teapots: earthenware, steel, enamel -- why?
 

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

teapots: earthenware, steel, enamel -- why?
 

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

teapots: earthenware, steel, enamel -- why?
 

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/

teapots: earthenware, steel, enamel -- why?
 

There are too many other variables to suggest you only consider the
material of the pot. Some that come to kind are gender, size, cost,
ethnicity, vanity. For example Russians might prefer a metal samovar,
women might prefer something smaller than men, the British might
prefer matching teapot and cups, etc. In the end it is personal
choice over convention. In my case I forego the teapot and brew in
the cup I drink from. If I were to make a case for materials it would
be the cup and not the pot because that is what you stick in your
face. Recently I picked up some Japanese cups because the glazing
reminded me of just cooled lava.

Jim

On Mar 16, 11:22 am, Ted Shoemaker > wrote:
> 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

because tea inearthenware is both good for health and for tea brewing.tea in earthenware smells of fragrance!!!!