/teapots
or teapot http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/prod ... roduct=288

Set of cups that fit gaiwan size:http://www.rishi-tea.com/product/lotus- ... up/teacups
Kettle: http://www.amazon.com/Yama-Northwest-Gl ... B004EBUZ1K

These are all things that you probably won't look on and regret buying a few years down the road if you get sucked into the tea void

It seems like some of the cast-iron teapots would cook the more delicate teas if left in them because these pots look like they would retain a lot of heat (due to the material and thickness). I could be wrong, though, because I've never used one. My favorite piece of teaware is the gaiwan. I've heard of people using cast-iron pots to boil water.

Worth mentioning to that MOST cast iron teapots (including teavanas) have enamel on the inside which sort of defeats the purpose of cast iron except for heat retention.

True cast iron kettles without enamel are used (most of the time) for simply boiling the water for use in other brewing vessels such as yixings or gaiwans!

Glass brewing pots or gaiwans are awesome for beginners, you can observe the colour of the tea over time which is helpful! dragon tea house has some awesome glass offerings!

Happy brewing!

Ok, Thanks I will look into that. You guys are awesome.

But an update on the tea I purchased from Earth Fare, I like them both. The assam a little better, I think. My wife likes when I add a bit of mint to hers.

I hope you're still enjoying tea! I love the Assams; its boldness is perfect for people more used to coffee and tea aficionados (or both) alike. Do you feel you're getting better at brewing tea?

I too am new here, but I would recommend the Tie Kwan Yin to start. Very light, I believe it is a great start. Once you feel like exploring more into that, try darker oolongs as well!