Glass Teapots

There are some who will rally against melior type pots, where you have a plunger that pushes the leaves into an area without holes. Some say that this amounts to pressing the tea, but i find that this is only the case if you've used too many leaves. They are not for everyone. They do, however, kinda work.

a swissgold or other fine mesh type infuser lets less smaller fannings through than, for example, bodum's clear plastic infusers or the jenaer type glass infuser. I find that it's not enough more that it fouls the tea.

I have the 16oz Assam pot with glass handle and plastic melior-type infuser (among other pots). I have never found the handle to be hot.

Bodum uses borosilicate glass - which means silicon glass made with boric acid. Other types of glass may have different thermal properties, and i don't know what jenaer uses.

I never seem to have it around long enough to tell, but i do prefer my tea to cool off a bit before i drink it. People who prefer scalding hot tea may be disappointed at my house.

Yes. I know exactly what you mean.

There is something to be said for having a larger infuser area, if you're going to use an infuser - a convenience that nearly everyone seems to prefer. I've sometimes wondered if the bodum pots with extremely large infusers might be pretty good equipment, but, I have more than enough teaware at the moment.

My current 1 liter cylindrical glass pot is a modified tea press. All you need is a hack saw and plastic wall anchor. You shorten the plunger arm and push it through the cap secured with the wall anchor. The stainless steel gill filter only contacts the tea when pouring. You can use Google and find the modification instructions. I like a tea press because they rest in their own plastic protective cradle with convenient handle. You can find them in discount stores in various sizes with the big ones just $5. I just got a 1.5 liter Asian pot with coffee pot style handle and infuser for $8.

Jim

Serendip wrote:

i enjoy jenaer products-i never use a potholder

you can see a large variety of their products at

If you decide on the Mikado, I highly recommend the Gold w/ the Swissgold infuser because the regular glass infusers are, IMO, a PITA allowing rooibos and other leaf particles to escape and/or plug up the slits which must be cleared with something like a toothbrush. The Swissgold, OTOH, is more like a Chatsford or Teeli basket providing better circulation (16 slits in the glass infuser vs. all those holes), a cleaner beverage, and easier clean-up.

Yes!

YMwillV depending on how fast you drink and how warm/cool you like your tea. Using a candle warmer will light your tea from below and look really good as the flame wavers.

Yup. Loose tea provides great visual entertainment. Cheap thrills :D.

Since you're going to glass for the visual, I suggest that you also ascertain how each teapot under consideration aids/hinders your view of the agony of the leaves which can be fascinating.

For the Mikado Gold and warmer, I found the lowest prices at adagio.com. Their St. Patrick's Day Pot of Gold special includes a 4 oz tin of Irish Breakfast.

For other Mikado teapots, the prices are lower at zackusa.com. I advise against the small Mikado because the useable capacity isn't that much greater than your 20 oz-er.

To a fair approximation, all consumer glasses have the same thermal conductivity. In fact, almost all ceramics are pretty close if normalized for density (i.e., voids). They make special ones for heat removal in microchips, lasers, etc., but they are so expensive that you won't see them in teapots any time soon. On the other side, most things are pretty good insulators; even most metals other than the coinage metals make good handles.

The thing to watch for is design. the little glass pots I like have hollow handles into which the hot water flows, making them instantly too hot to touch. So go solid and keep cool.

-DM

Found it at google groups and copied it - thanks!

Resa

Thanks - I think I'm thinking of just that - a mug I had that was quite fun to watch because the glass handle was hollow, but a horror to hold with hot beverages. And seeing so many glass teapots with plastic, etc handles, made me wonder. Solid - got it!

Resa

Bookmarked - thanks!

Resa

LOL - I like the "kinda work". They kinda look fun, too. Is a press that is marketed as a "coffee press" the same mesh as one marketed as a "tea press" - I saw some Swissgold "coffee" presses that looked fun.

In some ways, it's good being so new at this - I don't know if I'd know the difference... yet.

Thanks.

Got it - thinking of "pyrex" now, and how boiling water in a measuring cup doesn't make the handle hot.

Sigh... which means the next step will be letting the leaves run wild in the pot, and using a strainer post-spout. Hmmm... I have some of those contraptions.

Thanks!

Good to know - thanks!

Yay! There's even a total consensus on this! :)

ARGGGGGH! One more tea accessory to "need" - I definitely need a bigger kitchen, or need to start tossing things that aren't related to tea!

Then you add in the candle warmer, for the surround-sound equivalent.

Which is going to be difficult, since there's no place to see these up close and personal here. And web "zoom" photos do only so much. But, there's always the option I mentioned elsewhere, of letting the leaves run free, and strain as I pour.

Thanks!!

Thank you so much for the advice and suggestions!

Having been to dozens of sites, I came across one (Ebay seller, maybe?) that said that Schott has stopped manufacturing the Jenaer glass teapots, etc. Since many places were out of stock, it seemed plausible, and non-buyer's remorse can be more painful than the opposite. I can get the Bodum later...

I ordered the Mikado Gold from Adagio along with the IngenuiTEA - why not get the credit card pain over with at once? And since this is almost all glass (some samples, too) even I know this has to be shipped slowly and safely!

Now, back to Pettigrew's "Tea Companion" (the library insisted I return their copy, which was the original volume) which finally arrived yesterday. Anyone else notice that since Amazon announced the "subscribe for 'free' 2 day shipping" that they are holding the over "$25 free shipping" orders much longer before releasing? Sigh...

Again, thanks!!

Resa

Mind you, rooibos will get stuck wherever it may, but it won't clog up the works like it can with the slits of a glass infuser and for cleaning, you can just use your fingers to rub them out and won't need to use a brush.

Just figure that if there's a handle or something else that covers, especially the bottom, you won't be able to see well.

That really is the best both for the brewing and for the visual entertainment. With a multiple-serving-sized pot, however, you'll want to strain into another pot to avoid oversteeping while you enjoy your first cup. For herbals, you don't have to strain into another pot because the brew won't get bitter, only somewhat stronger which many people don't find objectionable - but again, YMMV.

You're welcome :).

I just ordered my first rooibos sample (Adagio) - it's rooibos almond. I have no idea if I will like almond flavored tea, but it was the highest rated, so thought I'd give it a try.

I think it's going to be like watching fish swim in a round fish bowl, with a (hopefully!) better aroma.

Thanks for the reminder to strain into another pot - I seem to have a good tolerance for the tannins in tea, but not *that* good!

BTW, have you seen the teapot that suits the pen and tea obsessions colliding? I don't want to attach a photo to this post, so will see if I can find a link somewhere. Oh, here...

Resa

Hilarious. A keeper. :)

At the latter part of last month, I decided to buy a Jenaer Duo from wayneteasalon.com which arrived broken (Adagio packs their glassware much better!). She was going to replace it out of her arriving order, but when she received it, no Duo. So, she refunded my cc and I ordered it from eteapots.com which had been out, but they received a new shipment in the meantime. (It was delivered to me intact.)

So, now I go to Zackusa thinking that maybe I better get that large Mikado that I was thinking about and Holy Crap! they've raised the price by $10 along with the prices of some of the other items by Jenaer, some of which have doubled...

The press release at

"SCHOTT Jenaer Glas GmbH finds itself compelled to terminate production of consumer glassware in Jena (Germany) by March 31, 2005. Sales of Jenaer Glass by SCHOTT North America, Inc. will continue until the end of calendar year 2005."

If anyone's been thinking about getting a Jenaer, may as well get it while the getting's still good.

If you find that you need to use the warmer, you'll have to clear out the leaves and pour back into the glass teapot to be able to enjoy the color.

This is great. No, I hadn't seen it and when I did, I did a double-take because it looks so much like my bottle of blue Quink. Thanks for sharing :).

Do you happen to know when Roden took over Zackusa? I'm wondering if that's the reason for the price jump which occurred since I checked prices last month.