Show off your Kettle!!

[Teaism]

Hi,

The rust in the cast iron kettle can be resolved by boiling some tea in it.

Thanks for the tip!

I tried rubbing the rim with tea leaves. It worked okay. There were some leaf bits that made their way in and took some time to clear out. Doing on some exterior areas worked quite well.

Glad to hear that it works out well for you. Have a great tea day my friend. Cheers!

[blairswhitaker]

got a new old chagama from e-bay recently...

holds about 3 liters, is in pretty good shape as far as rust goes.


Untitled by blairswhitaker, on Flickr


Untitled by blairswhitaker, on Flickr


Untitled by blairswhitaker, on Flickr

[hopeofdawn]

I finally took some pictures of my first water-sake-kettle purchase. It's a vintage Ebay find, though how vintage I'm not sure. I mostly purchased it because I wanted to experiment, and I really liked the unique design and ornamentation on the surface. There is a small amount of exterior rust that doesn't show up so well on the photos, though that seems to becoming less obvious the more I use it.







And the interior--there's a certain amount of rust on the interior, but it seems to be surface spots only and the metal is still solid--no leaks. I'm not sure what to make of the iridescent patches on the bottom, though--is that normal?



Overall, I can see why people swear by tetsubins--it really seems to take the harsh edge off of greens. Its effect on other teas seems to be more subtle--I really need to do a side by side brew comparison one of these days to really make up my mind about it. I also have to be careful to leave the lid slightly ajar when heating the water, or water will boil out of the low spout, but otherwise my sake kettle seems to taking its new task of boiling water quite well.

[futurebird]

That is a lovely kettle. It must be a pleasure to use.

[blairswhitaker]

hopeofdawn thats a beautiful piece you have there.
I am interested in getting a choshi for sake, though I haven't seen one in my budget yet >100.00usd.
you can enhance the look of that kettle by doing the following.
get some sencha, the cheaper the better and put a handful in a disposable tea bag or a cotton square of cloth that you tie up to make a little pouch for the tea, boil this in the kettle for about an hour. this will very effectively help with the interior rust, discard this water and bring fresh water and some bamboo charcoal to a boil two or three times.
this will "reset" the taste of the kettle and get rid of any remaining sake residue. while the kettle is still very hot take several tablespoons of sencha in a clean piece of cotton and bring the corners together to form a pouch, then dip this in very hot water and start rubbing down the kettle with it. the outside will look much better. Also avoid ever touching the outside of the kettle with you bare hands. try to only handle it by the handle or from the inside, fingerprints leave behind skin oil and salts that are bad for the metal ( at least thats what my chanoyu sensei told me).

[hopeofdawn]

Thanks for the advice--I'll definitely follow it! I've already boiled some old green tea leaves inside when I was cleaning it--sans pouch, so there was some cleanup. Any idea where one might find bamboo charcoal in the U.S.? I'm in the Seattle area, if that helps ...

[blairswhitaker]

you can find it on amazon or a local japanese market

[blairswhitaker]

Got something "new" to me today,

Let's have a look


You have to love japanese packaging, the shop owner even tied it down to my bike for me.


Kibako







It was in great shape and I got it for less than a nimon, or less than 200 usd.

[hopeofdawn]

Gorgeous!

[debunix]

Would have liked a shot of you on the bike with that on the back, being a cyclist who has done some crazy toting at times myself (flats of berries for jam, two-by-fours, large sacks of wheat....).

The kettle by itself is certainly worth of viewing at length, even without the wonderful packaging. Really beautiful and I'm sure entirely functional.

[JBaymore]

I can't IMAGINE using vinegar or ANY oils on the inside of a chagama. Chip is on the right track in his comment above. Eventual rusting out is a normal part of the normal life cycle of a cast iron kettle (wabi cha) -and also a human being-.

best,

....................john

[JBaymore]

Nice chagama there Blair.

best,

..................john

[blairswhitaker]

I always feel kettles get neglected on this forum, and that's sad because they are literally the well from which all our tea springs forth.

Here is the interior and a close up and the kan.

[debunix]

Kettles like your beauty here are simply not part of the routine even for most of us here, who seek out high-quality loose-leaf teas from online sources. Even my pretty Simplex teakettle gets very little use since I discovered variable-temp electric kettles. They're the subject of innumerable threads here, but not nearly as gorgeous as a proper kettle like yours, and I usually move around with the camera to avoid including the kettle in my tea photos.

If I had one like yours, I'd find a way to feature it often. Maybe someday...but the ones I see and really like are quite pricey.

[blairswhitaker]

Debunix I get that most people don't use anything more than a variable temp or something like a zojirushi. I often wonder if they have every tried a higher quality kettle, I feel they make such a huge difference. I couldn't switch if I tried. I actually had a zojirushi and it ended up collecting dust so I gave it away. I feel so spoiled here in kyoto. I can find very nice used tetsubin and chagama at various places for between 100 to 200 usd. Of course the other end of that spectrum is the ones I see for thousands of usd. With the prices people are willing to pay for pots and chawan though it seems am investment into the heart of the tea making process would be so justifiable.