Cast iron for keeping water warm?

I think the thermos will keep water hot the longest and be the cheaper option compared to cast iron pots. The cast iron pots will likely be the most aesthetically pleasing, at least by my standards. I’d go with the thermos, honestly, though it can be hard to control the water temperature. :D Good luck!

I agree with Mercuryhime, a thermos would also be easiest. I like my cast iron pot but it can’t retain heat as long as a thermos. Maybe it would if you kept it continuously on a warmer of sorts but a thermos is a much cheaper option. But if you want it to be pretty while you work and price doesn’t matter, there’s probably some sort of electric warmer you could use with a cast iron pot to help it retain heat much much longer.

I put my cast iron over a warmer (tea light kind) and it stays hot! Not sure you would be allowed that at work tho. :-)

If you were willing to spring for cast iron, I’d go with the zojirushi. Yeah, okay, not as a pretty, but very work-functional, yeah? I have a co-worker who bought one specifically because she makes white tea all day long and she was annoyed by how often she burned it. Now she just sets it to the right temp and dispenses whenever she wants a cup.

A thermos would definitely save you money, but in neither that option nor a pot can you control the temperature of the water very well. Seems to me that if you’re doing a lot of gong fu brewing (especially greens and oolongs) that it would be a great thing to have finer control over the water temperature.

When resteeping greens and oolongs, I first fill my tetsubin with hot tap water to prewarm it while the water in the kettle comes to a boil. As soon as the water boils, I pour out the tap water and pour the boiling water into the cast iron pot. I put it on the warmer right away so I don’t lose much heat. I have no problems resteeping greens and oolongs this way even though it is not precise and I know the water is cooling a bit. I figure if tea has been made for thousands of years without a digital temperature read out, surely it will be close enough!

But this is at home and at my leisure. I would think that something Ike the Zojirushi would be great. I did see a video long ago that JacquelineM posted where a woman exploring pairing cheese and tea carried the hot water in a thermos and did the resteepings that way, and she was a professional.

Thanks for all the input! I still love the idea of the tetsubin, but it sounds like it would need some sort of warmer to be effective and that’s getting a little too complicated for my desk. The Zojirushi would work perfectly I’m sure, but… tell me I’m not the only one who feels like it’s cheating? :P I guess getting the water temperature right (or not, as the case may be) is part of my personal ritual.

I ended up ordering a 1-liter vacuum thermos that should do the job well enough!

Be careful about leaving water in an enameled pot, as you will notice it may become porous.