With the right equipment, loose leaf tea can be as simple and easy as a tea bag – to make and clear up. The teapot you use can also change how your tea tastes. Here's our guide on what to look for and what to avoid when choosing your loose tea, teapot.
Always choose glass or porcelain when looking for a teapot for the best taste experience.
How to Choose a Teapot:
Material:
Choose: Glass or Porcelain
Avoid: Metal
Both glass and porcelain are great for making any type of tea. They won't affect the taste like certain clays or metals can. They'll both also help keep the temperature of the tea consistent, helping the leaves give out their flavour evenly.
Both glass and porcelain heat up quickly, so don't conduct much heat away from the water added to make your tea. The tea leaves need high temperatures to release their flavour (you can read our journal post for more information about the importance of water temperature). Metal is a very efficient heat conductor, so when hot water is added to a metal pot, the heat will be stored in the metal, not in the water. As the water cools quickly, there tends to be not enough heat left for the leaves to release their full flavours, and so often, tea made in metal pots will taste weak or insipid.
Tea made in porcelain will cool even slower than when it's in glass. This can work very well for darker oolongs and black teas, like breakfast teas with deeper, rich flavours and will benefit from a higher water temperature to bring out their flavours.
The bonus of glass is seeing the leaves as they infuse. Some tea lovers find that seeing the colours of the infusions as they develop or seeing the shapes of the leaves as they unfurl connects them to the plant or nature that their tea has come from. Seeing your tea means you'll always know when it's ready to pour too.
The Japanese Tetsubin. This kind of cast iron teapot has gained popularity in the West in recent years.
Did you know?
The Japanese Tetsubin – a kind of cast iron teapot which has gained popularity in the West in recent years – is a type of kettle rather than a teapot. Boiling water in cast iron impacts the mineral structures in the water, which can help bring out specific tastes and flavours in tea. In Japan, Tetsubin is filled with fresh local water and heated over charcoal, and the hot water is used to prepare tea. They are often beautiful pieces, and it's no surprise they've become popular here. It's a shame that their original purpose hasn't come over too – as tea made in cast iron will often be weak and insipid. The cast iron teapots we see here are now usually coated on the inside with enamel to make them safe to use as teapots. However, this means they can't be used to boil water safely, so check before you try repurposing any you might have!
Certain whole-leaf teas have surprisingly large leaves, like Ali Shan from Taiwan, so they need adequate space to unfurl.
Shape: Is the pot spacious enough for your leaves?
Choose: Spacious tea pot body
Avoid: Small infuser baskets or ball infusers.
The pot needs to have enough space for the water to circulate easily around the leaves as they unfurl. If the water cannot circulate freely, the leaves will not release their distinctive, full flavours. Watch out for strainers inside teapots or ball-shaped strainers—they're often too small to allow this
Size: Match your teapot and your cups
Your teapot's size or volume must match the cups' total volume. For example, if you're making 250ml (a standard mug or cup) for two people, the teapot needs to be around 500ml – ideally with a tiny bit of extra space for the leaves to absorb some water and not leave you short in your cup!
Matching the volume means that the infusion will always be fully decanted and full and balanced. Otherwise, the first cup(s) will be weak and insipid, and any subsequent cups from the water closest to the leaves that have been stewing will be too strong to enjoy.
Pouring out the whole infusion from your teapot, including the very last drops, is also important. This ensures that none of your tea leaves are left to stew and lose their flavour, allowing you to re-infuse them, as they should have plenty of life to give.
Our glass Tea-ieresTM are designed for effortless loose tea making, with a filter built into the lid that's dishwasher safe.
Cleaning up
Choose: Wide openings, short spouts
Avoid: Fiddly small spouts and too many parts.
Making loose leaf tea should be an effortless process; there's nothing worse than fighting to get the last few leaves out of a fiddly infuser or tiny spout when you've just enjoyed your tea. So, when choosing your teaware, make sure you can get the leaves out easily and that they can be easily cleaned by hand or in the dishwasher.
Read our comprehensive guide to discover more about the process of making loose tea at home.
Make Loose Leaf Tea Effortlessly:
One Cup Tea-iereTM
Two Cup Teapot
Porcelain Infuser