Show off your Kettle!!

by **Teaism** » Feb 5th, '13, 05:48

Re: Show off your Kettle!!

by Teaism » Feb 5th, '13, 05:48

BioHorn wrote:
Teaism wrote:Hi,

The rust in the cast iron kettle can be resolved by boiling some tea in it.

Thanks for the tip!

I tried rubbing the rim with tea leaves. It worked okay. There were some leaf bits that made their way in and took some time to clear out. Doing on some exterior areas worked quite well.

Glad to hear that it works out well for you. Have a great tea day my friend. Cheers!

by **blairswhitaker** » Mar 9th, '13, 05:33

Re: Show off your Kettle!!

by blairswhitaker » Mar 9th, '13, 05:33

got a new old chagama from e-bay recently...

holds about 3 liters, is in pretty good shape as far as rust goes.

Untitled by blairswhitaker, on Flickr

by **hopeofdawn** » Mar 13th, '13, 13:51

Re: Show off your Kettle!!

by hopeofdawn » Mar 13th, '13, 13:51

I finally took some pictures of my first water-sake-kettle purchase. It's a vintage Ebay find, though how vintage I'm not sure. I mostly purchased it because I wanted to experiment, and I really liked the unique design and ornamentation on the surface. There is a small amount of exterior rust that doesn't show up so well on the photos, though that seems to becoming less obvious the more I use it.

And the interior--there's a certain amount of rust on the interior, but it seems to be surface spots only and the metal is still solid--no leaks. I'm not sure what to make of the iridescent patches on the bottom, though--is that normal?

Overall, I can see why people swear by tetsubins--it really seems to take the harsh edge off of greens. Its effect on other teas seems to be more subtle--I really need to do a side by side brew comparison one of these days to really make up my mind about it. I also have to be careful to leave the lid slightly ajar when heating the water, or water will boil out of the low spout, but otherwise my sake kettle seems to taking its new task of boiling water quite well.

by **futurebird** » Mar 13th, '13, 14:41

Re: Show off your Kettle!!

by futurebird » Mar 13th, '13, 14:41

That is a lovely kettle. It must be a pleasure to use.

by **blairswhitaker** » Mar 13th, '13, 14:46

Re: Show off your Kettle!!

by blairswhitaker » Mar 13th, '13, 14:46

hopeofdawn thats a beautiful piece you have there.
I am interested in getting a choshi for sake, though I haven't seen one in my budget yet >100.00usd.
you can enhance the look of that kettle by doing the following.
get some sencha, the cheaper the better and put a handful in a disposable tea bag or a cotton square of cloth that you tie up to make a little pouch for the tea, boil this in the kettle for about an hour. this will very effectively help with the interior rust, discard this water and bring fresh water and some bamboo charcoal to a boil two or three times.
this will "reset" the taste of the kettle and get rid of any remaining sake residue. while the kettle is still very hot take several tablespoons of sencha in a clean piece of cotton and bring the corners together to form a pouch, then dip this in very hot water and start rubbing down the kettle with it. the outside will look much better. Also avoid ever touching the outside of the kettle with you bare hands. try to only handle it by the handle or from the inside, fingerprints leave behind skin oil and salts that are bad for the metal ( at least thats what my chanoyu sensei told me).

by **hopeofdawn** » Mar 14th, '13, 12:14

Re: Show off your Kettle!!

by hopeofdawn » Mar 14th, '13, 12:14

Thanks for the advice--I'll definitely follow it! I've already boiled some old green tea leaves inside when I was cleaning it--sans pouch, so there was some cleanup.

Any idea where one might find bamboo charcoal in the U.S.? I'm in the Seattle area, if that helps ...

by **blairswhitaker** » Mar 14th, '13, 12:35

Re: Show off your Kettle!!

by blairswhitaker » Mar 14th, '13, 12:35

you can find it on amazon or a local japanese market