Boiled Tea in Sidehandle teapot

Boiling tea is one of the oldest ways to prepare tea. As almost every book on tea starts with “Tea was used as medicine in ancient China for thousands of years”, there are also legends as well as researchers by historians which talk about boiling the tea leaves, both with other herbs and ingredients as well as boiling tea alone to get the healing, medicinal liquor. These methods are not forgotten but compare to other tea preparations, boiled tea is almost unknown.

Over the past couple of years, boiled tea has become more popular and to the tea lover’s ears, the idea does not sound so exotic anymore. I was amazed by the idea of boiling from the first time I heard about it, there is something archetypal in the process of boiling plants. So I naturally started to develop some teaware for such magic. In this short article, I would like to share with you my sidehandle teapots which were created for boiling tea, few tips on boiling in such pot, and how to take care of them.

A Guide to Boiling Tea

If you would like to know more about the boiling method itself, I would recommend reading this issue of the global tea hut magazine Global Tea Hut Archive - April 2018 Issue 

I if you would like to dive deeper, I would really recommend taking the Boiling course from Global Tea Hut There will be everything you need to know :)

Flameproof clay


First: Not all teapots are for boiling! I received this picture from my customer with kind of “what I did wrong” question. The pot he purchased from me a while ago was not made of flameproof clay. Actually, most of the pots are not suitable for boiling. So be careful.

BEFORE YOU START, PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOUR POT IS MADE OF FLAMEPROOF CLAY AND MEANT TO BE USED FOR BOILING. ASK THE MAKER OR YOUR SUPPLIER IF NOT SURE. If it is the pot from me, send me a picture and I will confirm


It took me a while to develop the clay with the proper composition. Literally a few dozens of cracked pots and tons of testing. As you can maybe see from the pictures, it is the same clay (or variations of it) which I use for making kettles. It can handle charcoal as well as gas and electric heat sources.

To give you a better idea how such pot works, here are few lines from the user manual I sending with my flameproof teapots:

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THIS TEAPOT:

....was created for boiling tea or herbs, but can also very well serve as a kettle, for heating and boiling water

......can be used over electric, gas, alcohol as well as charcoal heat sources. If used over infrared (IR) or gas, please use it together with the flame diffuser I send together with the pot. Flame diffuser protects clay from the too intense thermal shocks. You don't have to use the diffuser when heating over the charcoal or using an alcohol burner to maintain the heat

......I recommend filling it up to around 3/4 of its volume . Boiling tea creates foam and bubbles and can easily overflow if the pot is full. Low fire is usually enough for maintaining the boil.

....over stronger heat sources, the ceramic handle can get a bit of the heat as well. Be aware of it and keep the handle away from the direct fire/heat. If the handle get hot, use a tea towel to hold and pour comfortably

.....if empty but still hot from boiling, please let it cool down for couple of minutes before refilling with cold water

.....When the tea session is over, empty the teapot while it is still warm, clean well with hot water and let it dry. Before closing and storing the pot, be sure it is clean and dry.

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I do them mostly unglazed inside. On one hand, glazing inside would make it more smooth, and easier to clean, more user friendly. But I found out the glazing create more tension in the clay and the thermal shock resistance is better if the glaze is not used. And I am choosing resistance over confort :) If you would like to keep your pot clean and without aromas stuck in the clay, I recommend to clean it after you finish your tea session right ahead, and boil inside clean water for a bit, pour it out and let it dry. It works for me very well.

If you went through the videos I shared or you are learning from GTH boiled tea course, you will receive tons of tips on how to boil and what teas are great to prepare this way. What I could recommend is not to be afraid and experiment with what you have right now. You can boil literally any tea after you brew them in your regular way. More the leaves from your teapot, shiboridashi or gaiwan you are using to any clean pot suitable for boiling, glass, or stainless will do. And you will see. Sometimes just heating up to 100°C and a short boil will release an unexpected flavor, sometimes you can boil it for 30min or more. Some teas will be terrible or hardly enjoyable. But some will show their full potential under the longer boil and open their magic for you.

Sidehandle Teapot Making

 

Creating a teapot has many steps, and those are spread over a few days. If we will count the firing as well or the clay preparation before it even starts, then we are talking months. But that's another story. Here on this speed up, video is a few of those steps captured, two days in three minutes. It was my regular clay creative days, not special arrangements for the video making. And so not all is shot from the best angle and not all are visible or clear. But I enjoyed the flow, and next time will be better. If any questions, feel free to leave a comment, I am happy to share.

Red Robe a sidehandle in the serie production

RED ROBE

the sidehandle in the serie production...does it look like a batch, series production? Well, I am already for some time trying to create pieces in lines, in a kind of series which can be repeated. As a studio potter and artist, I am finding a lot of joy in creativity, exploring new ideas, designs and techniques. But I am more and more finding also a high value in pieces which are tuned up, work well for their purpose and in certain contexts. And as such can be repeated, bringing consistency to you as a user and, at the same time, giving me a chance to really tune things up by repetition and the routine.

This "Red Robe" small boiling sidehandle is one of those "well proven" products. Aside from making a few over the past year for my dear customers, I also keep one in our personal use. And this piece became quite quickly one of the most used pots (from many:)). Even after more than a year of regular use, I am so happy with its function in my tea practise. So what is so good about it?

-perfect size for one-two people daily drinking, in 350-370ml

-easy to travel with

-simple coloring, shape and surface which fits to various settings and occasions

And last but not least: It is made of clay suitable for boiling. Which means that after a few rounds of my morning tea, it quite often ends up on the stove to boil the leaves directly in the pot. If you like boiled tea as much as I do, you understand the beauty of this feature.

My ideal dream would be to have a few of these always ready, always in stock for any of you who would like to enrich your tea life with such practical toll. I am not there yet, just a few were made and they sell quickly. But I am doing my best, the Red Robe is a good pot to have.

Left handed version

Thank you for reading

 

 Is there a "too beautiful" thing?

                    

"wow, that's just too beautiful" shoot one of my friends when seeing freshly fired pieces. A truly lovely description of the overwhelming experience and feelings. I believe there are not such things as a "too beautiful", "too good" "too tasty" "too wise" or "too pleasurable". But there are definitely limitations of our minds, limitations of how much of the "good" we are actually able to embrace and fully live thru. And I also believe that training ourselves in handling more of the good, more of the beauty of the life, is simply worthwhile effort.

Call for Entries- Pottery Design Competition and Exhibition, 2016

For all teaware artists out there...

Call for Entries for the 6th Taiwan International Gold Teapot Prizes
Pottery Design Competition and Exhibition, 2016

Being asked to spread a word, I would like to share an interesting opportunity. It is for all colleagues potters who would like to participate in teapot exhibition on Taiwan. Both functional and sculptural entries are accepted, the event is hold during October 2016 in Ceramic Museum in Yingge 

( for all teaware lovers: Yingge is one of the "have to see" places on Taiwan !!) 

For all details, please visit this page. If you would like to participate and you will have any troubles with your entry, contact me at keramikakcajiATgmail.com, I will try to help!

I was happy to participate on this event during 2014. Bellow you can see few pictures from the opening ceremony day from October 2014...

Big thanks to dear friend TheJadeLeaf for taking those pictures for me there! 

Thank you for reading!

Gems number twenty four, twenty five, twenty six...

Dear readers, followers, friends, it have been a while. We are in the middle of winter, snow was here, now is gone. But clouds are still full a water and cold is going to be back soon. Few friends recently asked me if I am closing my "Ten Gems Of Ten Kilns" project. No! I am still putting aside some interesting pieces from our firings. And there is so many things going on, with many "pots and tea stories". This blog is slow but not dead. My tea and tea ware path has grown deeper during the past year. And it keeps growing...

What I am going to present here today is piece of memory for me. Chawan from hot summer days kiln, Autumnal but still warming teapot and winter teapot, which was fired in last firing of the year. Maybe even from pictures here you can feel how seasons were changing...

Our garden during last firing...

I like when pots call out our imagination, telling mysterious stories. Storytellers who starts to talk, when you hold them in your hands. For my Gem Collection, I always try to select pieces from this category. I also believe that those are going to age well, becoming part of your live. When you make a connection with such pots, by using them for teas you like and sharing that tea with your loved ones, your live is getting richer. It is not about clinging on "stuff". It is about living here and now. Tea creates intimate moments in our daily live and pots become comrades who are with us there.

The chawan was painted with white kaolin clay, then covered in crust of ice crackle glaze. Its "ice over a landscape" feeling is one of the reasons why it was chosen as The Gem of summer kiln. Another reason is the white paint and how it is going out of the glaze, letting us to dream, to picture there "our things"

The teapot is even more fogged up. Its spruce forest near peat bog pool. Maybe I am getting too dreamy and wistful thanks to misty rain behind our windows. But if you would hold that pot in your hands you would know what I am talking about. It is not just about the green-khaki color, but as well about the velvet touch of the glaze and its "soft" shape.

The small winter teapot is from drawer you already know. We can call is "Bizenish" and I like this style more and more. Simple colors created by heavy reduction of charcoal, on high iron clay. We use several clays for this firing technique and for this teapot I used the most red and the finest clay we have. It is very subtle. There is not much to say, it is better use it...

Before taking look at new gems, say goodbye to gems number fourteen and fifteen. The small Cockerel is already in Shanghai, the Charm and The End of The Winter teapots are going to be on the road soon. I know that all three customers love tea. Those pots are in good hands.

For more pictures of the new pieces please visit this page. If the Ten Gems of The Ten Kilns project is new for you, then please read this post first.

Gem number twenty four- The Summer Ice

Gem number twenty four- The Froggy Haze

Gem number twenty six- The Crescent shine

Winter bamboo...

Thank you for reading

Gems number nineteen and twenty

Some of you maybe already know, we had two firings in a row this month. Turn of October/November was busy with glazing, concentrated on the right finish of almost two months job. We like autumnal firings. Yes, everything around get grey, wet and colder. But also calmer. And suddenly, lighting the kiln feels somehow right. Here is one shot, taken at that night when the first of those two kilns was light up...

Gems number nineteen and twenty. It means that we already make one round. There are no pots in my collection from The First Ten. Gems nine and ten are going to meet their new (patient) owners. The Straw in the Grass chawan is already with my dear Norman tea friend. And The Blue Jasper teapot is ready to fly to sunny California (with first snow behind my window, I wish to fly with it...). Say goodbye to those pieces, I love them both.

  Gem number nineteen is (again) teapot. Stoneware, unglazed inside, with few splashes of shino glaze on outside. I usually try to define why I choose a particular piece for my collection. Here is was not just because it is nice. There is more. When you hold in your hands it feels right. You really want to put some leafs in and make some tea. To use it. And that is first sign of the good teapot, isn't it?
   Gem number twenty is small shiboridashi set. I like the magic blue of this ash glaze. We use this glaze all the time (you can also see it on Blue Jasper above). The clay makes the trick. I used here one of the natural clays I was talking about here. Yes, the black one. This set stays with me also as reminder of this wonderful clay and of my pledge to work with it much more in the future.

For more pictures of those new pieces please visit this page. If The Ten Gems of Ten Kilns project is new for you, then please read this post first. 

Gem number nineteen:  Desert night, mountain morning

Gem number twenty: Summer swim

Thank you for reading!