where'd all the teapots go?

[MiaAzayzel]

this question may have already been posted...but I don't have time to go back through and look...so you'll have to bear with me

once upon a time people had lovely simple tea pots they would heat on the stove and then put the tea in and steep and serve. that simple.

now as I finally have a home of my own and am in need of a teapot to complete it, the only thing I can seem to find is these new fangled contraptions that look like a space ship to me with weird backwards handles and covers over the spouts with levers to open them and...AAAARGH i can't deal with it.

then I see beautiful teapots and I'm like "oh that's exactly what I want!" but then I start reading and apparently they're just suppossed to keep your tea warm? not warm it? why would you have two seperate pots??? why not just have one decent looking pot that does both?

so my question is:

does anyone know where I can find a pretty (my favorites are the oriental cast iron ones just to clarify) teapot that can be used on the stovetop?

or if not, any advise on the best method of heating the water and still having a pretty pot? those electric water heating contraptions kinda seems like a betrayal to my tea...but it would allow me to use a pretty pot which might make me feel better...or should I just suck it up and use two pots? so I can heat it like I want and have a nice pot afterwards? I don't know...

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Odinsfury]

It's true that most people use their teapots just to steep their leaves. Although I'm not positive, I'm pretty sure you can get a cast iron teapot without an enamel lining that you could heat on the stovetop. You'd probably want to avoid getting one that's too large unless you plan on making a lot of tea. I'm sure someone with a little more knowledge on this will come to help you out.

[MiaAzayzel]

thank you very much i'll check into that...

[Deleted User #17777]

I would recommend a kettle to boil water and a seperate tea pot to brew tea. If you want to heat up the water, you don't really want to have to re-boil with the tea leaves.....

[entropyembrace]

I use kettle and a teapot to pour hot water onto the leaves the water splashing into the pot stirs up the leaves and that releases more flavour.

I use one of those electric contraptions but there's stovetop kettles to heat water too.

[Geekgirl]

Mia, my mother-in-law makes her tea like you describe, but she is using teabags. So she has a very nice kettle/teapot, she boils the water, then takes the pot off the burner, puts in her teabags. When the tea is done, she removes the teabags.

If you are brewing loose-leaf tea though, and not using a contained teabasket, it's not practical to brew in your large stovetop kettle because the tea will oversteep before you can strain and drink it. Also, very few stove-top kettles have a strainer built into the spout, so it's just not practical to use with uncontained loose-leaf.

That is why most of us use something for boiling and a second pot for steeping and/or serving.

[Chip]

Cast iron non lined kettles are for heating water, not for brewing.

[MiaAzayzel]

what about the lined ones? is it just a strict "no cast iron pots on stovetops of any sort" rule? which ones can be used and on what heating sources if any?

I keep getting varrying answers from people who heat their cast iron but only certain kinds on certain heating sources...and others who seem cast iron phobic...

i just want a clear answer from someone who knows for sure. if I have to get a special heater or two pots I can...but I'd rather not if I don't have to...

[MiaAzayzel]

oh wait! sorry, misread that last reply...

so they ARE used for heating water...why not for brewing? that's something new I haven't heard...why would it be safe for heating water...but not tea...do herbs damage cast iron now?

[Deleted User #17777]

to be clear - tetsubin has become a bit of a generic name for a cast iron pot. A traditional tetsubin is used for heating water, (Though in japan there are other pots for heating water as well). It is not lined, so the water being heated can take on some of the character of iron. The water from here is then poured into the pot for brewing, for instance a kyusu.

In the US, there are many popular iron teapots for brewing tea, and are called tetsubins, though it would be technically incorrect. They are lined with enamel and generally feature a strainer basket. They are used to place tea leaves in, add water boiled from a different pot, and brew the tea. Their function is to look pretty, as a enameled bed pan would provide the same brewing experience.

The reason you should not place one of these "tetsubins" on a stove (be it gas, charcoal, electric, induction, fission) is that the heat needed to boil water will eventually cause the enamel layer to fail. The enamel layer is to prevent rust.

As mentioned before, generally, it is best to boil water efficently in one vessel, and then brew the tea in a pot whose characteristics match the brewing needs of that tea. Water is then added to the "tea pot" as needed to brew additional cups. With pu'erh tea, you might make a days worth of small cups from one batch of leaves.

[MiaAzayzel]

thank you very much. that answers my question very efficiently.