About two weeks ago out ceramic teapot broke. It was a lovely Japanese style white and blue teapot with a bamboo handle. We had it for years and it finally gave up the ghost. Since we drink about 4 cups of tea each, that presented a dilemma. We tried to find a new teapot, but neither Wal-Mart nor Target carried one large enough. We tried brewing tea in a metal kettle. I do not reccommend this at all.
To add insult to injury, Reece sent us some Hawaian tea. It smelled divine and we had no way to brew it. Putting it into cups somehow just didn’t seem as nice. The problem is, that I’ve trained myself to have little rituals. I have my tea, I sit in my chair, I write. No tea somehow resulted in very little writing and a lot of pointless staring.
So here we were all teapotless, and then J sent me an amazon certificate for my birthday. It took me approximately two hours to pick out a teapot. Teapots are serious business. We wanted a large teapot, not ugly, but mostly a large and not white.
So, a suitable teapot was finally picked out, purchased, but it wasn’t eligible for Prime 2-day shipping so we were reduced to waiting for the teapot to arrive.
As an aside, I must be a really spoiled baby, because I was all bummed out. Ten years ago, super-fast shipping was a luxury. Now it’s expected.
Yesterday was a go out and buy food for the month day. It took us about three hours and then another hour or so to put things away. The amount of new meat and other items, all repacked and wrapped with plastic wrap and stuck into freezer Ziploc bags, necessitated a full blow fridge purge. You know, when you go through the fridge and throw away three bottles of steak sauce, each with half an inch of steak sauce at the bottom?
As I was cleaning it out, I managed to find a small sliver of glass and wedge it firmly under the fingersnail of my right index finger. The finger responded by bleeding profusely and it took forever to stop, even after being bandaged repeatedly.
I did have fun chasing the kids around with, “Look, blood!”
But after all of that, the UPS brought the teapot. The way things were goping lately, I thought it might arrive broken, but no.
It’s lovely and blue and highly awesome. All is now right with the world and I feel slightly less crazy.
Dear J, thank you for the pot – and last night’s craziness. Dear Reece, thank you for the tea. I’ve combined the two, and the final product is delicious.
Enjoy your cuppa.
I don’t use tea pot that often, I use infuser. x
What a lovely tea pot! Enjoy!
It is a very hansome blue color. I’m glad it arrived in one piece safely.
What a Lovely Tea Pot
Enjoy!
Lovely teapot. Looks like it would brew magical tea…
What a beautiful blue teapot!
The only hard core tea drinkers I know that use metal pots are some of my friends from the middle east, and they all seem to have some sort of double boiling contraption going on, it kind of looks like stacked teapots. I can’t quite figure it out, but since I only drink coffee, it never was a priority.
Your new teapot is pretty. I hope it gives you guys many a good cup.
Now tomorrow you need to give a lesson on how you guys brew your tea.. I got one for Christmas and have no idea how to use it…
It’s a lovely teapot. I’ll have to make you one. Not having a closer look at the crystalline structure of the glaze I’d guess it’s a rutile{or titanium} blue floating glaze applied VERY evenly. I use that as my base glaze but I tend to overlay it with variations of differing stains {same base glaze} because I like the effect when it’s uneven and the layers break thru.
[url=http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd280/Vinity2/DSCN0530-1.jpg] Example[/url]
Ilona, does a thick pot or a thin pot make better tea?
It’s a lovely teapot. I’ll have to make you one. Not having a closer look at the crystalline structure of the glaze I’d guess it’s a rutile{or titanium} blue floating glaze applied VERY evenly. I use that as my base glaze but I tend to overlay it with variations of differing stains {same base glaze} because I like the effect when it’s uneven and the layers break thru.
[url=http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd280/Vinity2/DSCN0530-1.jpg] Example[/url]
Ilona, does a thick walled pot or a thin walled pot make better tea?
Hope this post. The first time didn’t???
Coming from a big Irish family we drink tea like most drink water but your pot is one of the nicer looking ones I have seen. I cleaned out the fridge in a new year health fit. Ending up tossing 10 bottles of salad dressing..every single one them half full and completly expired!
Lovely pot. Why won’t my earlier post work??
I’m not much of a hot tea drinker but I’m glad you got your new tea pot. It’s lovely.
I cleaned out some bad ideas we bought during a recent health kick.
-Sugar free Hersey’s chocolate syrup. GAG!
-Fat free Ken’s Ranch dressing. Double GAG!
I’m English and I love tea (especially green tea)- I’m glad you got a replacement fairly swiftly. Need to keep the rituals up for writing.
Next time you’re in the market for a pot or something like it, check out http://www.etsy.com. I bought a whole set of stoneware from one of the amazing artists from that site and I love it. They also have great tea pots!
Love the teapot; my son gave me a lovely small glass one for Christmas. The cup sits underneath the pot, its a delightful design. I have discovered China Rose Petal tea looks divine brewing ,I say tastes heavenly , husband says tastes of petrol!
I love the ritual of my black tea, something sweet to eat and something to read.
One of my fondest memories is drinking tea in a Taiwanese tea establishment while it was raining. The place was all wood and built like a pagoda with open sides so you could smell the rain and the scent of various teas the other patrons were enjoying. My Taiwanese friend/guide and me did not rush the experience.
Good news on the pot — you have more tea headed your way. It went in the mail yesterday. If that’s all it takes to have more fabulous books from you, I’m sure all your readers will chip in.
Ilona, which is better for a teapot, thick walls or thin?
I have no idea! I would say thick because it would keep the tea hot longer.
I sympathise… Britain is in the grip of snow… No post for a week and I am waiting for some new books….oh… and all the schools closed.
My dad brews his chai (tea) in a metal teapot, but he only does that cause he’s Persian. It’s cultural. They drink it in glass cups as well.
We just shove a tea bag in a mug and bobs your uncle. Doing it the old fashioned way is good though! Nice teapot.
Just wonder whats wrong with a metal kettle. My mom (we are also from a tea drinking culture; Turkey) brews tea every day with a metal kettle, two actually, you boil the water separately. Although we have a ceramic kettle, its mainly for decoration.
This makes me feel so lazy – I just make tea in the cup!
OT: love the Nalini banner – so excited for Archangels Kiss
Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
Shopping for a month. Hummm… I detest grocery shopping on so many levels. With a little creative effort I could probably switch to a bi-monthly trip which would make me a lot happier. I used to do that when I lived at the farm, especially in the winter when the roads drifted shut. Perhaps I can apply the same concept here in sunny Atlanta. Enjoy the new teapot!
I make my sweet tea in a metal tea kettle.
Would the same tea taste different if it was brewed in different tea pots?