Water heated for Japanese tea, in a tetsubin

[Tead Off]

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?

mon frere, is this an opening I detect in you for the possibility that clay might, just might, affect the taste of tea, a wee bit?

[Tead Off]

Oni, in Hojo's shop, we tasted a Puerh with the tetsubin water. It was incredible. There was a sweetness and floral aroma that was incomparable. I see no reason not to use a testsubin with Puerh.

Your tetsubin is probably bigger than the 80mm size limit that Hojo says NOT to use an induction heater with over time. I see no problem using it. But, have you done any test using the tetsubin with induction vs. tetsubin with electric heater to determine if there is a taste change? Hobbes, who has some good info and opinions, says his induction was too noisy for him, but, I'm sure there are some silent ones out there. Charcoal will slow down the process of boiling even more so, but, maybe that's not such a bad thing.

[Oni]

I noticed it clears the rough edges of puerh, I didn`t recongnize my puer, after I tried with 8 grams to a 120 ml gaiwan (that is a much larger leaf to water ratio that I normally use), the taste just clicks toghether, there is a whole new body to the tea, it is smooth and compact taste, creamy, intense. I can hardly wait for my 2 new puerhs, those are Yong Pin Hao 2008 Lan Xiang wild arbor (stone pressed) so this is a young cake, and the other is 2005 Yi Wu.
Last year I felt that I need to improve something with my tea preparation, I read about water and qi, and fire and diffrent water heating technique, and equipment, so I decided to spend all my financial energy to improve my water, I need cleaner and fresher water too, I also want to improve my water storing method, I store water in my drawer in two 5 liter plastic bottles that I buy, in winter time in my room I set the temperature at 20 C, I wonder if this is not a bit too high for water, I read 18 C would be ideal, and I need ideally a clay water container, like the ones Lin`s ceramic studio sells, or at least a 10 liter glass container, plastic is the worst material in a tea ceremony, it is unstable and unnatural, I plan on buying large water storing equipment, and I will try to take them when I travel in the mountains, an ultimately I will try to collect fresh spring water from the source
P.S. I noticed that Hojo, Horaido, both use the same combination of banko clay and tetsubin to prepare tea, before I found out about Horaido teashop, I had no idea of what banko clay is, I only read and heard about Tokoname.

[olivierco]

mon frere, is this an opening I detect in you for the possibility that clay might, just might, affect the taste of tea, a wee bit?

I am just curious about the people who are trying to improve the taste of tea with teaware. Oni felt an improvement for Japanese greens with his Banko kyuusu, even if the water he used wasn't very good as he wrote:

"The water from the indcution kettle had a strange taste and it wasn`t smooth, it was flat"
"the induction kettle water was forgetable, no aftertaste, no smoothness"

I am still thinking that if a tea has to be improved (at least for greens), it isn't that good or that the water used to brew it isn't adequate. As there are plenty of different natural waters easily available in stores, changing of water is easier for me than trying to modify it.

[Oni]

I think the most important thing in tea making are the tea leaves, you cannot make good tea from bad quality leaves no matter what teaware you use, but if you have good tea, the bad water and lack of adecvate equipment still can ruin your tea, so I think second most important thing is water and proper teaware, all this asuming that one knows how to brew tea, if someone uses hard tap water treated with clor, and boiling water to gyokuro, not matter the quality of the leaves it will still taste bad.

[olivierco]

lack of adecvate equipment still can ruin your tea

This is where our opinions differ. (With the exception of the chasen of course)

[Tead Off]

mon frere, is this an opening I detect in you for the possibility that clay might, just might, affect the taste of tea, a wee bit?

I am just curious about the people who are trying to improve the taste of tea with teaware. Oni felt an improvement for Japanese greens with his Banko kyuusu, even if the water he used wasn't very good as he wrote:

"The water from the indcution kettle had a strange taste and it wasn`t smooth, it was flat"
"the induction kettle water was forgetable, no aftertaste, no smoothness"

I am still thinking that if a tea has to be improved (at least for greens), it isn't that good or that the water used to brew it isn't adequate. As there are plenty of different natural waters easily available in stores, changing of water is easier for me than trying to modify it.

Maybe I see where the misunderstanding lies here. I never mentioned (or, meant) that a tea needs to be improved. If you take a good tea and brew it in different vehicles, you will get different tastes and aromas. Is it the vehicle that imparts this difference, or, the vehicle that is bringing out what is already there?

In the case of using a tetsubin, you obviously have a high iron content interacting with the water and the leaves. It is the same with the banko kyusu. For me, it doesn't matter which affects what. I only know there is an effect and one that I like. And, one that others notice, too. So, we make recommendations, not rules.