Japanese Tetsubin Question

[DigitalSparks]

I have been using my Tetsubin for just shy of a year now and I was curious if any other Tetsubin users out there could relate to an issue I find myself having.

I have noticed that the first batch of water is a little over the top with the iron taste, and after I boil that first kettle the flavor is as it should be. Its as if the water simply picks up too much iron in the first batch and then settles to a level that is pleasant after that.

So I was wondering if anyone else noticed this with their Tetsubin or not.

I assume I could boil some tea and reduce the oxidation inside the kettle but I'm not sure how often you should boil tea inside a tetsubin, I have done it twice in 8 months, and I dont mind doing it but I also kind of thought the whole idea was to allow it to oxidize to reap the benefits of the iron.

[pedant]

do you remember if it was always like that from day 1?

i use mine infrequently but haven't noticed the refills tasting different than the first fill of the tea session.

[DigitalSparks]

When I first got it I believe it had been coated in urishi because there wasn't any oxidation at all, I can only assume that someone had taken the time to recondition the tetsubin when I bought it. I purchased it online from a fairly well-known vendor Katsuragi Japan. For the first several months I was using bottled water and had achieved the "white snow" on the inside because my filtered tap water tends to be very soft, I was just experimenting at the time. I eventually reset the tetsubin, boiled sencha in it for a day, and continued to use it from there, I think I boiled sencha in it again about 4 months in, so it went thru 2 sessions of sencha boiling.

I think early on the hard water more mineral-rich water either didn't present the stronger iron taste or possibly it wasn't as oxidized then as it is now. Part of the reason for my boiling sencha the second time was because I noticed the iron-rich first batch thing, and it did help but it's back to doing it again since the interior has advanced in oxidation.

I see tetsubins online that are very oxidized in contrast to mine and it doesn't seem to be an issue or no one mentions it from what I have seen thus far. Then again there's very limited in-depth information in English concerning tetsubins too.

I don't feel that it's a problem as much with the tetsubin as it is likely just me being more sensitive possibly to the stronger first boil of water because, after the first boiling, it doesn't taste so iron-rich anymore.

[Andrew S]

I don't think it should have an 'iron taste', and, if anything, I would have thought that that kind of thing would occur if you left the water inside for too long, which is the opposite of what your describe (or perhaps if you don't use it for a long time and it starts to rust).

If the first boil of water tastes like iron, then perhaps there are iron particles coming off and going into the water, which doesn't sound normal to me. At least, i haven't had this issue. Using a tetsubin should improve the character of the water, not make it taste like iron.

Andrew