How to Choose the Perfect Teapot

You've picked your favorite loose leaf tea and now you want to know the best way to brew...not only for yourself but for others as well.  This is where the classic teapot comes into play.  Why even use one?  What are they for?  Do I need one?  Hopefully these questions will be answered as well as a few guidelines to help you choose the best one to suit your needs.  Yes, "needs."  A tea drinker NEEDS a teapot like fish need water.  It's just the nature of leaves.  Tea needs a place to be brewed in not only an ideal container, but also for visual presentation.

Visual presentation for tea?  Yes.  Let's take a look at the coffee house phenomenon. What makes us willing to pay some big $$ for a cup of coffee at a coffee house when we could get it for 99 cents at the gas station?  Let's face it.  We not only love the way our coffee and tea taste, we also are having lots of fun with the process of how it's made too.

The Asian cultures have always valued their teas.  The Japanese are known to have a choreographed tea ceremony in order "to prepare a bowl of tea from one's heart."  The Chinese have special small teapots and steep leaves in a very specific way and multiple times in order to savor each small cup of tea and to compare each infusion with the other.  Now if these aren't sensory experiences, I don't know what is.

Tea doesn't need to be this elaborate, but it does help us to understand the value of the right teapot and infuser for the purpose.

1.  Consider a teapot if you're brewing loose leaf teas.  If you are using teabags, then there is really no point to invest in one.  However, teapots are perfect for loose teas.  They allow the teas to swell and expand in the water if you use a teapot without a brewer basket.  You'll just want to make sure you have a tea filter or some kind of strainer when pouring your tea.  Also, you will want to make only the right amount of tea for drinking right away so the tea leaves don't sit and become bitter.  You can always add some more hot water again for another infusion, just let the tea leaves steep a little longer.

Found this one at a local tea house...a six cup teapot.

2. When investing in a teapot, consider how many people you want to serve.  I have teapots in all sizes because...well, you get it, I love them.  However, my first every day use teapot was a 4 cup floral one my mom found at an outlet store.  It is still my standard one today.  I use it for family pots of tea as well as for company.  A four cup teapot is good to hold four 8 oz. cups of tea.  This is good for multiple cups for two people or one cup for more company.  It works even for one person if you enjoy tea.

I eventually invested in a large six cup teapot because I was entertaining more and once you serve people good tea, they always come back for more! Most of my friends (and our son's friends) are now true tea lovers and always expect a cup when they come to visit.

My four cup teapot...my first new one.

3. You may want to invest in a teapot with a brewer basket.  My personal daily teapot is a 24 oz. model I bought some time ago to replace my French press (another way to brew tea!)  I really like the mesh basket that came with it because it filters out the tiny leaves of rooibos tea, my every day tea.  A basket doesn't let the leaves flow as freely, but it does allow my tea to sit as I can take out the basket and re-steep later. 

I really like its more modern design and clean lines.  It takes tea out of the Victorian tea rooms and makes it more appealing to the younger crowd as well as the guys.  Not that I don't like tea rooms...I love them!  But I like the idea of drinking tea in a more modern way or even oriental style...it only adds to the romance of it.

My 24 oz teapot with brewer basket.

4.  Consider using a new teapot for your everyday tea.  When I first started out in tea, I came into the possession of some beautiful vintage teapots...one from England that I love.  I would use them happily until one day my sister-in-law, who used to work for a major pottery told me that lead in the glaze on dishes was not regulated until after the 1970's.  So, it would probably be good if you are drinking tea for health reasons to use a newer teapot or better yet a lead-free (in the glaze) one.  I read one blogger's post how lead could possibly leach into your food/drink if the glaze becomes cracked or scratched.  Not to panic anyone, but just a thought if you get serious about drinking tea, especially for its health benefits.1

Here is a link to a lead-free site that sells teapots and sets....Bee House Teapots and Tableware

My younger son's personal teapot.  It makes about 10 oz. of tea.

5. Consider alternate types of teapots. I was just gifted this very cool "infuser/teapot" for Christmas.  I love it.  It's the best of both worlds.  It steeps your tea very loose leafed AND you can watch the tea leaves unfurl.  After that fun, you simply set it on top of your cup or travel mug and the tea is released from a bar being pressed by the rim of your mug.  It's a great experience.  It's made with BPA-free plastic, so you need to decide if you feel comfortable with using it.  I like it for a change as I use my ceramic teapot most days.

This teapot is a bit costly, but since I got it as a gift, I won't say a thing. You can find the one I have here.

Well, hope this is a bit helpful as you explore your own tea journey.  It can seem overwhelming, but you just start out with one canister of loose leafed tea, one infuser and one teapot at a time.  You may stop there or you may find yourself needing a larger teapot for all those wonderful friends and family in your life...blessings!

Learning about tea?  You may want to read my other tea posts...Three Reasons Why to Buy Bulk Loose Leaf Tea  

Reviewing My Favorite Tea Steepers 

The Health Benefits of Tea 

What's your favorite teapot?

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Resources:

 1. http://noncreativemom.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/lead-free-dishes-bpa-free-melamine-my-head-is-spinning/#comment-401

Reviewing My Favorite Tea Steepers for Loose Teas

My last post on Three Reasons to Buy Bulk Tea shared my warm and happy thoughts on loose leaf teas...but when purchasing teas whole leaf, it's easy to get a little overwhelmed at the idea of how to prepare them.  So I hope this post will help take some of the anxiety out of fixing them AND hopefully share some tea steepers that really do a pretty great job of brewing a great cup of tea.  My first foray into whole leaf teas took place many years ago as a newlywed eating at a local Chinese restaurant.  The first sip I had of the prepared tea the waiter brought to the table rocked my liquid world...it was amazing.

 

Of course, I had to buy the tea for myself...it was too delicious to be true.  So, I asked the Chinese waiter what the name of the tea was and he answered me, but for the life of me I had no idea what he was saying.  Poor guy, I think I asked him to say it about three times before I let him get back to work.  I kept repeating the word that I thought he was saying, but I really had no idea.  

Now this Chinese restaurant had a little store attached and I promptly went over to it and looked for the tea.  I found a golden tin on the shelf labeled "Jasmine" and all of a sudden the waiter's voice echoed in my ear...I realized the tea was jasmine!! Yeah!  So, I bought my tin of amazing tea and took it home...well, it sat unused for a long time.  I couldn't figure out how to fix it and what to use and so on.  I am happy to say that my confusion didn't last too long and I soon accumulated a large collection of tea steepers.  Some gifts, some I bought, some I picked up...you name it.  I went through them all and learned what worked for me and what didn't work.

And here's where my review begins:

 

First we have the tea steepers that come with punched out holes in them.  I have them in all sizes and shapes (except I curiously don't have the all too familiar egg-shaped tea ball!?)  These have been the most common ones I 've seen around at the grocery store or local Walmart.  I even found a few vintage ones (like the one in the front.)  Now, I have a problem with these steepers.  The first thing is that some of the steepers are ridiculously small.  This picture doesn't show them true to size, but trust me, many are very small.  A small tea steeper means it's difficult to get a decent cup of tea from them.  They're hard to fill and the leaves certainly don't circulate. 

This steeper is so small, but it's really cute and I'll admit - fun to look at!

My second reason for not liking them is that they let some of the tea leaves escape and that  means a cloudy cup of tea.  Not a drink spoiler but let's face it...it bugs me.  I want my cup of tea "clean" as possible as that enables me to re-steep the leaves again.  So, I pretty much do not use any of these unless I have a large leaf tea that won't come out through the holes.  I still own these because my family, much less particular than I, will use them.

Not all mesh is made alike; look for a nice tight weave which limits the amount of escaping leaves.

Next we have the mesh tea steepers.  Now I am interested.  These make much more sense.  However, most of the ones I have are made to filter the tea leaves and not to steep them.  
Like the next two in the photos...

The one above swings so when you're done using it, it drips into its own little tray.  Clever.  

This is a classic English style... at least I've seen them used in BBC tv productions.  But the vintage ones had holes in theirs and not mesh.  These last two "steepers' are best used with a tea pot as you have to pour the tea from one container to the next.  I actually like these two a lot and have used them, but they're not ideal for a single cup of tea.

Now we come to modern days with this really cool tea stick.  I saw this in a coffee/tea magazine when we were managing a coffee house some years ago.  I wanted one really bad at the time.  My husband heard and promptly bought one for me for my birthday.  I won't say how much he paid for it but trust me it was A LOT.  My heart was touched and it really is the coolest steeper on the block.  It does a better job than the steepers with holes, but is not as good as the mesh.  I tend to use it for large leafed greens and it works fine.  You can see how you slide the punched holed cover to measure your tea, close it, steep and stir your tea with just this stick.  Pretty ingenious...just don't overfill.

Now we come this final steeper...the big "daddy" of them all.  I actually bought this one as a part of a set.  It came in a teapot which arrived broken.  I sent the teapot back but kept the steeper because it fit everything from a regular mug to a 32 oz. teapot! This steeper won my heart.  It's made of steel and no plastic parts (I don't care for plastic in steepers) and is perforated with micro holes so that not even the finest rooibos leaves escape.  Not too mention that it is large enough to allow the tea leaves to happily swim about imparting their delicious flavor to the water.  Three great reasons that make this the steeper I go to every time, whether for my teapot or mug.  It was also a reasonable price and you can find this one here (replacement infuser).

Okay, here are my top three steepers.  Actually the little teapot steeper is not very effective, but every tea collection should have one kitsch-y one... :)

There are also many types of disposable tea bags out there in case you don't want anything bulky to store.  You can find a bunch here.  I've bought and made my own tea bags before but have never used these particular ones.  They make sense that they would work, but I would rather stick with a more economical steeper as we drink many cups.  But these seem pretty practical too. 

I also found this one called the Tuffy Tea Steeper.

 It's collapsible so it's easy to store and made from food grade silicone.  Because this one has holes, I think this could work for larger leaf teas; maybe not rooibos so much.  It looks interesting though and tempting, but I am sticking with my large tea infuser for sure.

Okay, that's what I've found so far in my tea drinking journey...what's your favorite way to steep loose leaf tea?

Blessings!

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