teapots: earthenware, steel, enamel -- why?

First: don't confuse tea kettles and tea pots. You boil water in a kettle and then you brew tea in a pot.

Virtually all kettles are metal. Kettle composition isn't really important (IMHO) as long as it can stand the heat and doesn't leach anything into the water that you're boiling.

I like ceramic for the teapot (maybe out of habit -- lots of people swear by earthware). Stay away from metal, it conducts heat too well from the tea inside to the air outside, so the tea doesn't stay hot. I'd stay away from glass for the same reason -- most of them are very thin-walled and let too much heat out.

HS

To me, it depends both on the type of metal, and how good the water is to start with.

Earthenware / clay kettles seem to somewhat smooth out the water a little; glass ones are neutral, as you'd expect. Metal kettles can impart a metallic taste in some cases, depending on the type of metal used. Also, an unlined iron tetsubin develops some scale and often small amounts of rust over time; this affects the taste of the water, though not necessarily negatively. Silver is said to be quite good, but the cost is prohibitive for most of us, and it must be taken care of fairly carefully (can melt on an open flame, or tarnish if not dried out and cleaned properly).

Regarding pots themselves, I think earthenware / stoneware pots, especially ones that are fairly porous, are said to smooth out the taste of tea somewhat compared to other types of pot. I don't know of many metal teapots (other than silver ones, which aren't used very often). Again, whether this is a desirable characteristic depends on the tea. I personally prefer Yixing or Chaozhou pots for certain teas, but porcelain pots or a porcelain gaiwan for others.

There are too many other variables to suggest you only consider the material of the pot. Some that come to kind are gender, size, cost, ethnicity, vanity. For example Russians might prefer a metal samovar, women might prefer something smaller than men, the British might prefer matching teapot and cups, etc. In the end it is personal choice over convention. In my case I forego the teapot and brew in the cup I drink from. If I were to make a case for materials it would be the cup and not the pot because that is what you stick in your face. Recently I picked up some Japanese cups because the glazing reminded me of just cooled lava.

Jim

because tea inearthenware is both good for health and for tea brewing.tea in earthenware smells of fragrance!!!!