New to tea ... so what beginner teapot?

[tenuki]

To start you just need:

1) Gaiwan
2) Western style Teapot (beehouse, bodum are two of my favorites)

You can substitute a mug basket for #2, in fact I recommend that if the tea is just for you.

[Proinsias]

Thanks for the update!

A never ending thread on Teavana, and even the occasional mention of how they sell their tetsubins, over here.

[Chip]

Heh, we should be armed with a recording of the same ole sales pitch from Teavana "associates" whenever we enter a Teavana. Pretty amazing hearing the same thing almost verbatum from so many members.

"Tetsubins are the best teapots in the world for brewing tea."

"Silver Needle" is the rarest tea in the world."



What they should say is, "testsubins are the biggest and most expensive teaware mistake newbies to tea make, which is why we sell so many of them."

I must say, my testusbin teapots made by Iwachu of Japan are stunning decorative pieces that will certainly outlive me due to nonuse. Now a tetsubin kettle, that is a different story.

[tingjunkie]

Congrats p70! Enjoy the journey.

It really is a shame that enameled tetsubins are not versatile brewing devices- they do look and feel rather sexy. I wonder if I could somehow blast the enamel off the inside of my 26oz Iwachu and use it as a kettle? Hmmmm....

[Intuit]

Well, at last someone thought to suggest the obvious - a simple mug and large infuser. Out of curiosity, I've been playing with the physics and have found that a larger, taller glazed pottery mug (the artsy type) is WAY better than the heavy, rounder squat china mug. Surface area is impt, so is wall thickness and materials of construction. There is something about these glazed hand built mugs that is vastly superior to the heavy china mug, and I suspect its difficulty in getting the mug to take up and hold heat. It's the secret to every cheap diner doleing out coffee - the heavy squat mug cools quickly - too quickly for many teas.

Find the largest infuser you can for your preferred mug. It's a fast, unfussy way to brew a decent cup of tea - and if you choose a slightly smaller volume, you can even do multiple infusions. You can take it to work, on travel, and on vacation.

Without a developed palate for discerning tea extract, a few ounces of tea in a fussy-ass gaiwan isn't going to satisfy your curiosity, nor give you satisfaction as you attempt to master Eastern style tea brewing, gaiwan handling, and analyzing flavor - at the same time, with burnt fingers. A thin-walled gaiwan is also too heat-lossy for preparing certain teas.

Therefore, the OP doesn't need a gaiwan - yet. It has it's strengths for careful study of tea, down the road a bit.

A glass teapot is very heat-lossy, won't work very well for the more oxidized teas that need heat to release larger flavor components that are otherwise weakly soluble at cooler temperatures. The good reason to have one - to study and learn the leaves by assessing liquor and wet leaf appearance. There is rhyme and reason to brewing technique that you will read about in the many excellent tea blogs - watching the tea extraction process and examining the leaves carefully are a valuable tool of your tea education 'technique toolbox'.

A modest-sized porcelain pot is good. It will do you nicely for a variety of teas, while you are mastering the learning curve of developing your palate and brewing technique.

Chips suggestion of an alternative, a slightly larger glazed kyusu is a good one. I've used it to brew: greener oolongs, delicate/fragrant black teas that don't like hamfisted hotpot extraction, medium roasted oolongs, white teas and 'daily' greens (not your better greens, they need a smaller vessel).

Use the KISS-principle here. Avoid at all cost, the urge to purchase teaware higglety-pigglety. You will regret it. Put your money into simple teaware and teas that cover the range of variables: East-West brewing, lossy/smaller, medium-sized and heat-retaining larger pots. Simple and slightly more sophisticated teaware.

Like an clever experimental grid array of important parameters, you want to covering more than two parameters at a time, as you experiment with teas, technique and teaware to find what you like and what you don't like.

[paisan70]

Holy crap, Proinsias. I could only get through the first part of the story before my temper started rising. The clerks were nice and not pushy, EXCEPT for going straight to the $28 per ounce silver something rooibos. Ugh! The world wide web needs a link to that blog. I live in Jacksonville, Florida and I think that Teavana may be the only place for me to get quality looseleaf tea.

Thank you for sharing that link.

[Proinsias]

I think you should probably pick up quality loose leaf tea from the web as most here do, even the ones in Florida. Value for money is great and websites don't tend to be too pushy.

Although the people round here will probably talk you into remortgaging your house to get tea and teaware if you're not careful, but in a nice way.

[Geekgirl]

Although the people round here will probably talk you into remortgaging your house to get tea and teaware if you're not careful, but in a nice way.

Sad but true.

[Chip]

Although the people round here will probably talk you into remortgaging your house to get tea and teaware if you're not careful, but in a nice way.

Sad but true.

... ummm, yeah, wait a few days and check out the newest Hagi offer!

[depravitea]

I still use a gaiwan all the time. I'll be getting a kyusu soon, but a gaiwan is so versatile that you can do pretty much do whatever you need it to. I even managed to brew some Yutaka Midori in one with very decent results.
Plus, they're super easy to clean.
For a first teapot/brewing vessel, I'd definitely go with gaiwan.

[iannon]

Although the people round here will probably talk you into remortgaging your house to get tea and teaware if you're not careful, but in a nice way.

Sad but true.

... ummm, yeah, wait a few days and check out the newest Hagi offer!

uhh..will I have to remortgage my house for it??

[Chip]

Although the people round here will probably talk you into remortgaging your house to get tea and teaware if you're not careful, but in a nice way.

Sad but true.

... ummm, yeah, wait a few days and check out the newest Hagi offer!

uhh..will I have to remortgage my house for it??

No, I think one trip to the plasma center should cover it!

[depravitea]

Not to hijack your thread, but I need to ask:
How does a kyusu work?
(Chip), I understand that it does work, and it allows for particles of shincha to be suspended throughout the water/tea, but how does it do this, and how is it different from another style/type of teapot? Is there some internal filter, like a piece of clay with holes where the spout meets the body? Is the spout so small it just doesn't allow larger pieces of leaf?

[Chip]

Not to hijack your thread, but I need to ask:
How does a kyusu work?
(Chip), I understand that it does work, and it allows for particles of shincha to be suspended throughout the water/tea, but how does it do this, and how is it different from another style/type of teapot? Is there some internal filter, like a piece of clay with holes where the spout meets the body? Is the spout so small it just doesn't allow larger pieces of leaf?

Any decent kyusu has an internal screen usually made of clay or stainless steel, most often right at the base of the spout, and there are all kinds of screens. This allows maximum room for leaves to expand and move, including the tiny particles in teas like fukamushi.

A good screen will allow a balance of leaf to pass and keep larger particles in the pot. Some accomplish this better than others. I tend to use certain kyusu for certain teas because not all kyusu are "best" for every tea.

Still, virtually any decent kyusu will do a good job of brewing most teas. Fukamushi is a somewhat troublesome tea at times as it can clog some screens, but this is usually avoidable through careful pouring and practice.

[depravitea]

Just the info I was looking for, thanks Chip.