Tea wares and accessories are the bling of a tea addict. Go to the house of a long time tea connoisseur and mention the words “Yixing pot” and you are likely to be treated to a collection that will stir up degenerate spending impulses in your innermost recesses.
Tea cups collections may be a tad more muted but there is no shortage of choices.
Not surprising since both Yixing pot and tea cups are among the “4 Treasures” of Chaozhou gongfu tea.
But what of the other 2?
The Chaozhou charcoal stove and clay kettle virtually get no mention apart from purist circles.
This much is understandable, especially since I own neither despite my professed love for tradition. In urban environments with constricted spaces like Singapore, it is a fire hazard to use naked flames that can’t be extinguished with a single switch indoors.
However that doesn’t mean that the modern day alternatives aren’t worthy of mention; though kettles are unsexy and largely functional, it is an essential function.
Without hot water, there is no tea, this much is self-explanatory.
*Apart from cold-brewing that is*
Let’s look at the main considerations:
Electric versus Stovetop
The obvious advantage is cost- virtually every urban household has access to a stove for cooking. All you need is a kettle.
It can be a simple stainless steel kettle which cost somewhere in the teens or a Tetsubin kettle which cost at least 10 times that.
The problem is convenience.
By and large it is quite impractical for most tea lovers to have a gas stove besides their tea setup. Shuttling back and forth the kitchen to fetch hot water is not exactly conducive to interaction with your guest or getting into that pensive meditative mood if you are drinking in solitude.
The next issue is that stovetop kettles do not shut off automatically and over-boiling ruins the water, rendering it flat and unsuitable for making tea.
Different Types of Electric Kettles
Induction Kettles
Strictly speaking this is a stovetop, albeit one without naked flames. That difference in itself increases its usefulness markedly.
That renders it practical for usage outside the kitchen, preferably besides the tea making area so the brewer does not need to leave his or her seat.
Another advantage of an induction top is that by adjusting the wattage, it is easier to control the heat and water temperature as opposed to eyeballing the intensity of the flame.
Variable Temperature Kettles
Heating coil kettles have an added advantage in that it is possible to get close to the desired water temperature. (Exactness is not too possible as in practice it can vary by a couple of degrees)
It also helps to maintain the water temperature, a pretty essential component of a variable water temperature. I never understood why people are willing to fork out more than a hundred dollars on a variable temperature kettle that doesn’t keep the water at that temperature defeating the desired convenience of this contraption.
There are a couple of versions, some are at preset temperatures, the others can go to the exact temperature set.
There is not much difference for me as long as the preset temperatures include 80⁰ C and 95⁰ C- the former for green, white and yellow teas and the latter to prevent water meant for the other teas from re-boiling.
Air-pots
That brings me to the next alternative- air-pots.
Some people favor it for convenience, hot water on demand, all day long.
Going straight to the point, I dislike it, at least for making tea.
Firstly, water is re-boiled throughout the day, destroying its suitability for making tea.
Secondly, you have no control over the air-pot, you can’t swirl the tea leaves like you would with a kettle and it is clumsy to vary the height of pouring.
Bells and Whistles
For the simple kettle, you can have bells and whistles.
So one item fulfills all your needs.
While the plastic tea tray is short on aesthetics, it is light and convenient for external shows while being very affordable. There are some wooden trays that are quite gorgeous but it comes with a price and physical heft as well so it depends on individual preferences.
Regardless of which type you pick, I realized that variable temperature kettles are quite expensive outside of China. In reality, you shouldn’t need to spend more than $50 for a basic model but some of those cost upwards of $100 which personally I find ludicrous.
In any case, these are just some basic considerations for a kettle, on a future rendition we will look at material and boiling speed.
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