Brewing Vessels

Below are pictures of some of my favorite brewing vessels and some tips for using them. As always, I ask that you remember that I am no tea expert, and that you should experiment to see what methods and equipment you like best.

Teapots

Small Glass Tea Pot with Wire “Screen”: Made of thick glass with a coiled wire screen on the spout, this teapot is just large enough for one cup of tea.

The Good: Clear glass lets you observe the agony of the leaves and to appreciate the color of the tea liquor. Good choice for green or white teas that shouldn’t be “cooked” in ceramic. One-cup size prevents need for extra pot for decanting. Wire screen will catch larger tea leaves.

The Bad: Coiled wire screens will not catch small leaf pieces or fine herbs like rooibos. Prepare for silt in your cup or use a separate mesh strainer.

Recommended Teas: Because you are only infusing one cup of tea at a time in this pot, you don’t need to worry about keeping your tea hot between cups (glass doesn’t hold heat that well). As such, you can infuse most any tea that you like in a teapot like this. It is fun to watch jasmine pearls and other performance teas open in a glass pot. Avoid rooibos and very broken leaf teas unless you have a fine mesh strainer on hand.

Yixing Teapot: These teapots are made from a special unglazed Chinese clay. The unglazed clay absorbs the flavor/scent of any tea brewed in it, so it is wise to only brew one type of tea in any given Yixing teapot.

The Good: Tea made in a Yixing pot is simply delicious. There is nothing quite like it.

The Bad: Yixing pots are not cheap, and those that are cheap are of suspect quality. This can become a problem when you develop a taste for Yixing-prepared tea, but can only enjoy one or two types of tea in Yixing because you can only afford a couple of pots.

Not all Yixing pots have spout screens, so spouts can get clogged and you need a separate filter for pouring the tea. (These annoyances can be avoided by checking to see if a pot has a screen before buying.)

Recommended Teas: Oolongs, pu’erhs, and some black teas (hong cha). Not recommended for white or green teas as they will “cook” in the ceramic. Avoid flavored/scented teas in these pots, and unless you have a large disposable income, reserve your Yixing pots for your very favorite teas.

Gaiwans

Thin Porcelain Gaiwan: A gaiwan is a covered cup that can be used for both brewing and drinking tea. Some, like the one below, are made from very fine, delicate porcelain, while others are made from thicker ceramics.

The Good: Thin porcelain gaiwans are not only elegant and fun to hold, but they don’t hold heat terribly well. This can help prevent the “cooking” of delicate green and white teas. Like all gaiwans, they can be used for both brewing and drinking tea.

The Bad: As noted above, thin porcelain gaiwans don’t hold heat very well, and may not be the best choice for darker teas that need high heat to brew properly. The thin porcelain can also be tricky to handle without burning your fingers.

Recommended Teas: Green and white teas are best. Some of the lighter oolongs also work well.

I like using a thicker, sturdier gaiwans (such as the one above) for darker teas. They hold heat better and  I am less likely to burn my fingers than with a thinner gaiwan.

One of the nifty things about gaiwans is that they are an “all in one” solution for tea drinking. The lid not only keeps the water hot and the resulting tea warm, but it also works as a strainer.

Specialty Infusers

Glass Infuser: A glass infuser, such as the Tea-iere from Jing Tea, is an elegant glass carafe with a fine mesh strainer attached to its lid.

The Good: Plenty of room for teas to unfurl and clear glass gives a nice few of teas/tisanes inside.

The Bad: Glass breaks easily: Not great for travel.

Recommended Teas: Any tea does well in this sort of infuser, though rooibos and other teas/tisanes that have a lot of fine leaves/particles may get past the filter. I typically use it for South Asian teas, as I prefer to infuse Chinese teas in Chinese teaware.

Plastic Infuser: A plastic infuser such as the Ingenuitea makes brewing loose leaf teas very convenient. I find it particularly convenient for infusing large-ish amounts of tea when I am feeling lazy.

The Good: Convenient, self-decanting (make sure your cup/mug/teapot is large enough to hold all the tea in the infuser), plenty of room for larger leaves. Plastic carafe is sturdy and good for traveling.

The Bad: Plastic isn’t the best material for brewing really good teas, and it tends to absorb scents and flavors from flavored/scented teas.

Recommended Teas: Works well for mid-grade, unscented, unflavored teas and tisanes.

Double Walled Glass: I confess to a great fondness for Bodum Pavina Double-Wall Thermo Glasses. Not only are they nifty to look at, they do a very fine job of insulating whatever beverage I happen to be enjoying. While their primary purpose is that of a drinking vessel, they can also work as a brewing vessel: Large leaf oolongs that do not become bitter and disagreeable with  long steeps work best.

The Good: Only one vessel to clean. No decanting when using large, whole leaves. Keeps hot teas hot, cold teas cold. Works well with bagged teas and other infusers, too.

The Bad: One-glass infusion only works with teas that don’t have a lot of dust or that get bitter.

Recommended Teas: Excellent for brewing large-leaf Chinese or Hawaiian teas (such as oolong or long leaf green teas such as gua pian) that don’t get bitter after a long steep.

Tagged as: brewing vessels, gaiwan, teapots, Teaware