I love tea. I love all sorts of tea but I tip Japanese green tea (sencha) as my favourite, followed closely by genmaicha (Green tea and brown rice). For Christmas a few years back my auntie bought me my first tea pot and it really saw some use. I’d make a pot of green tea a few times a week and sometimes a few pots a day. So when my floral English style tea pot broke I needed to replace it, fast!
I’ve have quite an affinity with all things Japanese so I thought a Japanese tea pot was in order. There are a few different types. Roughly there is the Tetsubin (te-tsu-bin) which is your regular shape with a handle over the top and it’s made of cast iron. According to wikipedia the tetsubin is appreciated as a source of iron as the iron leaches into the water…wow.
The more common type is the Kyushu which is made of ceramic and is either the regular shape or has a protruding handle out the side. This is the type I opted for when I wandered into “Japan City” at my local Westfield that was having an opening sale! $38 and I’ve got an elegant, traditional style tea pot that’ll be sure to impress.
I’m really happy with it. It pours well. It’s deceptively large and I can get 2 regular size tea / coffee cups from each batch. I’m still using a tea infuser inside but it’d be fine with uncut tea leaves.
I’m aiming to never wash it. Just like a wok, your tea pot will season. I’m sure there’s 100 year old tea pots out there with a rich heritage of flavours built up over the years!
Do you use a tea pot? What sort? Anything you can share about choosing, using or caring for it?
G'day Lincoln,have you ever tried Gyokuro green tea? If you like and think that Sencha is good then I'd suggest trying GyokuroSee here => http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GyokuroHowever, it is on the expensive side $900 per kg so justa few grams and used on very special occasions is my suggestion 🙂
Heya – nope haven't tried that. Sounds interesting. I picked up some Nepalese white tea last year that was about $500kg. That had a nice light, sweet flavour that for some reason I craved. Will put Gyokuro on the list of tea's to try. Thanks for the tip.
pre pregnancy I was a tea addict. now it makes me spew on command…… my parents are still big fans. they drink white tea and licorice tea daily. I love teapots and have 2 sets that I brought with me – a Chinese set which I got when trekking along the great wall (well from a stall nearby) and an Arabic set with tray and glasses perfect for chai. Chsi is the only tea I can drink now and I prefer it made on soy milk. I can also drink the tea they serve at sushi joints…..
Hey Lakehousewriter – the tea they serve at Sushi joints is quite often Jasmin tea. What’s interesting about that tea is that they pick the Jasmin blossom’s while still dark and put them on a big mat with the freshly picked tea. As the Jasmin blossom’s open up in the early morning they release the fragrance onto the green tea. Some mixes still have the jasmin blossom’s in it but I prefer the green tea by itself. I should note that this is the old fashion manual way. I’m sure these days it’s all mechanically harvested and combined!