Monday TeaDay 11/24/08 Reinventing the kettle!

[Chip]

Welcome everyone to ... you guessed it, TeaDay. Please share what is in your cup today, all day.

Yesterday, I found it interesting learning a little bit more about TeaChatters. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Today a newbie to the forum, Teafiend, offered a suggestion and asked for a little help on a project. I hope we can help, but I think it will be interesting as well. Teafiend asked about several tea related devices, today I have centered on the water heating vessel we call the "kettle."

"I'm always on the look out for the perfect accessories to add to my tea arsenal, my current obsession is driven by a class project in Interactive Media, or more specifically, Usability Engineering."

"A designer seeks to design a must have piece of Tea Ware. Either a new or redesigned kettle ... Your input will determine the final product design. Respond accordingly:

"--Can't live without my kettle
--My fav kettle or teapot is electric (corded)
--My fav kettle or teapot is electric (cordless)
--My fav kettle or teapot is manual (stove-top)
--The ability to control water temperature
--Having an Asian Design aesthetic is most appealing
--Having an European Design aesthetic is most appealing
--How it feels when using and handling it
--Ease of operation/preparation
--Ease of cleaning"

"Chip, feel free to add or alter as needed. I'm looking for feedback that takes me into the mind of hard-core tea lovers. This is a "fantasy" design project for me, therefore, the more input from prospective users the better."

Thanks again,
Teafiend

Ok, so, we get to reinvent the kettle today and provide input into what "makes your water boil." So, share your ideas with us and help Teafiend out at the same time.

I am looking forward to sharing TeaDay with everyone. Bottoms up!

[Salsero]

My main kettle is a Zoji ... I really like having the water always hot. I used to think that variable temps were very important, but I have found other ways to deal with lowering water temp for greens so I usually just set the Zoji at max.

Having said all that, I am curious to try cast iron since several TeaChatters feel it makes much better tea. Oh ... and I luv the look of the classic Kamjove kettles.

[Victoria]

I can't live without my kettle! I want it all!!
My input:

My fav kettle or teapot is electric (cordless)

The ability to control water temperature

Having an Asian Design aesthetic is most appealing

How it feels when using and handling it

Ease of operation/preparation

Ease of cleaning

[omegapd]

I like a stove top kettle for no particular reason...maybe it's just the whistle. My electric doesn't do that.

When camping, my "kettle" is an old coffee can with a wire coat hanger attached as a handle. Putting the whole thing in the fire boils up water really quick that way.

EW

[Jack_teachat]

I have two electric cordless kettles, both were quite cheap, one was very cheap (around £5) but both do what they are supposed to! I would like a Zoji however! Only thing stopping me is that it seems to be very hard work getting them in the UK!

I voted ease of operation/preparation, no tea just yet, sencha soon!

Jack

[Vulture]

While a Zoji is nice as hot water is always at hand, I prefer to heat my water only when I have tea. I don't drink tea often enough to have hot water on hand all the time. I also prefer heating the water in my 'ritual' of my tea sessions. With out it, it seems like the intro to a piece of music is not there. The music is still good and sounds great but you miss this piece to prepare your mind for the rest of the song.

I am using a stove kettle for now but looking to get the adagio electric kettle. While it will help speed my tea sessions up by keeping the water warm during the session. I still have to set it up and heat the water before hand.

I don't have anything in my cup right now but thinking of making some rooibos.

[Drax]

I said water temperature control. That's the whole point of a tea kettle. If it can't do that, it's worthless. Okay, technically the point of a tea kettle is to "make water hot."

I would put ease of cleaning and design appearance at close seconds, or maybe "the ability to keep water hot" (i.e. better insulation, or constant temperature regulation).

After a couple weeks of oolongs and puerh, I decided to go with sencha this morning. Funny timing on the poll question, because I have some temperature reproducibility issues with my utili-TEA. . .

[treazure]

Drats, the parameters are too narrow! I need more than one choice. Like Omegapd, my main kettle has been your standard, every day sit on the stove top and whistle merrily when the water comes to a boil for a long time. Recently we bought a Cuisinart which I like, but my preferences would be electric, cordless and easy to clean. Not chemically clean, the kind of clean where one inserts hand with scrubbie or soapy cloth, cleans, rinses and good to go. I don't care about the aesthetics as much as I care about it preforming its duties.

Ease of use would be great for me as I am physically a wee bit challenged and days like this I am thinking of redesigning the keyboard out the window because of the bleeping space bar which is inflicting some discomfort to my thumbs.

Metal wise, I really do not like the taste of water done in a cast iron kettle. Blech. Yuk. Ptooie. I Am A Peasant. Native American/Irish on mum's side, Welsh on father's. There's some Russian stuck in there somewhere and all of us drink tea - black tea, strong tea, tea that will put the heart in you!

My uber (someone know how to put those little dotty things over the top of the u???) kettle is a stainless steel samovar which has been engineered to withstand years of getting knocked to the floor, could sit on my desk and hold at least 32 ounces of water for tea, bring it to a boil (black teas, please), then hold the water at a lovely temp for a long time while the teapot above holds the tea concentrate. I'd also like that to be accessible by hand to clean.

Maybe enamel over stainless? Pink, perhaps? Or even better in the Shelly Dainty Blue pattern or Lomonsov's gorgeous pattern, Cobalt Net. Oh be still my mongrel heart!

Darn, it keeps going to blank when I submit - haven't time to fix, drats.

[teaguy]

I'm partial to the aesthetics of a kettle, and how it harmonizes with my other stuff. I mostly brew in a tatami room set up specifically for tea brewing, so I tend to be a bit picky.

Currently, I use a stainless steel electric kettle that works well, but isn't my favorite. For serious tea drinking, I boil water on the gas stove, then transfer it to a ceramic kettle that I warm on an alcohol burner next to my tea table.

My ideal kettle would (my order of importance):

1. be made of 99.8% pure silver*
2. be well-balanced & pour smoothly (at any rate of flow)
3. boil water quickly
4. have a Chinese aesthetic
5. medium-sized (hold about 1 liter)
6. be cordless
7. be affordable

*remember we're talking fantasy here!!

Temperature can be controlled better through pouring techniques (hence the importance of #2). Each tea session is unique, and requires subtle differences in method to compensate. Having a couple of temp settings wouldn't be bad for general guidance, but tea brewing isn't a formula - it's an art, regardless of how you're brewing.

[kongni]

An electric cordless kettle that could control temperature would be ideal! I would probably pay up to $200 for one. Oh and it MUST have a stainless steel/glass interior. PERIOD!

Drank the last bit of my most premium shincha this morning. Only one bag of shincha left!

I'm feeling a matcha coming on....

[chad]

I use the microwave at home, but would like an electric kettle with temp control.

Started the day with Stash chai in the travel mug. Now working on the first infusion of Margaret's Hope darjeeling!

[kymidwife]

I have a stovetop kettle that I'm not sure I've ever used more than once or twice. My first electric kettle was an el-cheapo from Target, I think a Proctor-Silex for 9.99. It's plastic, but was bought for a travel emergency.

But that el-cheapo inspired me because it heated water so incredibly fast! My nephew works for Starbucks, and he got me a Breville cordless kettle... nice aesthetically because it's brushed stainless and matches my kitchen... heats water incredibly fast and retains the heat pretty well after it shuts off... but alas, no temp control. I wasn't interested in temp control at that time because I was only drinking black tea... but my interests have diversified!

So I'd love to have an adagio kettle or a Zoji. For the purposes of this project, my wish list would be a marriage of those 2 products... the ability to keep water at a steady temp... aesthetically pleasing exterior (I like brushed stainless or black)... a design which is sleek and more space-efficient than the Zoji... capacity somewhat bigger than the Adagio kettle but doesn't have to be 4 liters... and as for the temp control... I want more than 2 or 3 fixed settings. With some teas, 5 degrees makes all the difference... but what a shame to have to alter the temp of the entire kettle's contents to achieve the right temp for one cup. Could we dispense from the main kettle into a cooling reservoir with a digital readout that would ding a bell when the proper temp is achieved?

OK, enough babbling. Back to my Nilgiri. And Hop... if you are listening... I am doing the lapsang souchong marbled eggs for Thanksgiving. They are soaking now with cracked shells, waiting to be deviled.

Sarah

[leiche]

I couldn't live without my utiliTea kettle.

In general, a kettle's gotta be cordless, preferably electric, not plastic, easy to use and clean, and have a small footprint. Everything else is gravy.

Trying something new this morning: a heavily roasted Anxi TGY from Red Blossom. Brewed up, it's very dark and strong like coffee, and has hints of chocolate and a roasty sweetness. I also get a hint of toasted marshmallow. Very strange.

[Victoria]

I have utiliTea kettle I use at work and I love it. I have more tea at work then at home, since it seems I'm always here.

In my cup this morning Bohea again. (Broken record)

Have a nice day everyone!

[olivierco]

No kettle for me.

I use a small saucepan (with its lid) on my induction plates.
I would like to buy a zojirushi, but they don't seem to sell them in France, nor in Europe.

Hibiki-an sencha SP in a few minutes.