want to add my 2 cents worth, recently acquired an electric kettle made of stainless steel, I noticed that my teas don't taste as good when the water came from my cast iron kettle.
The difference is noticeable the C.I gives the tea a fuller open taste whereas the steel kettle makes my tea flat and boring.
Has anyone paid attention to this ?
If you like your new kettle, maybe you should consider using bamboo charcoal to compensate.
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Oct 10th, '08, 00:28
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Oct 10th, '08, 02:25
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I have noticed that as well. I use my electric kettle most days, just for tastings and simplicitea, but when I am sitting down to tea I use my bakufu era cast iron. It gives the tea a mellow, yet complex, flavor that is not present otherwise. I would love to see a picture of your CI pot if you have one.
Oct 10th, '08, 21:36
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Orguz, what is the design on that delightful tetsubin of yours?
I think I can possibly make out rice-ears and a sparrow, but that may just be wishful thinking (since it's also one of my favourite motifs).
I think I can possibly make out rice-ears and a sparrow, but that may just be wishful thinking (since it's also one of my favourite motifs).
______________________
"Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cosy, doesn't try it on."
- Billy Connolly
"Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cosy, doesn't try it on."
- Billy Connolly
It's fast when you use a conduction plate. 3 mins tops at medium setting. Tetsubins are available in various sizes. Mine is 1.5 litres, go check out Artistic Nippon. How is the overcooked tea leaf taste doing? Resolved that yet or still persisting, must be Montreal water I think.taitea wrote:I have questions too! How long does it take to bring water to a boil in that tetsubin? And how much water does it hold?
Haha I have concluded that the bad tea taste is a result of ........ bad tea. Basically, the few teas it was happening with just couldn't handle the high heats and I will avoid them from now on.
I know they're available in different sizes... I was just asking so that the heating time made sense relative to how much you're heating. 3 minutes is faster than my electric kettle takes. I thought tetsubins were supposed to take forever to heat up... I guess I was wrong. Or is it just that conduction plates are amazing?
I know they're available in different sizes... I was just asking so that the heating time made sense relative to how much you're heating. 3 minutes is faster than my electric kettle takes. I thought tetsubins were supposed to take forever to heat up... I guess I was wrong. Or is it just that conduction plates are amazing?
3 minutesorguz wrote:It's fast when you use a conduction plate. 3 mins tops at medium setting. Tetsubins are available in various sizes. Mine is 1.5 litres, go check out Artistic Nippon. How is the overcooked tea leaf taste doing? Resolved that yet or still persisting, must be Montreal water I think.taitea wrote:I have questions too! How long does it take to bring water to a boil in that tetsubin? And how much water does it hold?
?It takes 15-30 minutes to bring my tetsubin to boil on 'normal' stove. Do you mean induction plate?
Photiou wrote:3 minutesorguz wrote:It's fast when you use a conduction plate. 3 mins tops at medium setting. Tetsubins are available in various sizes. Mine is 1.5 litres, go check out Artistic Nippon. How is the overcooked tea leaf taste doing? Resolved that yet or still persisting, must be Montreal water I think.taitea wrote:I have questions too! How long does it take to bring water to a boil in that tetsubin? And how much water does it hold?
It takes 15-30 minutes to bring my tetsubin to boil on 'normal' stove. Do you mean induction plate?
Yes I meant using induction plate. 15 - 30 minutes is awfully long, too long buy an induction plate online I think you can get one for $50 to $60 or less.
When I read this tread (and something similar on the teamasters blog) I went to my parents place to borrow this old tetsubin:
My dad bought this more than thirty years ago, and it's a bit rusty. It took a little less than ten minutes to bring half a litre of water to the boil. Maybe it would take less if the bottom were more flat? This tetsubin is only in contact with the hotplate along the border of its bottom.
My first impression was that the tea I made from this tasted a lot more of fresh water than the tea I make from my eletric kettle! In fact, it reminded me of water from wells.
But I am not entirely sure how much was up to my expectations, or if I was influenced by the nice looks, smells and sounds from the kettle...
I certainly will have to make some experiments (and blind tests) with this!
One thing is certain anyway, there is quite a lot of iron dissolved from this tetsubin - when I poured up a glass of the boiled water it was light yellow and clearly had an iron taste. Maybe this will diminish if I use it for some time?
My dad bought this more than thirty years ago, and it's a bit rusty. It took a little less than ten minutes to bring half a litre of water to the boil. Maybe it would take less if the bottom were more flat? This tetsubin is only in contact with the hotplate along the border of its bottom.
My first impression was that the tea I made from this tasted a lot more of fresh water than the tea I make from my eletric kettle! In fact, it reminded me of water from wells.
But I am not entirely sure how much was up to my expectations, or if I was influenced by the nice looks, smells and sounds from the kettle...
I certainly will have to make some experiments (and blind tests) with this!
One thing is certain anyway, there is quite a lot of iron dissolved from this tetsubin - when I poured up a glass of the boiled water it was light yellow and clearly had an iron taste. Maybe this will diminish if I use it for some time?