Kyusu lids--on or off?

[Nathaniel87]

Hello everyone~

Just had a quick question for those of you who drink a lot of tea brewed in unglazed kyusu. I only have one unglazed kyusu that I got from yuuki-cha last spring and I use it everyday for somewhere around 10g of tea in two different sessions. By now, the area where the tea steeps inside the pot has darkened the already dark color of the pot to an almost deep rusty-ish red.

I have also found that if I leave the lid on during the day there is a strong sweet seaweed smell in the pot when I do eventually take the lid off. Does anyone else notice the same thing with their kyusu and do you all generally leave the lid on or off in between brews?

[Chip]

Are you doing this with tea in or empty?

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If you talking about empty, after use ...

Some say Tokoname clay does not absorb the teas brewed. I disagree from personal experience ... as you are discovering. If you continue to use this as you have, in time you will notice the tea flavor is also affected.

If you are just brewing sencha, this is no biggie, but if you are brewing all kinds of teas in it, the flavor profile becomes ... confused.

I am currently noticing this with a few other Tokoname kyusu that are relatively new to service, 1-2 years that are being used for sencha only. But when I used my first kyusu for all greens, oolongs, and lighter blacks, the effect was a bit disturbing, everything had an added unusual sweet taste to it.

[entropyembrace]

My Tokoname teapot now has a strong sweet-seaweedy aroma typical of the sencha I prefer even when completely dry and kept for a few hours with the lid off....and I´ve been using it for less than a year.

Ideally I try to wash the teapot out with boiling hot water and let it sit with the lid off to air dry between uses...but it often doesn´t go between uses long enough for that to happen

Maybe when I get more to share the duties....

[debunix]

I rarely use either of mine more than once a day. I leave them upside down, lid off, until dry, or until the next use if not yet dry. Sometimes on a sunny day I leave one on the windowsill to get comPletely dry.

[chingwa]

I've noticed this on my kyuu as well, in fact the "pot-small" is most obvious right after I preheat it in preparation for the first tea of the day. Once I dump the heating water out I get the not-so-fresh smell wafting out of the pot. I'm mixed as to whether this is a sign I should clean my pot (with a soft head brush and hot hot hot water), or whether to just leave it be...

[Oni]

Between the infusions keep the lid off or put it on sideway so that steam can escape, Hojotea also reminds us of this in their instructions, after using a kyusu also dry it out, otherwise mold can form in it and you can throw it out if it does, this is a serious issue.
I have also noticed what Chip has, tokoname and banko kyusu also absorb tea aroma, and I only use japanese clay teapots for japanese tea like sencha, kabusecha, karigane, gyokuro, but never for genmaicha, nor any flavoured japanese tea (like seaweed).

[MarshalN]

If you're talking about after use, I'd suggest leaving the lid off until the pot is completely dry. This applies to pretty much any teaware

[Nathaniel87]

Thanks for all of the answers everyone.

I was indeed talking about in between uses and not just after its dry either. Even after the boiling water treatment and even an occasional hair dryer blast to dry off the sesame filter, I still notice the strong sweet sort of smell.

I suppose there is never a right way, its just that I am just still going back and forth deciding whether this is a positive thing or not. The water that I use to pre-heat/rinse my kyusu with does have a very noticible sweet flavor but I am not sure if it is something that I enjoy or not. Less sure how it impacts the brewed tea however...

Anyway, I have indeed only been using Sencha and the rare gyokuro in the pot for the entire year so I guess there would be nothing to do differently even if I started fresh from a clean/new pot.

Well, thanks again everyone.

[Chip]

Thanks for all of the answers everyone.

I was indeed talking about in between uses and not just after its dry either. Even after the boiling water treatment and even an occasional hair dryer blast to dry off the sesame filter, I still notice the strong sweet sort of smell.

I suppose there is never a right way, its just that I am just still going back and forth deciding whether this is a positive thing or not. The water that I use to pre-heat/rinse my kyusu with does have a very noticible sweet flavor but I am not sure if it is something that I enjoy or not. Less sure how it impacts the brewed tea however...

Anyway, I have indeed only been using Sencha and the rare gyokuro in the pot for the entire year so I guess there would be nothing to do differently even if I started fresh from a clean/new pot.

Well, thanks again everyone.

Yes, this is exactly what I have posted about in the past. To me, it was interesting when I first began to notice it, but then it became a distraction as every sencha had this same odd sweet taste as part of its altered profile. Perhaps a good scrubbing including the inside of the spout, and multiple hot to near boiling soaks would help.

Unfortunately I do not have this kyusu anymore, but I have already begun to notice it with newer kyusu-s.

I remember posting about this and thinking was I the only person to experience this, in fact I had the feeling some did not believe this was possible for a kyusu ... but now many more members are using kyusu-s and many of them are possibly beginning to approach this stage.

[Nathaniel87]

Yah, I remember reading your comments on that during my long period of lurking around here. I guess it also helps in your case to have numerous pots to spread out your legendary sencha consumption. I can't imagine how fast that taste would accumulate if you brewed every time with the same pot!

After a couple months of heavy brewing with the same pot last shincha season I did boil the pot and scrub with a thick baking soda paste which did no harm and did wash away the reddish stain. This removed the taste for a while but since I have been drinking nothing but sencha almost for the past 3 to 4 months again it has reached a very noticeable level once again.

I think this might be a case where both parties are right, however, as I have some feeling that it may not be the pot absorbing anything at all and it might just be that the sencha patina/stain/whatever way one chooses to see it is just on the surface and perhaps not being actually absorbed into the clay as is supposed to happen on some other types of clay. This is also why I think it is relatively easy to scrub it off.

All in all though, I don't think I will go through scrubbing it again and maybe I will just see how far I can take this. It will be interesting to compare sencha later on with a same tea brewed in a clean porcelain pot to see just how much it is affecting the brewed tea.

I guess just out of curioustity though, do you notice anything more extreme than this with your shigaraki kyusu?

[Chip]

A few differences between then and now. Back then I did not filter and the kyusu would develop tea stained scale which would eventually flake off in larger pieces. I also used this kyusu for lots of different types of tea. The flavor/aroma imparted was quite pronounced and sweet.

Now ... I always filter. I also only use them for non roasted, non flavored Japanese teas. There is not the crusty tea stained scale as the old one. It is more like a patina. I am now noticing a slight sweetness. This is most noticable right after pouring off the preheat water. It is also quite noticable with the first steep, but not very much in successive steeps.

Regarding the Shigaraki, it is still pretty new. I tend to use this strictly for Yabukita asamushi sencha. No changes at this early stage.

[teaisme]

This is also why I think it is relatively easy to scrub it off.

That is my impression too.
maybe try wiping the pot with a good microfiber cloth (some hot water should be in pot) after each session , then hot rinse and leave to dry (my teacave is pretty dry and have not had any issues with just leaving the lid half on to dry