1. How to prepare the tea
When you are preparing a tea is important to choose the right pot. Some tea masters use only one type of kettle for tea. Thus, in time, tea oils get imprinted in its walls giving it a special quality. For certain types of tea, there are special types of teapots so that you get a special aroma and a unique taste. In China they use very often teapots from the Yixing region, which are made of a very specific type of clay. This clay in particular makes the teapots have special properties. Yixing teapots are used in the tea ceremony. For these kettles is recommended to use Puerh or Oolong tea. You can use it for infusing tea, a number of methods, from simple to brew into a glass to the use of special kettles.
Before starting to prepare your tea, it is best to be informed about how to brew it and the recommended teapot for it. In general you can use a spongy ceramic teapot, glaze kettle, glass, or metal. Discover the differences that arise depending on kettle and choose the option that you like the most.
Recommendations:
– Choose a teapot according to your needs and personal tastes.
– Pots meet both a practical function and an aesthetic one, so it is recommended to choose a teapot that you like in favor of just a basic one.
– Do not boil the tea leaves into the pot, heat the water separately and then pour into the pot (respecting the indicated temperature).
– Always choose a quality tea.
– After each brew wash the kettle.
– Keep teapots airy and in bright places.
– Don’t mix strong flavored teas with fine teas in the same pot, while infusing.
2. How to prepare tea – preheating teapots
The art of tea making consists in each and very important detail because a detail, even seemingly insignificant, can be instrumental in influencing the taste, aroma and color of the tea.
Preheating the teapot means that, before the actual infusion, you pour hot water into the pot or in some cases (when using Yixing ceramic teapots) right over it. In this way we obtain many benefits: we have a greater control over the brewing temperature, allowing the walls to take the water’s heat, also cleaning the smallest dust particles. Another major benefit is that we prepare the pot so that the leaves aren’t aggressively brewed. It is recommended to keep the leaves in the preheated pot for about a minute.
Preheating the teapot is very easy: just pour hot water over and inside the pot and leave it like this for a minute. You can see in the spongy ceramic teapots that you’ve been using for a long time, that the resulting water has a slightly yellowish color and a delicate flavor of tea. This quality makes some teapots to be highly appreciated.
3. Iwachu Tetsubin – the metal teapot
Even if the internal filter is present it can be used as a teapot, it can also be used as a vessel for hot water. One can notice a slight difference in flavor and taste of tea when using this method.
Metal teapots have a “something” special; perhaps because of its weight and density, perhaps because of the way the rustic look… anyway, they are special.
This tetsubin is produced by Iwachu in the province of Morioka, Japan. If you want to obtain it, on the leaflet that comes along with the teapot, you will find all the needed details about the quality, provenance and how to maintain or use it.
The german Johann Böttger discovered the porcelain teapots around 1710. His discovery was influenced by Yixing teapots’ shape and the china ones. “Porcelain” is derived from the Italian word “Porcella”, a name given on behalf of the glossy shell some type of snails have. Porcelain has the same luster, brittle and is as white as the shells, which is why it got this name.
Glass teapots lately gained a good reputation because they can be used, to infuse different types of teas, without leaving any flavored trace. This property makes them very useful, especially those that serve different varieties of tea. Also, because glass is transparent, you can enjoy a wide variation of colors of different types of teas. Glass teapots are safe to use in the microwave or the dishwasher, making them ideal for today’s consumers.
This type of tea takes its name from the color that it has. It is made out of red terracotta, with a very simple design, but still very nice. The Brown Betty teapots were manufactured initially in the Bradell Woods area in Stoke-on-Trent, England. With a rich history behind, these kettles began to symbolize the importance of tea in the UK. The unique shape of these kettles let the tea leaves to twist inside it when the water is poured for brewing, this giving it a more intense flavor to the tea. Many Britons believe brown betty is the best type of teapot because of the shape and also the very special clay it’s made of.
Silver teapots are extremely durable and are able to retain heat very well. Silver teapots became popular in the 1700’s but are very popular nowadays also, even if they are quite expensive.