A couple weeks ago I switched from using a Japanese porcelain pot I had been using over the winter to an unglazed, earthy Yixing replica pot shown above. There is a capacity difference, the porcelain pot easily held 23 oz (0.7 liters) which was good for filling my big mugs (17 oz, 0.5+ liters) and topping them off several times. The unglazed pot is good for one filling of the 14 oz (0.4 liter) medium mugs.
The squat design and large lid make emptying the spent tea leaves quite easy. It has a narrow opening in the spout and you don’t really need a tea strainer because the spout is attached to the body of the pot through some small holes.
I thought the first brewing had an earthy taste, but now that I am using the pot a couple times a day, that no longer seems to be the case. I am brewing black, loose leaf tea in it. It would be good for green tea too, but I think I will reserve the Tetsubin for that because I drink black tea daily.
It was a rough late winter and early spring this year. I admit to reverting to using more bag tea (Red Rose™) and consuming way too much tea. (Even when I use bag tea, I still brew it in a pot.) Although I didn’t feel well during that time period, from the first week of January through the third week of April I didn’t have serious migraines as opposed to being down for two to four days every two or three weeks. Might be a coincidence or might be that I need the caffeine to function?
Anyway, it was a way to mark the change in seasons. We still are not past frost danger but I don’t need to consume a liter of hot tea in the morning to get warm.
