Wednesday, 27 February 2019 19:00 Written by John Reardon

Hello my Foodie Friends!

In past articles, I have written about espresso and coffee. However, not everyone is a coffee drinker. Based on Forbes.com, the United States has had a large increase in tea drinkers with the market quadrupling during the past twenty plus years. Even Starbucks is trying to become a market leader for tea as it has been one for coffee. Tea has infiltrated most Americans’ everyday routine. Some 80 percent of U.S. households have tea in their kitchens, and more than half of the American populace drinks tea on a daily basis, according to the U.S. Tea Association.

Every culture has its own way of brewing, presenting and sharing tea. The specific tea ware used is critical to the entire process. Today I am going to focus on the Japanese cast iron tea pot and Chinese clay tea pot. The Japanese cast iron teapot is an amazing little teapot with ancient roots dating back to the 1600’s. The Japanese cast iron teapot is intended to hold the heat in, and that it does. It originates from the Japanese iron teakettle design called a tetsubin, which was often used as a teapot. This dates back to the 1600’s when iron kettles were placed on the hearth. Cast iron teapots are ideal since the cast iron distributes the heat evenly inside the pot to better extract the flavors and health benefits of your tea. A distinctively appealing taste is acquired only from brewing tea in a cast iron teapot. Cast iron teapots develop a seasoning from repeated use, producing rich flavors of tea that are each more delicious than the last.

If you’re searching for a uniquely attractive teapot then choosing a cast iron design is an excellent idea. There’s no hiding from the fact that there’s something special about brewing tea in a cast iron teapot, and the Japanese designs, in particular, tend to look truly stunning. Cast Iron Teapots are one of the best ways to prepare, serve and enjoy tea.

They come equipped with a mesh infuser for ease of use. It can be used for tea bags or loose leaf tea.

A very unique option of making tea is the Chinese clay teapot. Chinese clay teapots do not use glazing. The clay used remains porous and tea oils are intended to build up inside the teapot and over time, smooth the taste of tea and improve it by adding its own unique “taste” from the accumulated oils. Different teas are not made in the same teapot unless they are from the same family or class of teas, such as different types of green or oolongs, but even this is not ideal as some teas from the same family have a strong flavor and in time, their taste can transfer to a more delicately flavored tea. Yixing teapots are crafted from special Yixing clay, also called “Purple Sand,” which can only be sourced in the town of Yixing located in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu. These miraculous little teapots contain thousands of multitasking air holes (a characteristic unique to purple sand) that enhance tea brewing by keeping the water hotter longer. According to the Tea Association of the USA, these teapots are intentionally left unglazed so that they absorb the flavor of the tea being brewed, which means you may want to use one Yixing teapot for each type of tea to avoid “cross-brewing.” Yixing teapots are used to brew teas including black tea, oolong tea, pu-erh tea, green tea, and white tea. The first thing you need to do after you buy a yixing teapot is season it. Start by bringing filtered water to a boil in a pot on the stove. Gently place the yixing teapot inside the boiling water. Use a wire ladle or a white towel to create a barrier between the yixing pot and the bottom of the pan to prevent burning. Allow the yixing pot to boil gently in the hot water for 10 minutes. The next step in seasoning is to soak the pot in a strong brew of tea. Brew a strong infusion of your desired tea in the pot. Empty the infusion into a large bowl. Keep brewing infusions until the bowl has enough tea in it to submerge the yixing teapot. Place the yixing teapot in the brewed tea and let sit until the mixture reaches room temperature. Remove, pat dry and use as usual to brew tea.

At Compliments to the Chef, your neighborhood kitchen and cutlery store at 33 Railroad Place, we carry beautiful Japanese cast iron tea pots, Chinese clay pots and tea kettles. Take some time to prepare a cup of tea just for you; it can calm you down and give you a wonderfully pampered feeling. Why not take a break to enjoy a quiet cup? Remember my Foodie Friends, “Life Happens in the Kitchen.”

 Take Care,
John & Paula

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Read 576 times Last modified on Thursday, 28 February 2019 14:17

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