Different green teas in the same tokoname pot?

[anthology91]

Hi everyone,
I am new to posting on these forums and quite new to tea equipment and I have a question I hope some of you could help me with.

I was just wondering whether it was okay to brew various types of green tea in the same tokoname teapot?
I know the pot absorbs some of the flavour of the tea with each use, however I would like to use it for different types of green teas from various places (never flavoured tea).

How absorbing is the tokoname pots?

What do you think?

Thank you.

[Chip]

Welcome to the forum!

It can depend on how A.R. you want to be.

My first kyusu I used for brewing a lot of teas including various greens and oolongs (all non flavored, non roasted) and it definitely over time picked up all the different flavors of the teas. Then each time I brewed, each tea would have this same underlying, unusual sweet flavor ... it was interesting at first, but also annoying. I wanted to taste the actual tea I was brewing ...

This was years ago, and as a newbie I did not know about being able to reset the pot, etc. There was no internet as a resource.

If you are brewing all greens, the impact will be much less.

[Alex]

I don't like mixing. I learnt the hard way. Put some Hojicha in a kyusu and it took many many brews for the toasty flavour to leave.....brews that I was trying to sample a nice high grade sencha. Doh!

[JRS22]

My 2-part rule of thumb is:

1-use a Kyusu just for Japanese greens
2-don't count houjicha and genmaicha as green tea for this purpose.

My first kyusu purchase was a $19 shincha pot from Den's Tea. It's glazed inside and is now reserved for the houjicha and genmaicha.

[debunix]

I have a tokoname teapot that I hardly ever use for sencha, and I use it for most mellow chinese greens and occasionally for a 'green' oolong. It does get rinsed fairly carefully between uses, often with boiling water, and it's fine. But if I were trying to get the precise nuances of one sencha vs another, I'd probably reset it with lots of boiling water and then stick to the senchas alone.

[edkrueger]

Bancha in one. Ichibancha in another. Un-roasted oolong and finer Chinese greens should do fine in the Ichibancha pot. Coarser Chinese greens and roasted oolongs in the other.

That said, I don't think a kyusu is the best thing for brewing most Chinese teas. I use one if I want a large cup though.

[anthology91]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply.
Well this would be my first teapot purchase and I will only use it for various green teas, I just can't see myself using the same green tea every single time . Well I guess I might just use the tokoname for sencha green tea then and buy a seperate teapot which has a non-absorbant material, for all the others.

[Alex]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply.
Well this would be my first teapot purchase and I will only use it for various green teas, I just can't see myself using the same green tea every single time . Well I guess I might just use the tokoname for sencha green tea then and buy a seperate teapot which has a non-absorbant material, for all the others.

That sounds like a plan. May I suggest a clay kyusu for sencha and a porcelain Gaiwan for all other tea at this stage. Something in the 100-120ml range would be good for all round use.

[anthology91]

I am thinking and about to buy this tokoname teapot which is 180ml.

I think it looks great. There are also others that look really good however are in the 200 dollar range.

http://www.everyonestea.com/product/131

[Alex]

Looks decent.

Have a look on artisticnippon.com as well. Very good vendor

[anthology91]

Very nice teaware. I like some of the cups but the price is a bit expensive haha.

[Alex]

They are no more expensive then some of the high end everyonestea pots. In fact they even have a range a lot cheaper.

[AdamMY]

I like to play a fun little game with Artistic Nippon, though its not as much fun once you know the range certain artists pieces usually sell in. But the game goes as follows:

1. Look for pieces you like, when you find one guess the price you think it should be selling for.
2. Click on the picture to view the information about the piece and find out if you came in low and high.


Sometimes you can be pleasantly surprised. Such as I got a rather nice and small Gyokko Kyusu from him that was selling for 50% less if not 100% less than I would have guessed. But I did not know this at the time Gyokko Kyusu tend to be on the more affordable side.

[edkrueger]

That one you found looks good.

Might I suggest as another option:
http://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php? ... cts_id=113

[Alex]

I like to play a fun little game with Artistic Nippon, though its not as much fun once you know the range certain artists pieces usually sell in. But the game goes as follows:

1. Look for pieces you like, when you find one guess the price you think it should be selling for.
2. Click on the picture to view the information about the piece and find out if you came in low and high.


Sometimes you can be pleasantly surprised. Such as I got a rather nice and small Gyokko Kyusu from him that was selling for 50% less if not 100% less than I would have guessed. But I did not know this at the time Gyokko Kyusu tend to be on the more affordable side.

I liked that game. Now I just stare at the same pieces over and over again and its no longer the fun game it once was but a daily addiction like smoking.