FoodBanter.com - View Single Post - teapots: earthenware, steel, enamel -- why?

Luddite

In article <6b7a3824-da66-48ca-920e-
>,
says...
>
> Hello,
>
> I was watching an educational video on Youtube, which was explaining
> how to prepare tea. It said, earthenware pots and kettles are better
> (for tea) than steel, steel is better than enamel, and so forth. But
> it didn't say why.
>
> The video was derived from a film made in the 1940's, so I don't
> expect I can get much help from the filmmakers themselves.
>
> Can someone shed more light on materials for teapots and kettles?
>
> Thank you!
>
> Ted Shoemaker

First: don't confuse tea kettles and tea pots. You boil water in a
kettle and then you brew tea in a pot.

Virtually all kettles are metal. Kettle composition isn't really
important (IMHO) as long as it can stand the heat and doesn't leach
anything into the water that you're boiling.

I like ceramic for the teapot (maybe out of habit -- lots of people
swear by earthware). Stay away from metal, it conducts heat too well
from the tea inside to the air outside, so the tea doesn't stay hot.
I'd stay away from glass for the same reason -- most of them are very
thin-walled and let too much heat out.

HS