Brewing Japanese in Glass

[Bakkoi]

Opinions on brewing Japanese tea in glass teapots, anyone?

I spied an inexpensive glass kyusu at Den's. Very tempted. Will I still be one of the cool kids if I brew my sencha in glassware?

[debunix]

I've enjoyed sencha brewed in chinese glass teapots, but the filters weren't well designed for the small bits of leaf. My glass Japanese teapot with a quite large metal mesh basket was really quite functional, but it lost favor because it was too large for everyday use with most of my teas (it holds about 16 oz). I bring it out now mostly for brewing larger-volume herbal tisanes. That smaller one on the Dens site looks very nice.

[entropyembrace]

Glass is really forgiving for brewing sencha and you should get good results with it...like debunix said most glass pots don´t have filters which can handle sencha...but the one at Den´s looks like it does so I say go for it

ps...the one at Den´s is from hario which has a reputation for making very high quality glassware

[joelbct]

Yeah that works fine. I brew Sencha in a French Press Carafe then just pour it thru a handheld strainer if I'm not using a Kyusu.

[Cael]

I personally find that using a glass teapot is pretty good for brewing teas like sencha. I however would agree with debunix and make sure the filtering system that they have will fit your needs.

[Bakkoi]

I've made about half a dozen brews now with this Hario teapot. It's well worth the money for $23. The filter basket is so deep though that it touches the bottom of the teapot... meaning it will remain in contact with water unless you remove it in between brews. Not a big design flaw, but something to keep in mind. The lid is balanced on the filter basket, so it will chatter around when you pick it up, but because of the high 'walls' around the pot, there is no spilling out the sides. Tidiest pouring kyusu I have ever owned.

The filter basket it comes with is fine, but apparently not fine enough for chumushi or fukamushi. I find I have to use a second, finer mesh filter when pouring, otherwise the bottom of my yunomi have fine tea particles at the bottom.

This would probably be even better for brewing Chinese tea, I think. I'm not a big fan of brewing with gaiwan, and this makes an excellent alternative.

Bit of a strange observation I'll throw out there. This glass, unlike other glass I have used, has no smell. I have had a Chinese glass decanter and a German glass teapot, and when I put hot water in them... well... they smelled like pee. And any tea I put through them, either for brewing or decanting, also took on this smell. It led to some rather humourous reactions when I served my family some golden yellow Chinese tea made in those vessels.

But this glass pot doesn't have that smell. No idea why.