by britt » Dec 3rd, '08, 22:36
For someone new to Japanese tea I think the metal screen filters are the best choice. Although I own 13 Japanese kyusu, one with a bulb-type ceramic filter and twelve with sasame filters, my first two kyusu had metal screens. They got me started with a minimum of problems and they worked well with all Japanese teas that I tried. Once I got the hang of it, I switched to sasame's and wouldn't have it any other way; I gave away the two kyusus with metal screens and they're still being used by others. However, the sasame filters can be tempermental with some types of sencha, resulting in the type of frustration that could turn away a newcomer. You can always upgrade later after you have a grasp on the basic brewing process.
I have never questioned the safety of teaware or anything else from Japan; I believe they have the highest quality standards in the modern world. Although there are many reliable and trustworthy Japanese vendors, in my opinion and experience, none equal the level of customer service offered by Toru of Artistic Nippon. If AN offered more teaware that matched my taste, I would happily purchase everything from them. As it goes, I still purchase many items from AN and I always check his site for an equivalent item before purchasing from someone else.
Other reliable vendors I have used are Zencha.com for Hagi tea and sakeware; Magokorodo for matcha chawans; 2000 Cranes for assorted high end tea and sakeware; Japanese Hand Crafts for assorted tea, sake, and tableware; and Japanese Green Tea Shops for Aritayaki.
For Japanese tea there are quite a few reliable vendors with decent selections of quality tea, but I find that O-Cha.com easily surpasses all others I have tried by a very large margin. Matcha, sencha, and gyokuro from O-Cha have consistently outperformed the other vendors. This is my personal experience and my own opinion, but I honestly have tried many other vendors and find little reason to buy their tea in the future.
For those forum members that are not obsessed with expensive teaware, O-Cha has a modest but good selection of standard teaware that isf very functional. They're a great place for a newcomer to purchase both tea and teaware while minimizing the variables that could result in a bad experience. Kevin, the owner, is very quick to respond to customer questions, either on the O-Cha forum or through e-mails. An internet search and a bit of good luck initially brought me to O-Cha.com and I owe many thanks to Kevin for making it so easy to achieve good results when first getting started in Japanese tea .
I think for me it is just a mental thing about having metal in there and just having it not be as pleasing to my eye. Like I always say thought....if you like it and it can brew a good cup of tea....it really doesent matter what it is or looks like as long as the brewer likes the vessel!
