Water heated for Japanese tea, in a tetsubin

[tenuki]

nice!


The no bubbles thing will go away as you build up the seasoning. bubbles need 'imperfections' to form on [1], this is why I always add a chopstick or something to my glass beaker when I use it to heat water in the microwave.

[Oni]

This is my new heating element, it is faster than the previous, i boiled 1 liter water in half an hour, and I tested it again, and the results were to my liking, but I am still waiting to try it with a furo, or some other charcoal stove, maybe later this year I will buy one so I can be satisfied with my tea setup.

[Tead Off]

Oni, 30 minutes seems like a long time to boil a litre of water. Is this a common time for tetsubin to heat to a boil? I wonder if induction would be a lot faster.

[Oni]

The leaf magazine wrote that it is dangerous to heat the tetsubin on induction heaters, so I am a bit scared, I don`t want to crack it, if I use half a liter of water I can get it to a boil in 15 minutes. I think these kettles were ment to be heated on charchoal, on a high heat.
Since I long have obsessed about water heating, this year this tetsubin is the first step, I also would like a charcoal stove with a ceramic kettle, so I can use the stove for my tetsubin.
Horaido also sells stoves, but the stove costs as much as the tetsubin, I saw at teamasters that Stephane sells a nilu with a ceramic kettle, I plan to buy it once I recover financially, I hope after that I will be satisfied with my water heating (silver kettle is just too expencieve to include to this list.)

[Tead Off]

The leaf magazine wrote that it is dangerous to heat the tetsubin on induction heaters, so I am a bit scared, I don`t want to crack it, if I use half a liter of water I can get it to a boil in 15 minutes. I think these kettles were ment to be heated on charchoal, on a high heat.
Since I long have obsessed about water heating, this year this tetsubin is the first step, I also would like a charcoal stove with a ceramic kettle, so I can use the stove for my tetsubin.
Horaido also sells stoves, but the stove costs as much as the tetsubin, I saw at teamasters that Stephane sells a nilu with a ceramic kettle, I plan to buy it once I recover financially, I hope after that I will be satisfied with my water heating (silver kettle is just too expencieve to include to this list.)

Didn't I read at Hojo's that induction is a good way to heat tetsubin? You might check with him.

How many watts is your electric heater that you are currently using?

[olivierco]

Please note that the induction heater can not be used for the small kettle which the diameter of bottom area is less than 80mm. The manufacturer recommends not using too strong heat on induction heater. This is because the induction heater gives very localized-heat. When it is heated on the induction heater, the iron locally expands and when it is cooled down, it shrinks. The intense heat will give stress to the metal and the kettle cannot last up to 50 years of usage.

[Oni]

I guess this citation clears the issue, my heater is at 1500 W, it is strong, but not strong enough, but I know when I grill meat in my barbeque, if there is thick layer of curning hot charcoal, there is a lot of heat, I hope once I get a small nilu type stove I can heat water faster and I could enjoy tea with all the 5 elements present in my ceremony, even now I have one element in plus, I used to have water, earth (the yixing teapots, or my kyusu`s), wood (the tea obviously), now I have iron (tetsubin), sofar it is 4, I need fire, this year it would be really reaching the next level of tea making, once I am content with my teawares (I am close, maybe getting a early qing dynasty lao zhu ni wouldn`t hurt, but that is simalrly impossible as a silver kettle), I could pay more attention to collecting puerh and trying out the more high quality teas.

[Tead Off]

Please note that the induction heater can not be used for the small kettle which the diameter of bottom area is less than 80mm. The manufacturer recommends not using too strong heat on induction heater. This is because the induction heater gives very localized-heat. When it is heated on the induction heater, the iron locally expands and when it is cooled down, it shrinks. The intense heat will give stress to the metal and the kettle cannot last up to 50 years of usage.

Thanks for the clarification. I remember the tetsubin being heated on an induction heater in Hojo's shop. It was quite quick, but, maybe they poured water from a stainless kettle already heated into the tetsubin. Cannot remember clearly.

[olivierco]

I have received my tetsubin, it really looks diffrent than on pictures, it is darker in color, it holds around 1.2 liter at max, so it can heat 1 liter of water, it weighs around 1.5 kg, this is how it looks when I brought it home>

BTW, how much did you pay for it?

[Oni]

It was 24.000 JPY roughly around 250 $, plus 52 $ shipping, it was 300 $ in total.

[olivierco]

Thanks for your answer. Not too expensive for such a nice item.

[Oni]

I used my tetsubin for a while now, I noticed great change in taste for puerh, I brewed it in a gaiwan, my Dragon&Phonix XZH, it was completely chaged by the tetsubin water, I made 12 infusions, it made the tea amazingly smooth, creamy texture, no sourness or dryness on the tongue, and it really made the throat rythm more noticeable, and it lasted longer, and the more I use the tetsubin, the more I like the effects, www.japantea.hu has a few tetsubins from horaido, and eversince they got one the always use it with japanese tea, at all their reviews there is a picture with a tetsubin that was used for heating the water.
I was wondering if a hisaku would fit into the mouth of the tetsubin so I can make matcha in a more authentic way.

[Oni]

Today I did a side by side comparison Tetsubin vs Induction heater>


The water from the induction heater had some smell to it, the tetsubin water had no smell. The water from the indcution kettle had a strange taste and it wasn`t smooth, it was flat, the water from the tetsubin was more alive, at first impression it was creamy, fresh, I could feel it silde down easely, and after a few sips there is a slight sweet taste to the water that can be felt on the tongue quite for a while, the induction kettle water was forgetable, no aftertaste, no smoothness, I did a blind test with two of my family members, they recognized that one water was smoother and better tasting, and was hotter longer, that was the water from the tetsubin, so I can positively confirm that tetsubin does something to the water, and about what tea fits the tetsubin or not, that is a hard question to answer, it would need a lot of side by side comparison. Later on this year I hope I can heat my tetsubin on a nilu and come back with the results.

[olivierco]

What are the results for sencha with your Banko kyuusu? Did you see any enhancement?

Funny with the water staying hot for a longer time. How do you explain it? Less heat loss when pouring?

[Oni]

I finished last years stock up, I ordered 1.25 kg teas from Yunnan sourcing, 2 pu and 450 grams of oolongs, I think I will wait for shincha season to buy new japanese tea, I have great expectations from Hon Yama and Hon Yama Hebizuka senchas, and I want to buy some handrolled sencha, like the one made on the video I found and posted earlier, maybe I will try Teki Teki from M.K.