Clay Kettles

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TeaTotaling
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Wed Sep 02, 2020 3:06 pm

OCTO wrote:
Wed Sep 02, 2020 10:16 am
Lately, I’m using a Japanese clay kettle, matched with a vintage ChaoZhou stove, with a modified heating element inside the kettle grooves. The heat intensity can be adjusted from a modified dimmer switch.

Cheers!!



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@OCTO Beautiful set up 👀 💚 👀

I bet it’s a joy to use 🔥 🔥 🔥

I have been loving boiling water in Zisha. Clay boiled water really suits what my palate craves 💦 💦 💦
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OCTO
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Wed Sep 02, 2020 9:20 pm

@TeaTotaling Thanks!

It's a small kettle. No bigger than a ripe grapefruit. I don't like reboiling water too many times. So this kettle really suits my needs. One boil will last me a brew or two. Then refill with fresh water.

Cheers!!
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klepto
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Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:05 am

@OCTO Can I come over and paw through your teaware :D. You seem to have some really interesting items.

@TeaTotaling You too :mrgreen:
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OCTO
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Thu Sep 03, 2020 9:13 pm

klepto wrote:
Thu Sep 03, 2020 10:05 am
OCTO Can I come over and paw through your teaware :D. You seem to have some really interesting items.
@klepto

You're always welcomed. Give me a head's up when you're visiting this corner of the globe.

Cheers!!
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TeaTotaling
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Fri Sep 04, 2020 2:17 pm

OCTO wrote:
Wed Sep 02, 2020 9:20 pm
TeaTotaling Thanks!

It's a small kettle. No bigger than a ripe grapefruit. I don't like reboiling water too many times. So this kettle really suits my needs. One boil will last me a brew or two. Then refill with fresh water.

Cheers!!
I find myself following the same principle. I like to keep the water fresh and energetic.
maitre_tea
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Location: Washington, DC

Mon Oct 19, 2020 8:42 am

Does anyone have instructions for the congee/cornstarch method to "seal" clay kettles - I have one that sweats like crazy and would like to minimize it if I can. Thanks!
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Victoria
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Mon Oct 19, 2020 9:34 am

maitre_tea wrote:
Mon Oct 19, 2020 8:42 am
Does anyone have instructions for the congee/cornstarch method to "seal" clay kettles - I have one that sweats like crazy and would like to minimize it if I can. Thanks!
I’ve used rice water, just boil rice with more water than you’d typically use, filter rice water into kettle and simmer for a while. Rinse kettle and simmer clean water in kettle.
smx
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Wed Jan 05, 2022 10:24 am

well, last year I've written
smx wrote:
Tue Jan 12, 2021 4:09 pm
new year, new teapot
this year it is a new kettle (*):

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Stove from Mirka Randova, Kettle from Petr Sklenicka, both very nice items, perfectly crafted.

I will preheat the water on the kitchen stove, and then put it on the alcohol burner on the stove - it kept 80°C over hours today on the smallest possible flame, just perfect for my Japanese tea sessions.

I recognized a very sweet taste of the water directly from the kettle. I think it will vanish after using it a few times, at least with the current strength it would overlay any lighter tea taste. Do you season your kettles, like you season your Yixing pots (cooking with used tea leaves)?

(*) I was thinking about tetsubin over months, just up to a few days as you see in the other thread, but my decision now fell on a ceramic kettle. Not only because orginal senchado is with ceramic kettle (metal kettle with sado/chanoyu), but it feels warmer to me which matches better to tea. Anyway, I will play around with a little iron egg from Oigen in my electric kettle.
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Baisao
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Wed Jan 05, 2022 11:00 am

That's a lovely setup!
Do you season your kettles, like you season your Yixing pots (cooking with used tea leaves)?
There are many ideas around this for ceramic kettles: rice water, flour, tea, etc. Personally, I do not season with anything other than the water I plan to use the most. I'll let the minerals in the water do their work. I don't want to taste off flavors from starches and teas.
smx
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Sat Jan 08, 2022 9:30 am

thank you!
Baisao wrote:
Wed Jan 05, 2022 11:00 am
There are many ideas around this for ceramic kettles: rice water, flour, tea, etc. [...] I don't want to taste off flavors from starches and teas.
I know about the rice water seasoning, but mainly because of sealing leaking pots/cups (low-fired and/or coarse clays like Hagi-yaki etc.). I nevertheless avoided this procedure and just used the cups with a little towel the first few times, until the tea particals sealed them up.
I can only hardly image to let something else into my ceramics than water and tea.

I've now just boiled fresh water several times in the new kettle, and now the earthy taste has nearly completely vanished. it is now quite pure sweetish flavour and feels much softer, than the same (filtered) water out of the eletric kettle.
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Baisao
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Sat Jan 08, 2022 12:46 pm

smx wrote:
Sat Jan 08, 2022 9:30 am
thank you!
Baisao wrote:
Wed Jan 05, 2022 11:00 am
There are many ideas around this for ceramic kettles: rice water, flour, tea, etc. [...] I don't want to taste off flavors from starches and teas.
I know about the rice water seasoning, but mainly because of sealing leaking pots/cups (low-fired and/or coarse clays like Hagi-yaki etc.). I nevertheless avoided this procedure and just used the cups with a little towel the first few times, until the tea particals sealed them up.
I can only hardly image to let something else into my ceramics than water and tea.

I've now just boiled fresh water several times in the new kettle, and now the earthy taste has nearly completely vanished. it is now quite pure sweetish flavour and feels much softer, than the same (filtered) water out of the eletric kettle.
That’s great to hear!

Even my kettle from Mr. Ichikawa says to boil with rice or kudzu starch. My preference was to not do anything that would alter the clay except for water and perhaps carbon from a brazier.

With time, just as you noted, the minerals of your water will fill in pores and make your kettle a little less weepy but definitely true to taste.

Note: I would have used kudzu over rice water if I had a mass produced or broken kettle. By “rice water”, it is meant the rinse! That smells and may be a very old way of doing things. I suppose one could macerate fresh rice into a very thin paste but kudzu starch will be a cleaner product.
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wave_code
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Sun Jan 09, 2022 5:01 am

I'm still considering getting a small bofura or something similar to try out over steel and iron. The tetsubin is great, but gets a little fatiguing when it sees so much daily use. @Baisao I know they are hard to get a hold of, but do you happen to know what the roughly empty weight of your Ichikawa kettle is?
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Baisao
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Sun Jan 09, 2022 1:08 pm

wave_code wrote:
Sun Jan 09, 2022 5:01 am
I'm still considering getting a small bofura or something similar to try out over steel and iron. The tetsubin is great, but gets a little fatiguing when it sees so much daily use. Baisao I know they are hard to get a hold of, but do you happen to know what the roughly empty weight of your Ichikawa kettle is?
A 1 liter and 1.2 liter both weigh 650 grams. Both feel light to handle.
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wave_code
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Mon Jan 10, 2022 11:31 am

wow yeah, much more arm friendly at almost a quarter of the weight of my tetsubin. I switched back to a steel kettle today temporarily- while it was nice to have light easy movement it felt almost like it was going to fly out of my hand in comparison. I partially chose the tetsubin both to try the water effect (I do like it a lot!), but also because I was worried about cracking a clay kettle and the tetsubin seemed easier maintenance/use since I could just throw it on an electric burner on high without concern. Bofura are at least cheap minus shipping them, but I'm maybe unjustifiably worried about cracking a Ichikawa or something similar.
Mobok
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Location: Bucharest,RO

Sun Nov 20, 2022 2:55 am

Are clay kettles an improvement to water taste? I have been using two electric kettles. One is the cheaper, classic kind, which boils the water. The other one is one of those fancy instant water heaters, with variable temperature and volume. My problem is that i keep feeling a faint metallic taste in my water, in the tea too. My parents tell me i'm imagining it, but i don't know, I can't stop feeling it. I am maintaining them, removing limescale periodically.
I was considering a Chaozhou clay kettle, from Chawang shop, since it's cheaper. Would it work well with a infrared ceramic plate?
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