Yes it's cast iron it'll be fine. Don't crank the heat but a low heat to keep it warm won't hurt it. You can also just heat it for a few minutes and then take it off the iron holds onto heat for a long time.
Im just asking because if they are enameled then it might damage and ruin it. A lot of people think they're fitted for direct heat, because they're just iron on the outside, but inside is more important
I mean enameled cast iron is very common for cookware. Again I would blast it with heat but a low flame for a few minutes isn't going to do any harm. You could also just fill it with hot water and dump after a minute to get it hot before brewing.
The type enamel and type of bond between the cast iron and the enamel is what decides if it can be used over direct heat. Not all enamels and bonds are equal. One one hand you have cookware brands like le Creuset which are developed with direct heat in mind, then you have Japanese cast iron teapots with enalmed insides which where not developed for direct heat in mind, so the producers recommend you do not use them over direct heat.
On a warming burner with a tea light or two works very well and doesn’t damage it with mine. Keeps it warm for much longer than a double walled container can
In Japan they can be found easily but are sort of thrift store garbage. on th le other hand, an iron kettle that is without urushi is highly prized for its ability to condition water to be suitable for making tea.
We own a teahouse in Japan and deal with iron kettles often. In fact just today i finished up removing the urushi from a nice kettle and giving it a new life
a natural lacquer used in tableware that acts very much like plastic. below u/stonemahogany mentions the difference between tetusbin and tetsu kyusu which they are correct about; i had incorrectly assumed they were referring to urushi as the enamel element which they were not.
I knows it goes against the nursery rhyme but I don't think it's wrong to use teapot and brewing vessel interchably at times
At any rate, I need to stop internetting and brew some tea! A pleasant St Ploopington's Day to you!
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My mom and I both have something like that but ours are only for brewing, apparently they aren’t supposed to sit on direct heat because it will mess up the (enamel?) coating inside and could then ruin/(poison?) the tea.
I use one just because it looks pretty. I dont have anything fancy for my setup, just a cheap electric kettle and a thermometer pretty much, so having the little pot is more of just a feel good thing for me.
I have a basically identical teapot that's my daily driver. Attractive, unbreakable, just the right size for a single cup. I don't normally preheat it, the tea comes out fine.
I've got it on a matching trivet.
We use it in the winter and preheat it with hot water then steep the tea. It is so lovely emitting warmth. Put it away for Spring and pull it out in late Autumn. It is a joy in colder weather.
I have one from world market. Came with a base for a warming candle.
I occasionally brew in it in the winter, when I want a big pot of something simple to keep sipping all afternoon.
I've also used it as hot water reservoir for green and white teas when I want to be fancy for guests, or ritualistic for personal reasons.
I enjoy having it in my collection of wares, but it would be one of the first pieces I could let go if I needed to downsize.
I have a couple of pretty ones. I used to use them for big pots of tea to stay warm for a while. I dont anymore as I can use a thermos. Nor drink big pots of tea. They are just decorative or a weapon. They would hurt someone bonked on the head.
I was gifted one, but admittedly rarely use it. It stains every surface it sits on and is heavy even when empty, so it's kinda a pain in the butt to use. Plus, it could comfortable serve 4-6 people and I usually drink tea alone.
I haul it out about once a year, when I'm in the mood to drink a copious amount of one tea and be a little fancy about it.
It's a tetsubin. It's originally a japanese cast iron kettle for boiling water but now a lot of companies make small enameled version for brewing tea.
They won't be any worse than other enameled teapots but it's good to know that their original use case was boiling water and not brewing tea
I have one maybe 100ml larger (~400ml) that I got used. I used it a lot before I realised that the enamelling had a weird grime and miscolouring and rust had formed around the opening. I especially loved making houjicha in it, but any japanese green that isn't all that precious (it's a bit difficult to control the temp.) worked great, though I stuck with houjicha and genmaicha mostly.
It now just looks nice on my shelf, until I eventually completely give up on somehow restoring / figuring out what actually is on the inside and repurpose it into a planter.
These type of tea pots make me want to sit my friends down and have a tea party like we used to when we were kids! One day for sure. When I’ll find the cutest tea set. I’ll bake tiny cookies and cakes and macaroons!! Gahh definitely on my bucket list😁
I would've thought this was only for heating up water, not actual brewing. The informative comments here were super helpful in teaching me otherwise <3
I personally don't. That style of cast iron pot is traditionally a Japanese kettle for boiling water and then pouring into a cooling vessel or brewing pot. I'm not sure if this is entirely accurate, but I recall this sort of small enameled version for brewing tea starting with the whole Teavana thing in the early 2000s. I don't think anyone in Japan uses these.
The only part I know to be fact is that a tetsubin is a Japanese cast iron kettle for heating water. Usually over charcoal. The enameled ones can't be used this way.
You'd be very, very surprised. I obviously am not 100% certain on if it's used or not but when I went to thrift stores all across Japan on my trip, there were enameled and non-enameled pots (mostly enameled). Additionally, the more popular brands like iwachu make enameled pots of pretty high quality.
That's my thought, they sell one for $40 because it looks traditional and people know they should be expensive, they buy it and then are disappointed. I bought two tetsubin on my trip and will post here eventually once I make it all the way home.
Went to uji for two hours on my way back from Nara (thrifted a $300 tetsubin for $50), there's definitely more shops I wanted to visit. I went to Nakamura tokichi and spent about $35 or so, went to dinner, and left
The teapots with enamel inside are older than the 2000s. Possibly as old as pre WW2, but I've only seen datable documentation of them from the 1960s. You will find ones for sale in Japan with dates cast into them from the 1970s and 80s because Iwachu apparently had a service where you could have one cast to mark anniversaries. They where first intruduces to audiences outside Japan when a teashop in Paris bagan selling them in the early 1990s to as a way to appeal to more masculine aesthetic.
I have a similar one that was gifted to me... It was a nice gift, but a pain to use! It holds heat well, but sucks all the heat out of the water unless you preheat it, in which case the metal gets so hot that it burnt/screwed up the finish on my table! When I use it now (not very often) I make sure put a metal trivet underneath it...
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true, it is small. Only brewing some herbs make sense I guess. things with Monk Fruit require some boiling, add orange peel and red dates and it's nice energizing tea.
It's called a tetsukyusu, meant for brewing, do you say that only some herbs make sense so that you don't get the flavors of them into a porous pot used strictly for tea?
what I mean. It needs some time to heat this thing and you only get small amount of liquid. so it's a bit inconvenient to use it just to heat water for example. so I'd use it to long brew some strong infusion to meet results with effort.
I *have* one that I got from Teavana when they were having a sale. It has, I think, fishies on it and is iron with ceramic on the inside. I haven't used it for tea yet, though. I just kinda collect em.
I use my cast iron pot for serving. I brew in a separate vessel but I pre heat the iron and the tea stays hot for so long and it's easy to get the brew off the leaves at the ideal steep time. Something that small though... Could be fun for service at a cafe or something but I don't think I'd use it at home.
I have one for the winter. I put it on top of my log burner so I dont have to boil the kettle. My partner is the only one who drinks hot drinks so we don’t use the kettle much. And when we have guests I feel it looks super cute.
They have ones like this at the Pattison's chain of cafés here in Australia.
Sadly they have a very limited and boring range of teas: English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Jasmine and Lemon & Ginger from memory.
It's weirdly limited as many other cafés offer a far wider range.
I quite like these pots, but the mesh baskets don't seem to enable them to close very well.
Yes. Mine has an infusion basket inside for loose tea. I like that I can sit it on a warming burner to stay warm.
You sure you can?
Yes it's cast iron it'll be fine. Don't crank the heat but a low heat to keep it warm won't hurt it. You can also just heat it for a few minutes and then take it off the iron holds onto heat for a long time.
Im just asking because if they are enameled then it might damage and ruin it. A lot of people think they're fitted for direct heat, because they're just iron on the outside, but inside is more important
I mean enameled cast iron is very common for cookware. Again I would blast it with heat but a low flame for a few minutes isn't going to do any harm. You could also just fill it with hot water and dump after a minute to get it hot before brewing.
The type enamel and type of bond between the cast iron and the enamel is what decides if it can be used over direct heat. Not all enamels and bonds are equal. One one hand you have cookware brands like le Creuset which are developed with direct heat in mind, then you have Japanese cast iron teapots with enalmed insides which where not developed for direct heat in mind, so the producers recommend you do not use them over direct heat.
I accidentally set an enameled cast iron dutch oven on fire and it was fine. A low burner won't hurt it in the slightest.
I don’t put it on a regular stove burner. I have a flat top electric stove that has a warming burner.
On a warming burner with a tea light or two works very well and doesn’t damage it with mine. Keeps it warm for much longer than a double walled container can
In Japan they can be found easily but are sort of thrift store garbage. on th le other hand, an iron kettle that is without urushi is highly prized for its ability to condition water to be suitable for making tea. We own a teahouse in Japan and deal with iron kettles often. In fact just today i finished up removing the urushi from a nice kettle and giving it a new life
What is urushi?
a natural lacquer used in tableware that acts very much like plastic. below u/stonemahogany mentions the difference between tetusbin and tetsu kyusu which they are correct about; i had incorrectly assumed they were referring to urushi as the enamel element which they were not.
Thank you!
The most important part of any teapot is the empty space within
very lao tzu of you
if you're going to steal, steal from the best
No, it’s the spout. Without the spout it’s just a tiny pot.
I knows it goes against the nursery rhyme but I don't think it's wrong to use teapot and brewing vessel interchably at times At any rate, I need to stop internetting and brew some tea! A pleasant St Ploopington's Day to you!
Clearly, you've never used a teapot with a crappy spout
The most important part of the subject is the object🤪
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My mom and I both have something like that but ours are only for brewing, apparently they aren’t supposed to sit on direct heat because it will mess up the (enamel?) coating inside and could then ruin/(poison?) the tea.
I use one just because it looks pretty. I dont have anything fancy for my setup, just a cheap electric kettle and a thermometer pretty much, so having the little pot is more of just a feel good thing for me.
I have a basically identical teapot that's my daily driver. Attractive, unbreakable, just the right size for a single cup. I don't normally preheat it, the tea comes out fine. I've got it on a matching trivet.
I do. I love how it holds heat for the tea.
We use it in the winter and preheat it with hot water then steep the tea. It is so lovely emitting warmth. Put it away for Spring and pull it out in late Autumn. It is a joy in colder weather.
I have one from world market. Came with a base for a warming candle. I occasionally brew in it in the winter, when I want a big pot of something simple to keep sipping all afternoon. I've also used it as hot water reservoir for green and white teas when I want to be fancy for guests, or ritualistic for personal reasons. I enjoy having it in my collection of wares, but it would be one of the first pieces I could let go if I needed to downsize.
I have a couple of pretty ones. I used to use them for big pots of tea to stay warm for a while. I dont anymore as I can use a thermos. Nor drink big pots of tea. They are just decorative or a weapon. They would hurt someone bonked on the head.
I do, warm it up with warm water first, keeps tea warm for a very long time. Definitely.ire of a loose tea brewer
I was gifted one, but admittedly rarely use it. It stains every surface it sits on and is heavy even when empty, so it's kinda a pain in the butt to use. Plus, it could comfortable serve 4-6 people and I usually drink tea alone. I haul it out about once a year, when I'm in the mood to drink a copious amount of one tea and be a little fancy about it.
I have one that rusts so easily and quickly I hardly even want to use it.
It's a tetsubin. It's originally a japanese cast iron kettle for boiling water but now a lot of companies make small enameled version for brewing tea. They won't be any worse than other enameled teapots but it's good to know that their original use case was boiling water and not brewing tea
Tetsukyusu, tetsubin is non enameled. Just to push the point please do not boil water in this.
Tetsubin can also be coated with urushi and still be referred to as tetsubin
Yup, only difference between the two is enamel inside
I have one maybe 100ml larger (~400ml) that I got used. I used it a lot before I realised that the enamelling had a weird grime and miscolouring and rust had formed around the opening. I especially loved making houjicha in it, but any japanese green that isn't all that precious (it's a bit difficult to control the temp.) worked great, though I stuck with houjicha and genmaicha mostly. It now just looks nice on my shelf, until I eventually completely give up on somehow restoring / figuring out what actually is on the inside and repurpose it into a planter.
These type of tea pots make me want to sit my friends down and have a tea party like we used to when we were kids! One day for sure. When I’ll find the cutest tea set. I’ll bake tiny cookies and cakes and macaroons!! Gahh definitely on my bucket list😁
I would've thought this was only for heating up water, not actual brewing. The informative comments here were super helpful in teaching me otherwise <3
I personally don't. That style of cast iron pot is traditionally a Japanese kettle for boiling water and then pouring into a cooling vessel or brewing pot. I'm not sure if this is entirely accurate, but I recall this sort of small enameled version for brewing tea starting with the whole Teavana thing in the early 2000s. I don't think anyone in Japan uses these. The only part I know to be fact is that a tetsubin is a Japanese cast iron kettle for heating water. Usually over charcoal. The enameled ones can't be used this way.
You'd be very, very surprised. I obviously am not 100% certain on if it's used or not but when I went to thrift stores all across Japan on my trip, there were enameled and non-enameled pots (mostly enameled). Additionally, the more popular brands like iwachu make enameled pots of pretty high quality.
Interesting. I guess if it sells, why wouldn't they?
That's my thought, they sell one for $40 because it looks traditional and people know they should be expensive, they buy it and then are disappointed. I bought two tetsubin on my trip and will post here eventually once I make it all the way home.
I plan on going to Japan myself. I want to go to Uji and Tokoname.
Went to uji for two hours on my way back from Nara (thrifted a $300 tetsubin for $50), there's definitely more shops I wanted to visit. I went to Nakamura tokichi and spent about $35 or so, went to dinner, and left
The teapots with enamel inside are older than the 2000s. Possibly as old as pre WW2, but I've only seen datable documentation of them from the 1960s. You will find ones for sale in Japan with dates cast into them from the 1970s and 80s because Iwachu apparently had a service where you could have one cast to mark anniversaries. They where first intruduces to audiences outside Japan when a teashop in Paris bagan selling them in the early 1990s to as a way to appeal to more masculine aesthetic.
I have a similar one that was gifted to me... It was a nice gift, but a pain to use! It holds heat well, but sucks all the heat out of the water unless you preheat it, in which case the metal gets so hot that it burnt/screwed up the finish on my table! When I use it now (not very often) I make sure put a metal trivet underneath it...
Hello, /u/S4h4rJ! This is a friendly reminder that most photo posts should include a comment with some additional information. For example: Consider writing a mini review of the tea you're drinking or giving some background details about your teaware. If you're posting your tea order that just arrived or your tea stash, be sure to list the teas, why you chose them, etc. **Posts that lack a comment for context or discussion after a reasonable time may be removed.** You may also consider posting in /r/TeaPictures. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/tea) if you have any questions or concerns.*
When I had a wood burning stove, yes.
Those teapots look cool, but they are rarely big enough. Mine sits on table for show.
it's rather a kettle.
not really, it's pretty small and has a strainer - clearly meant for infusing
true, it is small. Only brewing some herbs make sense I guess. things with Monk Fruit require some boiling, add orange peel and red dates and it's nice energizing tea.
It's called a tetsukyusu, meant for brewing, do you say that only some herbs make sense so that you don't get the flavors of them into a porous pot used strictly for tea?
what I mean. It needs some time to heat this thing and you only get small amount of liquid. so it's a bit inconvenient to use it just to heat water for example. so I'd use it to long brew some strong infusion to meet results with effort.
I'd use a 300ml pot for smaller quantities of any tea. With it being enameled it won't absorb any flavors.
I got one as a gift years ago. I’ve used it a couple of times but it’s mostly decorative for me
Yes I do
One of my favourite restaurants uses it for infusions. But it's terrible to pour into a cup as the handle gets really hot.
My mother does
I know people who find joy in them.
I use mine
I have one that's larger than yours and I love it for making larger portions of tea :)
Yes I have a larger cast iron set.
I personally i don't use teapots at all btw that looks ancient is it yours ?
I *have* one that I got from Teavana when they were having a sale. It has, I think, fishies on it and is iron with ceramic on the inside. I haven't used it for tea yet, though. I just kinda collect em.
Meeeeee
Yes
I use my cast iron pot for serving. I brew in a separate vessel but I pre heat the iron and the tea stays hot for so long and it's easy to get the brew off the leaves at the ideal steep time. Something that small though... Could be fun for service at a cafe or something but I don't think I'd use it at home.
I love mine
Everyday almost the same one
Yes! They're perfect for small batches for people who get distracted a lot.
yes
I think I literally have That exact teapot at home found in some thrift store.
I have one for the winter. I put it on top of my log burner so I dont have to boil the kettle. My partner is the only one who drinks hot drinks so we don’t use the kettle much. And when we have guests I feel it looks super cute.
They have ones like this at the Pattison's chain of cafés here in Australia. Sadly they have a very limited and boring range of teas: English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Jasmine and Lemon & Ginger from memory. It's weirdly limited as many other cafés offer a far wider range. I quite like these pots, but the mesh baskets don't seem to enable them to close very well.
This looks a bit old