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Jan 30th, '09, 03:40
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Silver Ginbin

by Oni » Jan 30th, '09, 03:40

I read issue 4 on the-leaf.org, about silver kettle, specially japanese masterpieces, I read about silver, and it`s properties. If anyone has one, or at least tried one , I would welcome the sharing of experiences.

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Jan 30th, '09, 09:19
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by nada » Jan 30th, '09, 09:19

I have one, also a tetsubin. I find in general the tetsubin makes better water for most teas I drink - (mostly older puerh and roasted oolongs). The water comes out much more full tasting.

The silver seems to make lighter water and bring out nuances in subtle teas - gaoshan oolongs, greens etc.

That's just my experiences with my kettles though - different tetsubins make different water, and I guess different silver kettles make different water too although I haven't tried enough side by side to know for sure.

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Jan 30th, '09, 09:45
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by Salsero » Jan 30th, '09, 09:45

Here are some notes by Phil Sheng about a silver tea pot (not a kettle) and the difference between brewing with silver or clay.

http://phyllsheng.blogspot.com/search?q=silver+pot

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Jan 30th, '09, 10:31
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by Oni » Jan 30th, '09, 10:31

I would use for water heating pourpouse only. How do you heat these delicate beauties without damaging them?

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Jan 30th, '09, 13:12
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by wyardley » Jan 30th, '09, 13:12

Oni wrote:I would use for water heating pourpouse only. How do you heat these delicate beauties without damaging them?
Electric hot plate.

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Jan 30th, '09, 15:34
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by wyardley » Jan 30th, '09, 15:34

You can take some words from everyone's favorite skeptic:
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN/673007787/silver-kettle/
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN/663631916 ... o-the-tea/
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN/673140646 ... of-silver/
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN/615027439 ... to-miaoli/

I don't think too many folks here own a silver kettle because, well, not only are they fairly hard to find, but they tend to be pretty expensive. Anecdotal evidence from a number of sources suggests that there is at least some sort of difference. Silver does also retain heat quite well.

I have used silver kettles and pots once or twice, and haven't noticed huge differences, but haven't owned one, so I haven't really had a chance to experiment on my own.

Roy of the LA tea group knows some people who have access to some sort of spectral analysis tool, so we've been talking about doing some sort of analysis to see what kind of actual differences there are between water boiled in silver, water poured through silver, and water that's been in other type of vessels. If we actually ever get around to doing it, I'll try to update everyone with our findings.

Jan 30th, '09, 16:15
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Take a stab at this one.

by Intuit » Jan 30th, '09, 16:15

When one describes silver-boiled water as being 'sweeter', it usually refers to the catalytic decomposition of offending organics and attached bacteria found in surface waters but not groundwater.

Silver is a potent antimicrobial agent, and it's being used in patented alumina matrix catalysts to treat drinking water.

Don't believe it will do much for mineral water issues, unless there are iron or manganese bacteria that are causing sulfur compound efflux into the groundwater supply (private wells).

As is the case with porous clay and iron kettles, they are best used for active treatment of a water supply issue; where the water is of good quality, it's doubtful that you will detect much of a difference.

This would explain why some owners of silver kettles report benefit from their use, while others are unable to detect any difference when compared to other kettles.

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