different teapots for different tea types?

[nsudharsanan]

So based on my painstaking searching of the internet I have a question regarding which teapot types to use for which teas...this is what I have come up with, and I was wondering if it was correct.

White, green, a good majority of oolongs, pu-erh: gaiwan, glass teapot, or any other ceramic/porcelain

highly oxidized oolongs, black tea: thicker porcelain, clay (like a Brown Betty teapot)

I am not so much concerned with the lighter teas but with black teas. Although I love delicate tasting green and oolong teas, I also enjoy a nice 6-8 oz cup of assam or earl grey tea, and from what ive read, a gaiwan wont be ideal for this (one because it wont be able to accommodate the 6-8 oz and two because the heat will dissipate too rapidly for strong black teas). On that same note, a glass teapot also seems less than ideal, due to how quickly it will loose heat (especially when brewing a black tea for 4-5 minutes). So taking all that into consideration this what I have figured...

for 1-2 people or gongfu a gaiwan
for 1 large cup or multiple cups of western style brewing of greens and oolongs a glass or porecelain teapot.
for black teas and more oxidized oolongs would a brown betty be best?

any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[tingjunkie]

Pretty much can't go wrong with a 100-120ml porcelain gaiwan, and a 240-300ml glazed kyusu. This combo will handle anything you can throw at it.

[nsudharsanan]

But isnt a kyusu meant for Japanese green teas...will it be able to retain heat long enough for black teas?

[Chip]

Glazed kyusu are generally thicker walled. The ones from Den's could definitely handle blacks.

[nsudharsanan]

oh, thats excellent (i just looked at the price at dens and it was way lower than i was expecting). Out of curiosity though...if you had to buy the perfect teapot for black teas, and only black teas...what would it be. my only reason for asking is, rather than get a kyusu that is just able to handle blacks, it would be kinda nice to get something that celebrates the black tea.

[LauraW]

Personally, for black teas only I'd go with just an English-style teapot. I have 2 - one stainless steel (which I use for pretty much everything), one porcelain (which really tends to get used for mostly blacks and darker oolongs - or for holding hot water if I'm using a gaiwan). Of course, this depends on your preference, but I really like having a couple English pots around for both variety of look and size - if I'm making tea for me and my boyfriend, the larger sized English pot does well to give us both 2 mugs of tea. And that tends to be more what I want when drinking black tea.

[Victoria]

Actually I like glass pots for black. You can control the brew time by color.
Nice for oolongs too, if at work. A kyusu for greens. Then maybe a gaiwan and another kyusu or yixing for oolongs. It is hard to try and figure it out before you actually get into it. You will find you buy stuff that doesn't work. It is trial and error for each person, depending on their style. And even then your style may change based on what teas you get in to. So we can try to help you based on what we have learned, but it may not work for your brewing style. It is part of the journey. All I can say is go slow and don't buy a lot of different pots initially.

[nsudharsanan]

thanks for all the input

does anyone have a recommendation on where to get a good 12-16 oz glass or english style teapot?

[LauraW]

does anyone have a recommendation on where to get a good 12-16 oz glass or english style teapot?

Bodum makes some nice glass pots - many vendors carry them. English Tea Store seems to have some good, pretty cheap pots. Oddly, my good porcelain one is from Anthropologie - I can't remember the brand right now, I'll have to look when I get home. The stainless steel one I believe came from Target.