Question from a tea newb

[Ubancha]

Yo. Newbie here- just can't be normal, gotta put my first posts somewhere other than the introduction board. lol ANYway...

I'm ready to get my own clay tea set as I love the stuff but get tired of having to heat water in the microwave over and over again. So some basic newbie questions: what are the most reputable brands for the sort of thing? Are there fair-trade options, and if so, what are they? And which pot will insulate my water from the cold the longest?

V and love!

[Beidao]

I think you should first of all get a kettle. Microwaved water isn't the best for tra. What do you want a clay tea set for and what sort of tea set do you mean? With a teapot - small or big - or a gaiwan? Can you show an example of what set you mean? Sets are often not the best, sadly. I don't think there are fair trade teawarwe, I've never seen that anyway. A yixing will hold the heat for a long time but it's not a newbie sort of teaware I'm afraid.

[Thirsty Daruma]

You should immediately start thinking about tea equipment according to different varieties of tea. A yixing pot will be much better suited to Pu'er teas than would be a testubin. That's a pretty radical example, but even so, the idea is that as you get higher quality teaware it will better tailored to certain kinds of tea.

That said, first consider an electric kettle of some kind. I had a $30 one from Braun which I loved dearly, but retired in favor of a Zojirushi water heater which is pretty heavy equipment for a newbie. So go get a competent electric kettle, preferably with an adjustable temperature setting - different teas need to be brewed at different temperatures.

After that you'll want a brewing vessel. I started off and still adore my ForLife mug with tea infuser. It's a horrible mug for fancy, connoisseur type teas, but makes a wonderful, high volume container for cheaper day-to-day teas like Genmaicha, Houjicha, English Breakfast etc.

And, shh, don't tell anyone, but sometimes I make fancier teas in it too.

[hooksie]

When it comes to getting a kettle, I can vouch for Adagio's utiliTEA. I've had it for a few weeks now and it's sturdily made and heats water quickly (at least per my standards).