Review: Tea Kettles. Traditional or Electric?

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PINO Digital Kettle Pro

I was a kettle snob. I admit it. For the longest time (like forever) I was devoted to my yellow tea kettle. The kind you put on the stove, boil water, pour over leaves, steep, strain and sip. I think it was the ritual of it all.

One day not to long ago (like 2 months) I was somewhere that had no stove to boil water. What they had was an electric tea kettle. I eyed it with suspicion thinking, “Is she kidding?” But, since I had no choice in the matter, and was in need of tea, I gave in.

And then … everything changed.

I loved it! This particular one had no temperature control, it just offered water that would heat to a rolling boil. Fabulous! I went to Macy’s and bought a Cuisinart.

And then … I remembered the PINO.

If you drink tea daily, the PINO Digital Kettle is the most wonderful invention. A warm and loyal friend to the TeaLover. How fabulous to set the temperature to the desired degree and then have it click off when it’s ready. No worry of burning down the house and a perfect cup a tea to boot. I’ve melted many a kettle on my super-mega 5 burner gas range. Not a pretty sight.

In case you were wondering what all the fuse is about regarding water temperature, please remember that a great leaf can be ruined by the wrong water temperature. Boiling water over green tea? No, no, no, no, no!

I haven’t used my cute lonely, little yellow kettle in a while now, but what can I say? I’ve fallen for another.

Buy a PINO!  You won’t regret it. We should have them in stock in February!

Review: Tea Kettles. Traditional or Electric?

Steeping tea. In a Gravy Boat?

gravyboat-girlAs you may remember, we were at the Metro Cooking & Entertaining Show 2 weekends ago. I met so many wonderful tea people! It was a great event. These two lovely woman who’s names have escaped me were so interested in tea so we stood and spoke for quite a long while. They ended up buying a few bags of our super fabulous loose leaf. During the course of the discussion one of them asked me about tea pots and methods for steeping. I immediately went into teapot mode and shared with them some of most beloved pot, infusers and tea pillowcases. As I’m deep into my passionate conversation on pots, the woman on the right says, “I don’t need any of those. I steep my tea in a gravy boat.”

Dead silence. Disbelief. Followed by more silence, with a quick scan of the room and then…

24 oz Scarlet iPot
24 oz Scarlet iPot

A recommendation for an actual tea pot. I had never heard of anything like it! So creative! So unusual! And just a little bit odd, but in a good way. I believe I steered her in the right direction. We have a few nice options for steeping tea. The first being the fabulous iPot. Comes in many colors and 3 sizes. We carry the 17oz and 24oz. The larger of the two seems to be moving off the shelves pretty quick. We also have the Universal Infuser and the Ceramic Mug with Infuser. Both great investments. Now and again we carry the Globe British Tea pot, but they aren’t easy to find. They are classic. I happen to believe that investing in a good pot and/or infuser is really worth it if you are a true tea lover. Part of the fun and delight is not just the liquid, but what the liquid is held by.

I haven’t counted how many pots I personally have collected over the years, but I know its quite a bit. They are hidden all over my house and sometimes I’ll open a cabinet and be joyfully surprised that I forgot I had that particular one.

Whats not to love about a teapot??

If you have a teapot you love, send us a picture and we’ll post it on the blog!

Steeping tea. In a Gravy Boat?