I've completed a tea quest and leveled up to another realm of tea nerdery. I've acquired a tetsubin, a Japanese cast iron teapot. It took this article from Saveur about two minutes to persuade me to get one. I acquired this 20th century vintage tetsubin from eBay as recommended in the article.
When it arrived, the exterior had a light coating of rust as you can see in the photo, but the bottom of the interior sported an impressive amount of scaly rust, and the water from the kettle tasted foul. I did not precisely follow the recommendations of the Saveur article. Rather, I scrubbed it with an SOS pad, then boiled a green teabag in it, leaving it to rest for 24 hours. I poured out the black water and brewed another pot of green tea. I allowed that to rest for an hour, and poured that out. Then it was just a matter of making pot after pot of hot water for tea. The water tasted rusty at first, but while the rust is still visible on the bottom, the water no longer tastes of it.
So is the tetsubin as much a revelation as the tea nerd in Saveur claims? I believe it is. Falkowitz claims the water heated in the tetsubin makes the resulting tea taste better, and he is correct. You can start with cheap, harsh tea, brew it with water heated in the tetsubin, and it is instantly more enjoyable. The best way I can think to describe it is the tetsubin helps bitterness and particularly astringence to recede, and other flavors in the tea to come forward.
I also made yerba maté with water from the tetsubin, and got the same result. The maté I've been drinking is Canarias brand, which is particularly fuerte, hitting the palate with a strong bitterness that gets your attention. Yet when made with the tetsubin, the flavor mellows to be more like high quality matés, with less bitterness and more complexity.
I am extremely pleased with my tetsubin purchase. The 20th century pot I bought is the perfect medium between good construction and affordability. I am planning a tea date with my friend Kim of Olive and Vine to do some side by side taste tests with a variety of teas, the tetsubin, and my trusty stainless steel electric kettle.
Let me know if you love your tetsubin!
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