Teapot is a vessel used for making tea – steeping the tea leaves in hot water. A teapot is different from a kettle. The kettle is only used for boiling water for brewing tea. You should never use a kettle for steeping tea, and a teapot for boiling water. Main types of teapots Teapots can be divided by different characteristics – depending on the country, material they are made from, era they belong, etc. Material and country of origin are the two most important things you want to look at when choosing your teapot. 1. Glass teapots A good glass teapot is always a great additional to your handmade teapot Gzhel
collection. They are great for brewing almost any type of tea and indispensable for brewing blooming or flowering teas. Glass teapot will allow you to enjoy the beauty of opening tea leaves. Glass teapots can come in different shapes and sizes. They can have glass or metal filters, or no filter at all. The best teas to brew in a glass teapot are ball shaped oolongs such as Ti Kwan Yin, blooming tea, floral teas, Dragon Well and many other green teas. 2. Cast iron teapots The best example of a cast iron teapot is a Japanese style teapot called testubin. However, not all tetsubins are teapots. In fact, traditional testubins were used for boiling water, because they would change the taste of water and enhance the flavor of tea. Today, both cast iron teapots and cast iron kettles are called testubin. However, cast iron tea pots have an enamel coating and are used for brewing tea, not for boiling water, and very often they may serve decorative purposes better. 3. Ceramic teapots There are many different ceramics teapots – porous ceramics, glazed ceramics, stoneware, porcelain, etc. The most famous porous unglazed ceramics tea pots come from Yixing. They are made of purple clay (zisha) and are great for making oolong raw pu’erh teas. Over the time, they may get a thin layer of the inside coating from brewing tea. That’s why they should always be used for one type of tea only. The other type of ceramic, stoneware, is non-porous, and may be used for making different types of tea. Porcelain, also a type of ceramic, is a very thin, sophisticated, and should be used with great care. 4. Stainless steel teapots The biggest advantage of stainless steel teapots may be the heat retention. This means your tea will stay hot for longer than in a glass teapot. It’s also the most durable material, as it won’t break from falls or crack from boiling water.
Does the type of teapot you use affect taste? Yes, the type of teapot you use can affect the taste of tea too. Glass pots and non-porous ceramics are some of the types unlikely to influence the taste. Cast iron, stainless steel and porous ceramics may influence the taste for different reasons. Firstly, always buy high quality teaware that’s safe to use. Materials used for making very cheap teapots may not always be safe or they may get ruined over the time. Next, metal teapots may rust, if not made from stainless steel. Porous ceramic teapot is the best teapot you could buy for your tea – but only if you use if for one type only. For example, using the same porous ceramic teapot for making pu’erh dark tea and silver needle white tea is never a good idea, because white tea is too delicate to share the same teapot with tea as strong and dark as pu’erh.
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