Post your budget-friendly (a.k.a. ghetto) tea set ups!

[Proinsias]

For a cheap tea set up I'm a big fan of using a small, plain, white gaiwan, an old milk jug, a small cup and a kettle.

The gaiwan is the only thing that's a little harder to find than the rest. Something like this is more than adequate for even the finest of teas.

My 60ml baseless gaiwan which was part of a cheap travel set and the eastern european milk jug I picked up in a charity shop see far more tea than any of my expensive purchases.

[Poohblah]

My 60ml baseless gaiwan which was part of a cheap travel set and the eastern european milk jug I picked up in a charity shop see far more tea than any of my expensive purchases.

Yes, I find that, in all of my hobbies, despite purchasing expensive toys, the tools that see the most use are the cheap ones that just plain work - like my $5 glass teapot and $10 gaiwan.

[debunix]

The only place so far where I have seen much difference in performance WRT brewing between my cheap glass teapots from china with built-in strainers in the spouts ($8 apiece) and my cheap gaiwans ($4 apiece) is when brewing japanese greens, where the larger finer sasame screens of the kyusus really do quicken the pouring and simplify cleanup.

If I were starting over with a limited budget, I'd prioritize things this way:

(1) glass pitcher plus small strainer vs small porcelain gaiwan
(pitcher plus strainer easier to find at the average goodwill cheap if you don't live near a chinatown--should be able to equip yourself for $2 used, or $5 new)
(2) thermometer
(because this makes such a difference in being able to predictably brew a wider range of teas; under $10 for nice digital ones from Amazon)
(3) gaiwan if you didn't start out with one at step 1
(because it brews everything well, and not all pots will do so, and can be found online for less than the cost of shipping, if you're far from a chinatown)
(4) scale
(if you're ok with experimenting and eyeballing, not necessary, but a great help to me when starting with new teas, esp new types of teas; under $10 for a basic scale that reads in 0.1g increments to 100-500g, perfect for tea)

Then on to fancier cups, pots, trays, pitchers, whisks, etc, when opportunity presents.

[Rainy-Day]

Very interesting thread! Of course, the main issue here is that it depends on what teas you drink. If teas are a part of the setup, this becomes even more interesting. I don't think you can get good senchas for little money. You can find really good chinese greens that are not expensive but they're not consistent so the process of finding them will run up the total expense. However, if you specifically looked for cheap but good chinese greens for a number of years, I think you'd be able to settle on a few good choices. Since I buy a wide variety of teas usually on the expensive side, I can't help here.

Darjeeling is the one type that offers consistent quality at low cost (I should mention that the same is true for blacks, but I would definitely not want to drink them too often).

Therefore, for a ghetto setup I'd want something that can do darjeelings and chinese greens, and obviously the same setup will handle blacks and whites as well since they brew in a similar way.

For kettle I'd use an $7 glass Whistler because I hate any and all electric kettles. A teapot is hard to pick, because I'd absolutely want a fairly large one (~15oz +) for these types of tea, and I'd want two of them because infuser baskets make bad tea. This means either going to chinatown and finding two for about $16-20 each, or tracking down a small bodum pot with a flat base for about the same price, and again getting two of them. Or maybe get one chinese and one bodum. For a cup, it's probably not too hard to find a small cheap glass one with thin walls.

To sum up: $7 Whister + 2 glass pots ~$36 + glass cup ~$4? + 3 minute hourglass timer ($2 at bed bath & beyond) => $49.

Since most people already have some type of kettle and some kinds of glasses or tumblers (that may work more or less well), the bare minimum would be two glass pots for about $36.

[nickE]

I recently made tea at a hotel without much teaware. Thought I'd post about it here as it kind of amused me.



This is some TGY from Wing Hop Fung. The gaiwan/cup set was $8 from there as well. The two coffee cups were waste water collection and the hot water was supplied by an empty coffee machine found in the hotel room.

The tea was pretty good, too!

[TwoPynts]

Fun thread.

My work setup isn't very much better than Silverneedles', but the cup is mine! I'll have to post next week.

[Cyphre]

I recently made tea at a hotel without much teaware. Thought I'd post about it here as it kind of amused me.



This is some TGY from Wing Hop Fung. The gaiwan/cup set was $8 from there as well. The two coffee cups were waste water collection and the hot water was supplied by an empty coffee machine found in the hotel room.

The tea was pretty good, too!

Ok, don't hate me but I must say this. You should never use the coffee pot at a hotel. It is not clean most of the time. I have heard this from multiple sources. Friends in the hotel business (Even the higher end ones) tell me all the time not to use the coffee pots.

#1. The cleaning ladies do not have a special towel for the coffee pot. So the same towel they use to wash the tub, the shower head, and the toilet is most likely cleaning that coffee pot.

#2. If you are anywhere even remotely close to an airport, most likely airline stewardess's will be using the rooms when away from their home. Those coffee pots are the perfect size for cleaning unmentionables. It's gross but I have family that are in the airline business. Everything from underwear, to stockings and socks are washed in there. Thats just from airline stewardess's. No idea who else uses it for such a thing.

So unless you brought your own bleach and cleaning stuff to clean the coffee pot.... just stay away from it.

[TwoPynts]

Okay, now I'm gonna be sick...

[nickE]

Ok, don't hate me but I must say this. You should never use the coffee pot at a hotel. It is not clean most of the time. I have heard this from multiple sources. Friends in the hotel business (Even the higher end ones) tell me all the time not to use the coffee pots.

#1. The cleaning ladies do not have a special towel for the coffee pot. So the same towel they use to wash the tub, the shower head, and the toilet is most likely cleaning that coffee pot.

#2. If you are anywhere even remotely close to an airport, most likely airline stewardess's will be using the rooms when away from their home. Those coffee pots are the perfect size for cleaning unmentionables. It's gross but I have family that are in the airline business. Everything from underwear, to stockings and socks are washed in there. Thats just from airline stewardess's. No idea who else uses it for such a thing.

So unless you brought your own bleach and cleaning stuff to clean the coffee pot.... just stay away from it.

Heh, thanks for the advice but I tend to not freak out about stuff like this. I'm not much of a germaphobe.

Anyway, I'm still alive..

[debunix]

And remember what you do to the stuff that goes into that pot: you BOIL it.

[Victoria]

Well that doesn't surprise me. I'm not too freaked out, but I might boil a pot first and discard it now. Heh.