Best tea ware to brew large variety of tea

I’ve been really happy with the Chatsford pots (Upton Tea Imports sells them). They’ve got a built-in infuser basket that you can just lift out when you’re done steeping. For 90+% of teas, the basket is huge enough to let the leaves completely expand and circulate. For some ultra-bold-leaf oolongs, I’ll just put the leaves directly in the pot and strain the tea off, but for day-to-day convenience, I think it’s hard to beat the basket system.

If he drinks 2+ cups, and sticks to western style brewing, the breville one touch tea maker is excellent. To clean build-up, some people use manadalateas.com water heater cleaners.

I do love gravity steepers, like your Perfect Tea maker – I found if I rub baking soda on mine and soak the filter between changing types of tea steeped in it, it gets rid of smells and prevents staining.

Though I can understand wanting something easier to clean and not plastic. The DavidsTea perfect infuser is very good. It’s large, stainless steel, very fine holes and you just us it in a cup or tea pot. You can buy the filter separate, with a large mug or teapot http://www.davidstea.com/david-s-perfect-infuser?&TF=384C2498270F&DEID=

The finnium brew basket also has great reviews http://www.finum.com/filters/permanent-filters/brewing-basket-l.html they have various sizes for mug or pot.

I’ve also seen set ups that are like this: http://shopmandalatea.com/tea-wares/tea-pots-tea-brewers/japanese-glass-mug-with-infuser.html where the filter is glass. I haven’t tried one, but heard good things, though unsure on their performance with a finer tea like rooibos.

Similar to the DavidsTea perfect infuser is this one from ForLife: http://www.forlifedesign.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=49_56&products_id=72

I like that, not only can I brew everything in it, I can use any mug. I have a really wide rimmed bowl-shaped mug that I got from a disney store and this is the only infuser that I can use with it.

I got excited about getting new teapots and brewing accessories when I first discovered loose-leaf tea, and I still have various teapots on my wish list, but after several months, I found that I resort to the simple cup infuser more often than not. I have two of them so that I can easily brew two mugs of tea, which is necessary since my husband and I have only a small overlap of similar taste in teas.

For efficient teapot brewing, I recommend the For Life teapots as well (except the acorn pot, as it tends to leak over the top if you aren’t careful when pouring). They aren’t fancy or made from exotic far away clays, but for function and form (without plastic!), they can’t be beat imo. The Chatsford pots with infusers are nice too, but the infusers are like finium baskets, which are made with plastic for the frame. Not a huge deal, and I used to use one, but I personally prefer not to any more.

An inexpensive gaiwan could serve you very well (you could see other gaiwan discussion threads on steepser).

For handmade, unique stuff fusion of American and exotic taste, I would recommend gaiwan or hobin or other tea utensils made by Greenwood Studio (on etsy). I particularly like this one and use it very often:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/130277297/shiboridashi-teapot-75-ml-iron-rich?ref=shop_home_feat

Besides Chinese tea utensils, the biggest and one of my favorite source of small teapots is Petr Novak. That’s if you could bear with longer waiting time since he is in Czech.
http://keramikstudio.artkeramika.cz/en/petr-novak/tea-pottery/

These above two artists’ handmade stuff are not much more expensive (or not more expensive at all) than generic tea ware sold by large companies. This is also the case of some other tea ware artists, since you buy directly from them, not through layers of transactions.

By the way it is generally ok to brew various teas in one yixing teapots. I do play with a few dozen of yixing teapots in my daily tea brewing. But it’s because I want them, and can’t really use the excuse that they are required by the tea :-p

I use a Bodum French Press that I got at Starbucks. It is 16oz like the Perfect Tea Maker but it is glass. The guts are stainless steel. The only plastic is the lid and the outside frame but the frame never touches the tea. You might be able to find one with a stainless lid.

I love that it is clear glass so I can watch the leaf. Clean up is a breeze. Like anything you’d use, occasionally you will need to soak the mesh to get it back to shiny. I like that it pours out the top and not out the bottom as I never worry about leaks and eventual clogging.

Right now our Starbucks has them for $10. I would definitely replace mine if lost, stolen, or more likely broken. Well, actually I already have two of them. I brew everything from white to puerh in it. It is not fancy but it does the job well.

My second favorite way to brew is a Finum basket. I have two of those as well.

I do have some teapots – nothing fancy. I just don’t enjoy using them.

The breville tea maker is great but don’t go near it with flavoured teas, especially not chai or lapsang souchong. For me it doesn’t replace a regular tea pot completely. I also really like the look of glass teapots but black teas stain them quickly and it is a pain to remove tannin stains from in inside of a glass teapot so I’d stick to greens in those.

I have a collection of teapots but the one I use most (after the tea maker) is a ceramic zero teapot which I really like. I think they are sold by beehouse in the US, are easy to clean, have an infuser basket and clip on lid. The lid also fits fine without the infuser basket inside if you prefer to have your tea in the bottom of the pot to brew. They also come in a bunch of colours and glazes. The charcoal pot is really beautiful, quite masculine and while black teas eventually stain everything, having a black pot you would hardly notice at all.

I use my Perfect Tea Mug from Davids daily, as well as the disposable filter bags with the draw string at work if the perfect mug is otherwise occupied.

At home I tend to brew in my Bubble Tea Pot also from Davids as the size is perfect for hubby and I (24 oz, I believe). I have other pots that I use on occasion but I like the built in infusers the best. I have a larger one that I use for 3 or more people, but that rarely happens anymore.

While I do have multiple pots, I have no need for more than one. People just give them to me. It’s an interesting result of being a tea drinker!

I have multiple pots and brewers but the most treasured and versatile by far are the Tokoname kyushus. It’s absolutely not true that they’re only for green tea – they do a wonderful job with everything. A good one (check out Artistic Nippon) is pricey but the lower priced ones there are wonderful (check out those by Gyokko). You can also get them from vendors selling Japanese teas. I prefer fine ceramic filters to the metal mesh – they are lovely. I can’t imagine where you got the idea that those are only for green tea. And yixing pots (which I don’t recommend unless you want to brew gong fu) style are intended for Chinese teas, especially used for pu-erhs and oolongs and the like, not green tea in particular. I actually also have very small kyushus that I use for modified gong fu style, very excellent for everything. I certainly wouldn’t go for brewing mugs (except for travel) or anything without a good built in filter, except maybe a gaiwan.