On 2010-03-16, Luddite > wrote:
> 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.

To me, it depends both on the type of metal, and how good the water is
to start with.

Earthenware / clay kettles seem to somewhat smooth out the water a
little; glass ones are neutral, as you'd expect. Metal kettles can
impart a metallic taste in some cases, depending on the type of metal
used. Also, an unlined iron tetsubin develops some scale and often small
amounts of rust over time; this affects the taste of the water, though
not necessarily negatively. Silver is said to be quite good, but the
cost is prohibitive for most of us, and it must be taken care of fairly
carefully (can melt on an open flame, or tarnish if not dried out and
cleaned properly).

Regarding pots themselves, I think earthenware / stoneware pots,
especially ones that are fairly porous, are said to smooth out the taste
of tea somewhat compared to other types of pot. I don't know of many
metal teapots (other than silver ones, which aren't used very often).
Again, whether this is a desirable characteristic depends on the tea. I
personally prefer Yixing or Chaozhou pots for certain teas, but
porcelain pots or a porcelain gaiwan for others.

--
Multi-lingual forum for Chinese and Japanese tea and teawa
http://teadrunk.org/