Clay pot water storage

[jayinhk]

Brought home a small madqa (clay pot) from Rajasthan. These are traditionally used for water storage and are supposed to sweeten the water. I used some water from it for tea and also drank some of the water, and it definitely has an interesting flavor. I also brought home two clay glasses that contained lassis (yogurt shakes), and they still smell like milk, even after repeated washes and boiling water soaks. They are definitely made with very porous clay!

[the_economist]

Very interesting! Would love to see some photos please!

[Chip]

+1

[theredbaron]

Brought home a small madqa (clay pot) from Rajasthan. These are traditionally used for water storage and are supposed to sweeten the water. I used some water from it for tea and also drank some of the water, and it definitely has an interesting flavor. I also brought home two clay glasses that contained lassis (yogurt shakes), and they still smell like milk, even after repeated washes and boiling water soaks. They are definitely made with very porous clay!

Most of these clay jars and cups are not fully fired, just enough to be harder than air dried clay. While these cups add a very good taste to lassi or curd, which is stored in these vessels as well, and in particular to Indian chai (unfortunately now getting ever rare, mostly glass or paper cups are used now), they are not what you want for Chinese or Japanese teas.

The clay jars add a taste to water, but are mostly also used to cool water in hot Rajasthan or Gujarat due to the condensation that slowly simmers through the clay, but are not made to store water for brewing with fine teas as they do influence the taste quite a bit.

[jayinhk]

The pic system on here tends to discourage me from posting pics, but if you Google "Rajasthan clay pot" you can find a wide variety of images of these pots.

TheRedBaron is right as far as firing..they are low fired and very porous. The water definitely has a taste at this stage, but I'm waiting to see if that mellows out over time. I tried making tea (Okinawan jasmine) with the water from the madqa and it was fine. I then tried putting the tea into one of the clay glasses, and it was absolutely devoid of all flavor.

They are indeed used for chai, and yes, this is not as common as it once was, but most cities in India have vendors that still sell milky chai that way.

The tea brewed with the water tasted just fine (no detectable clay taste), but the cup definitely deadened the taste of my jasmine tea. I may reserve the cups for drinking water or funky HK pu erh. I'll A and B tea brewed with the water from the madqa to see how they differ. Either way, it makes a pretty cool drinking water container, and with a wet cloth wrapped around it, cools water quite effectively through evaporative cooling.

Here's how water is transported in arid rural areas in Rajasthan. My madqa holds about 2 liters.

[jayinhk]

Still tastes like clay...hope I'm getting some kind of micronutrient benefit from it!

[kyarazen]

my friend bought for me from japan a white pottery kyusu that is used to boil water for senchado, not sure whether it had been an unearthed or buried item but that kyusu is so incredibly light, porous, that if you fill it with water, a few hours it will be seeping from the clay surfaces all over.

i had never successfully gotten rid of the earthy clay smell..

[jayinhk]

Interesting, have you used it for senchado?

[theredbaron]

my friend bought for me from japan a white pottery kyusu that is used to boil water for senchado, not sure whether it had been an unearthed or buried item but that kyusu is so incredibly light, porous, that if you fill it with water, a few hours it will be seeping from the clay surfaces all over.

i had never successfully gotten rid of the earthy clay smell..

I bought the same when i was in Japan.
Same problem.
No solution.

[jayinhk]

For me, being ethnically North Indian, drinking from a madka ties me to my ancestors. I remember the first time I saw one in use in my teens. I had to try some water from it, even if I avoid drinking non-bottled water over there. My mom grew up drinking from one too! It makes a great souvenir that I can use.

As for the jasmine tea, it had already been infused once and didn't have much left, so I'll try the cup again with something that would do well in porous clay. Cheap black tea or high fire oolong.

[theredbaron]

For me, being ethnically North Indian, drinking from a madka ties me to my ancestors. I remember the first time I saw one in use in my teens. I had to try some water from it, even if I avoid drinking non-bottled water over there. My mom grew up drinking from one too! It makes a great souvenir that I can use.

As for the jasmine tea, it had already been infused once and didn't have much left, so I'll try the cup again with something that would do well in porous clay. Cheap black tea or high fire oolong.

Why don't you use the cup for its intended purpose - Chai? Which is also a lovely way of making tea. Thing though is, due to its low firing and porosity these cups were made for one time use only, and then discarded. Using it several times might cause problems with hygiene and fungus.

[jayinhk]

I don't drink chai...I'm lactose intolerant. :/

These glasses are also specifically for lassi and were disinfected with boiling water, and will be disinfected regularly. They look like water glasses!

[Psyck]

These look like decent options for storing & drinking tea.

http://mitticool.com/our-products/curd- ... ap-500-ml/
http://mitticool.com/our-products/glass ... ce-200-ml/

[Psyck]

Mitticool pot & cups.jpg (81.62 KiB) Viewed 4507 times

I bought the above pots & cups from mitticool.

Scrubbed them under running water & left them in boiling water for about half an hour.

These were likely designed to store curd & drink lassies, but I don't plan on using them for dairy as I don't know how long they will last that way & cleaning would be a hassle.

Using the pot to store the raw puer broken up into loose leaf for current drinking.

The cups look fine for drinking iced teas.