Hey all,
I am new this forum. I am not sure, if is this the right place to ask for advice about brewing tea and the right teaware.
If so, here is my question:
I am looking for a nice teapot to brew different kinds in the same pot. I do have a Yixing teapot, which I used for black teas before, but I heard somewhere, that it is not adviced to use a Yixing for different kinds of tea (black, green, oolong, white and pu erh). What would you recommend getting to use as a universal teapot? Maybe a japanese cast-iron teapot?
Any advice/recommendations is welcome!
What's a good "universal" teapot
hi!
my personal pick would be a porcelain gaiwan.Metagross31 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 15, 2022 7:48 amWhat would you recommend getting to use as a universal teapot?
idk, i've never had someone tell me he was happy with one of those...
A fully glazed shiboridashi or a gaiwan will be great for almost any tea; finely broken leaves of sencha and gyokuro are trickier to handle in a gaiwan, depending on your experience and comfort with some fine leaves in the final tea liquor.
I would be happy to take any of several fully glazed shibos, gaiwans and kyusu with me as my desert island one and only tea-infusing device. That gaiwan will be easiest to clean out, but arguably hardest with fine leaf bits. The pot does better with fines but has more nooks & crannies to hide stuff when cleaning it; the shiboridashi is a very fine compromise.
I would be happy to take any of several fully glazed shibos, gaiwans and kyusu with me as my desert island one and only tea-infusing device. That gaiwan will be easiest to clean out, but arguably hardest with fine leaf bits. The pot does better with fines but has more nooks & crannies to hide stuff when cleaning it; the shiboridashi is a very fine compromise.
I used to dedicate Yixing teapots to each major group, including different teapots for different oolongs. I was being a dummy.Metagross31 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 15, 2022 7:48 amI heard somewhere, that it is not adviced to use a Yixing for different kinds of tea (black, green, oolong, white and pu erh).
At the least* I’d suggest having a dedicated teapot for heicha or shou and another teapot that you could use for the others. So long as you rinse well then there won’t be very much carryover between reds, whites, greens, and oolongs.
* obviously some teas do better in specific pots than others. For example, I prefer baozhong in one pot and dancong in another but both could be used interchangeably with only minor differences because the clays and firing of each favors certain teas, not because of tea residues.
A porcelain teapot or gaiwan is as close to a one vessel solution as you can get.
Second that. I'd opt for the teapot in porcelain. Gaiwan has too much heat loss due to large lid opening and for some it is more cumbersome to get a grip(pun pun) on the handling... Teapot is easier. Just need to opt for a reasonably thin and not too large one to avoid over cooking leaves. Something along the lines of 100-200ml is possibly the most versatile.
I also like her glazed teapots. They are neutral, reasonably sized, and have one of the fastest pours I've used. I've mentioned this elsewhere on the forum. Not only are they nice beginner teapots but they are great for testing teas if you don't like cupping.