Do you name your teapots?

Some people do! Brett at the Black Dragon Tea Bar has a whole League of Pots... with superpowers... wouldn't want to mess with any of these guys or gals. I rather like 'Chip' myself -

- his brewing specialty is Assam. Brett rescued him from a thrift store... I'm sure they are both glad about that!

Some little yellow teapots have a whole lot of personality all of their own, and even conduct interviews with other personable teawares.

To be honest it never really occurred to me to name my teapots. Perhaps I should? I wonder if they feel unloved, to go unnamed.

Everything Old is New Again

Well, kind of!

I had a very successful op-shopping trip last week and came home with some excellent booty, including this wonderful retro tea cosy:

And this gorgeous teapot - English Staffordshire ware, although I don't know how old it is:

As you can see it's rather crazed and the crazing is a bit stained - so I'm going to have a go at cleaning it (carefully). Also some of the gilt is a bit worn on the handle, but there's nothing else wrong with it - it pours beautifully with nary a dribble in sight and it is a good size (holds about a litre, which is comfortably between my 2-cup pots and my 6-8 cup pot).

I also had the good fortune to be the recipient of a large collection of Noritake cups, saucers and plates, courtesy of a friend whose parents didn't want them any more, and who had no use for them himself. There are about ten demitasse cups and saucers, three trio sets of full size cups and a few extra plates - all in very good condition despite being very old (I believe they originally belonged to my friend's great-grandparents).

I don't know much about researching china patterns - does anyone have any handy tips? I would love to know the name of the Noritake pattern; it's not like any Noritake I've seen before!

Size Does Matter

Teapot-wise, that is.

Think about it. The more water you put into a pot, the hotter it will stay. A smaller amount of water will cool faster, even if you warm the pot first. This will affect the way that the tea brews when you put it into the pot. Even if a tea is meant to be brewed with water that has just come to a full boil, it is not meant to be kept at that temperature but to cool gradually as it steeps. This is why it is not recommended to place a tea cosy over your teapot while the leaves are still in there; the tea will stew.

I also think it is why some teas do not taste as good when brewed in a larger pot (much as I love my 6-8 cup London Pottery teapot, seen here coyly wearing its tea-cosy [tea-leaf free], it is better suited to herbal and robust black teas rather than anything more delicate).

Sometimes even brewing a two-cup pot rather than a single-cup pot can make a difference; I feel that the delicious Keemun from SanTion tastes better only brewed a single cup at a time, for example. Have you had a similar experience with the teas that you drink?

Wishlist Wednesday - Vintage Teapots

I am totally craving a new teapot and it must be vintage. Want want want. These are a few of my current favourites from Etsy:

Cute handpainted vintage teapot from Sassy Spaces - love the unusual shape!

Flower power Sadler teapot from Violets and Grace - so cheery!

Blue ceramic teapot from merchant of kismet - gorgeous colour and pretty pattern.

And this one is my current absolute favourite - am seriously considering shelling out for the postage on this one!

Retro teapot from third coast vintage - how do I love thee; let me count the ways - perfectly cute shape, awesome flowers, nifty lid, great size!

And finally, this one:

Atomic eggplant tea kettle  from DooDah Factory - ok, not technically a teapot but full of WIN! It looks like it is ready to take off on an intergalactic journey - for which of course you would need plenty of tea.

What's your brewing style?

This is how I brew my tea most of the time:

1. Boil water in my stovetop glass kettle (actually a coffeepot, minus the percolator bit, that belonged to my parents - but seeing as they don't use it any more, I nabbed it [politely]).
2. Warm my glass teapot with a bit of the hot water, then pour that water into my green teapot to warm it as well.
3. Put the leaves loose into the glass teapot and pour on the boiled water (after it has cooled a little if necessary).

4. Steep the appropriate amount of time (or longer, if I get distracted... Whoops).
5. Strain the tea from the glass teapot into the green teapot. Drink and enjoy!

So why all the high maintenance and creation of more washing up than is strictly necessary? Well, I can't prove it with science but I really do think that allowing the leaves to float freely produces a better cup of tea... They have the chance to fully open and swirl around. Given that most of my teapots hold more than one cup's worth of tea, though, I need to decant it into a second teapot to prevent oversteeping.

Also, while my glass teapot is good because you can see how pretty the leaves look while they brew, it does have a badly chipped spout and doesn't pour well, making it less than ideal for serving the tea, especially to guests.

The Happiness of a New Teapot

This is my new pride and joy, a Tokoname teapot that I purchased at Taka Tea in the Strand Arcade in Sydney last weekend. I fell in love with the design of maple leaves (there was also a very nice cherry blossom one) and the fact that it has a built in mesh that stretches almost all the way round the inside of the pot - much better than an infuser basket, but I don't have to use my strainer! It pours like a dream - I wasn't sure how easy I would find using the sideways handle, but it's not difficult at all. It will, obviously, be dedicated solely to Japanese green teas.

 (According to O-cha.com, Tokoname is one of the 9 ancient kilns of Japan, and here you can see step by step photos of teapots being made by the throwing method or the slip casting method - how cool!)

The lovely people at Taka Tea were very happy to spend time talking with me about their teas and teapots (you can check out their online shop here). They also kindly brewed up a small pot of gyokuro for me to sample, which was deliciously light and fresh. I came away with a packet of first flush yabukita* which I haven't yet opened; I'll work my way through a few other things first, but I'm looking forward to it.


*this appears to be a clonal variety of tea bush widely grown in Japan, capable of adapting well to wherever it is planted. Handy!

Wishlist Wednesday - TEAPOTS

Can't live without them...


A friend of mine has one in a similar shape to this: Tea Pot by Tye River Pottery. I love the rusty colours and elegant shape.

I'm not sure how functional this one would be, but it's extremely cute to look at: Pear Teapot by Clamlab.

A Brown Betty is a classic, of course:

The turquoise glaze on this one is just beautiful: Personal Teapot by Hodaka Pottery.

And this sunny yellow one would give the Little Yellow Teapot a run for his money! Vintage Sunshine Yellow Teapot:

Funny things do turn up in my teapot sometimes...

(that's flowering pineapple sage, from our garden)

Had to have a giggle...

...the other day when I was reading a special report on social networking in my husband's copy of The Economist. At one point in the article it said something along the lines of 'If you listen to proponents of social networking, you would be forgiven for expecting your teapot to start twittering about what you had for breakfast.'

This made me smile because I actually know one Little Yellow Teapot - a very vocal and cheeky teapot too - with its own Twitter account and a blog to boot. Now if only my teapots would get their act together and get tweeting, it would save me a lot of time and effort ;)

Speaking of tea social networks, those of you who know me on Twitter or Facebook will have noticed my increasingly regular use of Steepster - fast becoming my latest tea-related addiction. Steepster is a community of tea fans of all kinds and a great place to source reviews of teas you are thinking of buying or trying, and the discussion boards are good too - check out this thread on cooking with tea for a bit of kitchen inspiration!

I shall be posting the winner of my giveaway a little later today, thanks to all who entered!

A New Tea Set for a (soon-to-be) New Arrival...

As I was stumbling up to bed following the baby shower my friends threw for me and my husband last weekend (yes... we scrapbooked til midnight to produce the most awesome baby book EVER. Crazy times) I thought I caught sight of something on the mantelpiece in the baby's room... but it was dark, and I was very tired, and so I didn't investigate any further.

Later the next morning though, I discovered that the mystery shape that I had half-discerned the night before was in fact this beautiful new tea set:


... complete with three cups: two big ones and one little one!

I asked my slightly bleary husband if he knew anything about it; he didn't, but suggested that this thoughtful gift was probably due to a visit from the Teapot Elves (entirely plausible, I thought). As it shortly turned out, the Teapot Elf in question was my sister. What an awesome present... I can't wait to share it with Little X at an appropriate time after his or her arrival...

The next question is, of course, what tea shall I pack in my hospital bag to celebrate said arrival? It must be robust enough to withstand hospital water and temperature (which I am prepared to accept may be sub-optimal) yet special enough to be celebratory. I shall have to devote more thought to this pressing issue over the next few weeks. Suggestions welcome!

Brown Betty Teapots

The history of teawares is fascinating – it has been affected by, and indeed itself affected, so many different converging cultural, economic, physical and social aspects of its consumers’ lives. This was brought home to me recently by a couple of posts by Gongfu Girl, on her own blog and on The Taste of English Tea blog, about Brown Betty teapots. I didn’t realise that the name referred to such a specific type of teapot, made with a particular type of clay and glaze.

I don’t own a Brown Betty – though I do have a very lovely large pot in a similar shape made by London Pottery Co. – but I would be most interested to acquire the genuine article (and having read the above-mentioned posts, I shall be careful to make sure that it is genuine). I have seen teapots that look very much like Brown Bettys in the enormous collection gracing the high shelves at Miss Marple’s Tea Room in Sassafras – alas, they’re used for display only, and not serving tea, so I don’t know if they’re the real thing. (I will mention in passing that it is my ambition to one day own as many teapots as there are at Miss Marple’s, but it may take me some time to reach that point).

The other thing that Brown Betty teapots make me think of is a book of short stories called ‘The Dribblesome Teapots’ by Norman Hunter, which I read and loved many years ago as a child. I don’t remember the plot terribly clearly, but it revolved around the difficulty of pouring the King and Queen’s tea without it dribbling all over the place (a major royal disaster, indeed, as anyone might agree) and I have a feeling that the only teapot capable of doing the job was the trusty old Brown Betty. I may be misremembering though, and will have to try and find myself a copy of the book to be sure.

Puhoi Cottage Tea Rooms

A two-week trip to Melbourne with a lack of internet access means that I haven't been blogging over the festive season (though I have certainly been drinking oodles of tea, and in fact received a bountiful amount of it for Christmas, hurrah!)... Back at home, life continues apace and it's back to work tomorrow... and it's a bit belated, but I do wish all of you the very happiest of New Years and hope that 2009 brings you all much joy (and tea, of course).

Looking through our photos from NZ with a friend the other day, I came across some that I took at the Puhoi Cottage Tea Rooms, where my husband and I stopped off one afternoon on our way from Paihia to Auckland. 

We had the best Devonshire cream tea ever – all the better for us  being extremely hungry at the time, too – fantastic scones and lovely tea in a beautiful setting, a closed in veranda of the house set in a lovely cottage garden complete with wishing well. 

There were a couple of cats wandering around and in and out of the tearooms as well, one of

 which looked very much like it had been getting too much cream for its own good, judging by its size! Both the cats were a bit shy but I still managed to get some photos of them too.

I saw a remarkable thing while we were there: the ‘Jolly/Sad teapot’ which I

 used to have until it broke, and which I’ve mentioned here. Not exactly the same one, of course – I think the one I had was a little smaller than this one – but the same pattern. Of all the places to see it! I almost asked if it were for sale, but decided that might be rude and settled for taking a photo instead…

Returned from New Tealand!

Well, New Zealand, technically, but I had so many very pleasant experiences with tea while I was over there that it almost did count as New Tealand, really.

While there were many highlights of our trip, most of them either nerdy (full day LOTR tours, anyone? Bliss!) or foodie (full day tasting tour in Martinborough and surrounds, plus many delicious restaurant meals) I will restrict myself to the tea highlights (tea lights? Hmmm) because those are what this blog is all about, after all.

It proved not very difficult at all to get decent loose-leaf tea in restaurants, particularly in Wellington where most places seemed to stock T Leaf Tea. The branding of this tea is very similar to T2 (black and orange) and they provide a similar range of products but also some that I hadn’t seen before, including quite a good range of single estate black teas and the best variety of beehouse (now known as ‘zero’) teapots I’ve seen – lots of different colours, so pretty! I would particularly like one in pumpkin orange…

One night in Wellington we went to Sweet Mother’s Kitchen, a place that serves really good deep-South of America type food, for dessert and tea. I was delighted to find that the tea itself (a raspberry and vanilla flavoured rooibos, very sweet and pleasant, not overpowering at all) was served in a beautiful blue-flowered Royal Albert tea cup, with matching plate. I am pretty sure that this picture depicts the pattern (it’s from an unnamed set matched with the pattern ‘Marguerite’, which I found thanks to this site.

Now I was also conscious of the need to sample some NZ biscuits, along with my tea, and on the matching plate which came with my tea at Sweet Mother’s Kitchen I tried out an afghan biscuit. These chocolate biscuits with chocolate icing on top seem to be very popular in NZ (there are also supermarket versions, though I skipped those in favour of trying out some Toffeepops, which were yummy). The one I had that evening was absolutely sublime. It had crunchy bits in it (which, after looking at some recipes online, I have deduced to be cornflakes or weeties), it was crumbly and buttery and chocolatey, and the icing was fantastic. Yet overall it wasn’t too sweet either. I am going to have a go at making some of these - here is one recipe, and here is another.

In Auckland, we went shopping to get my husband something nice at a men’s clothing shop called ‘Marvel’ (he bought a very nice striped top) – and I came away with, of all things, a teapot (the owners of the store appear to be collectors of vintage china, particularly Crown Lynn NZ made stuff). It’s a lovely deep sky blue glaze, cream coloured inside, and the most perfect pouring teapot I’ve had – not a drip! I will post a photo of it when I have a chance. So that absolutely made my trip, that’s for sure.

Another tea highlight was when we went out for dinner in Rotorua – we went to an Indian restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet, where we had the best Indian food I’ve eaten since leaving Melbourne last year (seriously). I ordered a cup of their chai masala tea, which was delicious – I think it had quite a bit of black pepper in it, it had quite a kick. I do like my chai with pepper, it always seems more exciting somehow than just with cinnamon and so on. I am going to have a go at blending some of my own at some point.

That’s all the tall tea tales I have time for today folks, but I will return. I have been having great success with iced tea, for example, and I have photos to post, and new teas to try, and many more things to rant about.

Photos!

Here at last are some pretty photos of some of my teawares; I had to take them more or less all in the same spot as we only have one really well-lit sunny spot near a window in the house, but I think they turned out fairly well.

My Beehouse teapot, that I use every day (usually more than once!)

A collection of my prettier canisters and tins that I keep my tea in

My enormous (6+ cups, depending on the size of the cups) London Pottery Farmhouse teapot, with the tea cosy that I bought from Tea Leaves in Sassafras (so pretty)

And last but not least, a picture of the Earl Grey prunes that I made the other day, which are currently steeping in the fridge and will be ready to go in another couple of weeks!

Saturday afternoon

A while back my best friend mentioned to me that she had been quite enjoying my tea blog, and that she hadn't realised that I was such a tea nazi (her phrase) but that it was rather endearing. Now if that's not a ringing endorsement I don't know what is (although please feel free to come up with your own and post it in the comments section).

Today it's all about the herbal - specifically one of my own invented blends which is lemongrass, calendula and dried apple pieces (although I don't think I put enough dried apple in - I'll increase the quantity when I finish this batch and make a new one). I'm onto my second big pot of it (my 6-cup Farmhouse Filter teapot made by the London Pottery Co, which is just about as quintessentially teapot-looking as anything I've ever seen). You can have a look at some examples of these teapots here. Mine is a lovely creamy colour; my parents recently acquired a 4-cup version in red. Both were purchased from the Tea Leaves shop in Sassafras, Victoria. Great place - I hope to go back there on my next trip to Melbourne in early August.

Teapot reminiscence: for my 18th birthday my parents bought me a 'Jolly/Sad' teapot (scroll down the linked page a little to see the picture - I think the lid of mine was blue, not red) with a smiley face on one side and a sad face on the other. It was a really good little teapot which unfortunately broke after a number of years of use and I don't have it any more. My mum ended up using it as a kind of barometer of my presence - i.e. when I was home, she would turn it around on the shelf so that the smiley face was showing, and when I was away from home she would have the sad face showing. 

I suppose it's something to be grateful for that it wasn't the other way round.

On another note, in my tea travels online the other day, I came across an absolutely hilarious 'How-To' guide for making bad tea (thanks to this Twinings Tea Blog article for directing me to the link). Check it out here. I shared this article with a friend of mine at work with the observation that the people in charge of the tea and coffee supplies there must have read, and furthermore adhered strictly to, the principles propounded in this article. She agreed. 

I particularly like the items listed in Mr Weber's guide to bad tea under #6 "Aesthetic Nihilism", especially the bit about reheating tea in the microwave as 'the ultimate expression of disregard for quality'. Heh.

In other news, the anticipation continues as I have still not received my order from the Oriental Tea House, but I hope it will arrive soon. Oh, how I hope it will arrive soon...