Help picking out products for BEST tea!

[DaKaiser]

I am a newbie at all this tea stuff. I have always been a bigalow girl. English Teatime to be exact. Heat the cup in the microwave with the bag in it, drink it with milk and sugar. Easy.

I just bought that MateVana at Teavana. Oh man it's soooo good. So come to find out my husband and my daughter both love it too. I drink about 2 16oz cups a day. One in the morning, one in the afternoon. 8oz just doesn't do it for me!

I am thinking of going the electric kettle way, however can I infuse inside of that? Do I have to use a teapot to infuse? I guess I could get tea bags so I can infuse in the cups. Anyway, I really love the look of the cast iron tea post on Amazon but I am not sure if I REALLY need them.

Any help would be appreciated for this newbie!

Thanks!

[nonc_ron]

I am a newbie at all this tea stuff.

Welcome to Teachat!

[Chip]

Do not brew in your kettle. You will need a teapot or other vessel to brew.

And welcome to TC!

[nonc_ron]

Do not brew in your kettle. You will need a teapot or other vessel to brew.

And welcome to TC!

Or one of these.

[Victoria]

Or one of these:
http://www.adagio.com/teaware/ingenuiTE ... a130abf681

Welcome to the forum.

PS: Don't let Teavana talk you into a tetsubin.

[entropyembrace]

best thing to do is heat the water in the electric kettle, then pour into a tea pot with the leaves on the bottom, let it brew then pour into your cup

[tingjunkie]

best thing to do is heat the water in the electric kettle, then pour into a tea pot with the leaves on the bottom, let it brew then pour into your cup

+1 Either an electric or stovetop kettle, and try to find a decent ceramic/porcelain teapot with a filter built right in to the spout. You want to avoid the metal infuser baskets if you can since they do not allow the tea to "unfurl" and give off its best flavor. Although the iron tetsubins look beautiful, many serious tea drinkers don't like them because the thick metal makes it hard to control the brewing temperature.

[debunix]

Separately from deciding electric or stovetop kettle or just stovetop pot--all can work--I'd start with a simple, inexpensive porcelain or glass pot, smaller than you think you need. If you're getting into high quality looseleaf teas you'll quickly discover the joys of leaves that can be steeped several times, so you might prefer 2 or 3 8-oz infusions to one 16-oz or 24-oz infusion.

If you get seriously hooked you may end up learning about gaiwans and unglazed yixings and kyusus and chawans, but a nice little pot like this



will work with most teas--the built in strainer is handy, but does have trouble with finely-broken up leaves of japanese green teas clogging the spout so it won't pour them out rapidly enough, but does fine with most other teas and herbal tisanes. I get these for $8.99 in my chinatown tea shop.

It may not round off the sharp edges of some teas perfectly, but it will show the magic of the tea leaves unfurling, the dancing of the young needle-like leaves, and it's cheap enough to serve until you know whether you want to spend more for something more specialized and fancier.

[DaKaiser]

Thank you all so much.

What type of electric kettle would you think best?
Remember, I have me, my husband and my daughter in the morning. Plus, my son might use the water for his oatmeal. I saw this one.....

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001A5 ... B001A5NFQA

Its 30oz. Should I get a bigger one? If so, what kind do you all recommend?

I'll have to find a cute little teapot to use. I really like those cast iron ones but I would never pay that money for them. I saw some cute ones on Amazon. Do any of you all use these?