Buying a new Kyusu. Advise wanted

[fencerdenoctum]

That gyokuro pot is gorgeous! I saw a small brown pot just like it in a tea book I have, but I can't find them anywhere!

Do let us know how your search goes!

The Tea Sipping Swordsman,
Fencerdenoctum

[Pentox]

I've been trying to find a nice gyokuro pot as well recently, but haven't had much luck. Just the normal amazing yet expensive ones at Artistic Nippon and a few others here and there which are either pricey or just not that spectacular.

[britt]

I have done a lot of business with Toru of Artistic Nippon. His service is exceptional even when judged by the already high standards of other Japanese businesses.

I would question whether either of these kyusu is the best choice for what you want. I planned on buying the second one when it was first posted, but then I saw the ball type strainer. In my opinion, this type of filter is not suitable for small-leaf sencha, as too much ends up in the cup. The holes are usually much larger than those of a normal sasame type filter.

I agree with Toru that for gyokuro, a wider, lower pot is usually a better choice. I have also had excellent results with sencha in the wider kyusu.

[britt]

Here is an example of a six ounce Tokaname that has worked very well for sencha and gyokuro. It was purchased from zensuke.com about a year ago. I now use the Hokujo gyokuro set for gyokuro, and several Hokujo kyusu for sencha, but this other kyusu still performs admirably with both types of tea. It is low and wide, relatively small, and has the sasame filter instead of the ball-type strainer. It will still let some leaf through, but won't fill the cup with leaf like some ball strainers do, at least with the small leaves of first flush sencha.

http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/ ... _105566017

http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/ ... _105608444