What teaware do you use? Looking for inspiration.

[Stephanie]

Hi there!

I love tea but I don't own a nice tea set or any real teaware of any kind. All I use are jar mugs and an old kettle. I don't really know what I'm looking for so I'm wondering what other people like or use and maybe I'll get inspired. For sure I'm probably looking for a couple of sets. One for english tea serving, one for chinese.

What kind of teapot(s) do you have?

Do you have a nice set for when company comes over? What's the set like? Pot, creamer and sugar bowl, or a super mega deluxe one with matching cups and saucers, honey pot, and a tray?

What do you use for single serving for yourself?

What about esthetics and design? Are you a traditional Royal Doulton/fine China type person, or maybe something more modern? What do you like?

Last, what accessories do you use? I guess I should get some sort of loose tea infuser. I've just been putting the loose tea in my cup and pouring water over it. It works but it's a bit funny to drink.

Links to websites or pictures would be really cool.

Thanks so much!

[kodama]

I mainly use a Japanese-made western format teapot (normal handle, porcelain, but with very simple but lightly textured blue glaze) and associated handle-less teacups.

I also have a larger Japanese-style porcelain pot and a french press at other locations with normal mugs.

I don't like english-style black tea, but for the straight earl/lady grey and lapsang the Japanese stuff works fine.

I want a yixing/gaiwan.

[Warden Andy]

I mostly use a small gaiwan, occasionally a Yixing teapot whenever I make wulong, and a Japanese teapot that I use when I want some tea, but don't have much time (mostly only in the morning).

I also mostly use handleless teacups. So far, I like how you can tell if tea is too hot to drink if it's in a handleless cup. If you can't hold it, you can't drink it. I haven't burned my tongue in a long time.

[rabbit]

I use my gaiwan for white/green/oolong/pu-erh, my yixing teapot for british breakfast, and my japanese cast iron teapot for everything else... I also have a set of small handle(less) teacups a friend from Japan sent me that I use to drink from.

[MarshalN]

In my efforts to stop using gaiwan I now have five yixing pots. The only teas I need to use a gaiwan for are rock teas, green teas, and when I drink them (which is almost never) black teas. A standard set -- tray, fairness cup, and a drinking cup.

[Ms. Cuisine]

For home I use a tea cup strainer. It lays over the cup and I put my loose tea in and pour my water over it. At home it is straight from my everyday tea kettle (oh, I did find a fish tea kettle-have that out when I need a smile or grandkids are over). I like to use the strainer so I do not get a bitter cup of tea. Green tea especially wil be bitter in three minutes or less!

Enjoy your tea in anything that makes you: feel special, secure or just plain happy! The tea flavor is upper most, the tea items are just the icing on the cake. Have fun finding things that make you happy.

[Carnelian]

I keep it simple; ingenuitea, a few choice non-matching cups, basic tea kettle, and I'm working on finding a ceramic teapot that I like.

[Phyll]

What kind of teapot(s) do you have?

I use Yixing, mainly. I posted pics of my Yixing pots here: www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?t=1361&start=15

Do you have a nice set for when company comes over? What's the set like? Pot, creamer and sugar bowl, or a super mega deluxe one with matching cups and saucers, honey pot, and a tray?

Chinese tea tray/sea, with a set of wooden and bamboo utensils, Yixing pots, Yixing cups, porcelain tea holder, porcelain teapot, and a few gaiwan.

What do you use for single serving for yourself?

I use a gaiwan or the smallest Yixing pot I own. Here is a pic of it next to a US 25 cent coin. Makes about two mini cups of tea.

What about esthetics and design? Are you a traditional Royal Doulton/fine China type person, or maybe something more modern? What do you like?

I like a good China, and especially high quality, thin, light Chinese porcelain.

[Kestrel]

I use the Mikado 70oz. teapot and a glass teakettle and the Clarity cup, all available from Adagio.

The thing that got me hooked is the fact that they're all dishwasher safe and glass doesn't impart any kind of flavor to the tea, nor will it hold flavor, so I can make a pot of tea, and as soon as it's gone, rinse the pot and infuser with hot water, and make a pot of an entirely different tea, and there's no taste leftover from the tea I made before.

I also love the Japanese handle-less cups. I'm looking for a set of the small ones, at the moment. Aside from that, though, I'm not really big on the non-glass teaware. I love my dishwasherables too much.

[peachaddict]

I don't use anything fancy. There are several mugs i use that don't match. My teapot is a 3-cup white, porcelain teapot that doesn't take up much room and has a lid that is done in such a way that it's prevented from falling off. The family kettle is a nice, simple metal one. As far as esthetics go, i just use anything that looks nice and decent (preferably anything white and/or blue) and isn't too expensive. My mugs should be able to hold about 12 oz. If i need an infuser, i have a mug with an infuser or i use the little ball that leaves go in ("tea ball"?). No pics yet, but as soon as i get the pics, i can give you a private message to let you know if you want me to. You asked about single servings for self, so i've got to add that the above is single servings for myself.

[Parelle]

I have a fondess for glassware, which is a crazy idea considering that being a college student of sorts, I do move at least twice a year. My two teapots were gifts - a no-name 24oz found in Tokyo, with a glass slit infuser (my 'good' teapot, used at home) and a Bodum 32oz with a tea-press infuser (at work, shared with friends). I do also have an ingeuntea for quick pick-me-ups at work - that's what I use for a single serving mostly.

The teacups are all a bit of a lark: at home, I've 2 (of 4 original) handless cups bought in a 100 yen store in Tokyo (with 3 of the 4 saucers) and 6 (Though where's the 6th in my mess of a room) cups with handles of the same size purchased for 90 cents in total from a thift store. They're all about 4 oz, I believe. At work, I've my heavy glass mug, but also 2 Bodum glasses (7 oz) which match my teapot by chance - my godparent's daughter had dropped a tray with her coffee pot, but had brought the remaining cups back home. Lastly, if I'm just drinking a single glass of tea at night, I've a silly glass mug, with a dimple for a frog statuette, found in a grocery store in Tokyo for 300 yen.

Most of the time, I drink blacks - hence my purchase of the Jaener sugar and creamer set for home (and a plastic set for work). I did also buy their teapot warmer, but it didn't survive a month in my hands, alas. I'll probably replace this eventually with something a bit sturdier. Hot water's off the kitchen kettle at home, though there's an electric hotwater pot at work. I'll probably buy one of my own before I move for the summer.

Lastly, there're my trays - a small wooden one, not even larget enough to hold my Bodum pot and a teacup, but nicely carved, a downright ugly oak tray, but presentable with a drapped napkin! and a red and black lacquered wood tray in the Japanese tradition - a bit stark for my Westernized set, really, but it does work nicely.

[teaspoon]

Nothing fancy for me, just a teacup or mug and either the ingenuiTEA or if I'm going to drink more than a cup I'll use a teapot.

For cups, I've got cups from BeeHouse that simply say "tea" on the side (one white, one red), as well as a black-on-black cherry blossom mug from Target, and at home I've got mugs that I share with my mom.

I've only got two teapots, one is the white personaliTEA teapot, and the other is a red Hues 'n' Brews pot that goes well with the BeeHouse cups. I want a Japanese tetsubin, cos the cast-iron keeps the tea hot. At home, sometimes I'll make tea for my mom and me (and my dad when he's off from work) in my grandmother's Blue Willow teapot. Awesomest teapot ever. Don't have it here at school, though, that would be risky for the pot.

I also have a pretty spoon that doesn't match any of our silverware at home and so it became my own personal spoon, and I usually use that to stir my tea. I'm all about the spoon.

~(tea)spoon

[jogrebe]

I want a Japanese tetsubin, cos the cast-iron keeps the tea hot.

I don't know where you live teaspoon but are there any T J Maxx stores in your area? I know most people think they are a clothing store but towards the back they have a section of "exotic items" that make it a great place to go gift shopping for people that you have no idea what to get, as its not unusual to find African drums next to large stoneware Celtic Crosses and Buddha statues, and even gasp Japanese tetsubin teapots for the lowest prices around (generally $15-$30 depending upon size). That is where my tetsubin came from which is a really nice pot which does keep tea hot for long, although I haven't used it as much since I picked up a yixing tea pot for my puerh tea.

[teaspoon]

Whoa, really? There IS a TJ Maxx near me... I've gotta check that out!!! Conveniently it's in the same shopping center as my local yarn store and right next door to Michael's craft store. Teahee... one-stop shopping!

~'spoon

[jogrebe]

Yes or at least the TJ Maxx in my area did a few months ago when I was there. If the one in your area doesn't have any, let me know and I can check again at the one in my area. If they have them I'd be potentially open to buying one for you if you are not that fussy about how it looks, if you think the added cost of mailing it would still make the savings worthwhile.