Buying a teapot

[velvetpage]

My teapot is ill. Very, very ill. I believe it is unlikely to survive much longer. Specifically, it has a hairline crack, darkened by tea that has seeped through it for months, all around the base. This crack is visible from the other side, and it's tea-coloured there, too. The small puddles set off my warning bells, and they're tolling a death knell.

I'm not particularly attached to this teapot. My mother gave it to me, because it always dripped for her, and I needed one. It drips for me, too. Teapots, unlike cats, do not change their drip habits to reflect changes in the household. I put up with it. I poured my tea over the sink. I mopped up drips.

Why, you ask, would you need a new teapot at this time of year? The answer: iced tea. Powdered iced tea doesn't appeal to me. It has a slightly gritty texture which drives me crazy. I need a teapot that holds about one litre of tea when full to the brim, and I'd like to get one that won't drip.

I'm going to start my search at Homesense, because I also want something I'll enjoy looking at every bleary-eyed morning for the foreseeable future, and Homesense usually has things that I like. But it occurs to me: I have never bought myself an everyday-use teapot, other than one little plastic dealie that poured more tea on the counter than in the mug, even when I was holding it over the sink. So it's going to be a bit of an experiment to find one that doesn't drip. I wonder if they'll let me test the teapots with a bottle of water over a sink?

Comments

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

Even the Sadler teapots aren't what they used to be.... I understand they are now made in Pakistan or some such. I believe in a good brown 6 cup Sadler with the "sieve holes" at the base of the spout (coloured Sadlers like my blue don't have that)
Tea is vital. The life blood of Empire.

Mind you, if you want something to serve iced tea in, a glass teapot such as a Bodum will do well. Whatever you do avoid those novelty monstrosities that look kitsch on the shelf and feel badly balanced in the hand.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I want to brew the tea in a teapot, and then pour it out into a nice ceramic jug half-full of ice. Icing tea in the pot only means less iced tea at a time. :)

I have a funny feeling I'll end up with some kind of novelty pot, but the absolute requirement is that it have a curved spout to reduce drippage.

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

Hmm.
Sadler ceramic if you can get it. Even if not British made it's based on a time honoured design.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I'll look. Thanks!

When my dad was alive...

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

my mom would make his iced tea by just boiling the water into submission, then pouring the unsafely warm liquid into a big ol' Pyrex measuring cup which was prepared with 3-4 bags of tea and some quantity of sugar.

The tea was then set to steep until the liquid reached a certain colour (not an exact science, as it wasn't an exact colour, just an estimation).

The tea was then extracted, everything stirred around a bit more, and then some of the lovely potable was poured into a tall glass full of...

Ice.

Voila! Iced tea! Inelegant, but the end result was always wonderful.

Re: When my dad was alive...

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Butbutbut. . . my British grandmother would roll over in her grave at the very thought. Besides, how can you steep the tea properly in a pot with no lid? It wouldn't have the right flavour.

And I need an actual teapot in which to make, like, tea. Tea requires a teapot. Everyone around the world knows this, except the Americans and the French, which is why I never order tea in their countries - watered-down, insufficiently steeped, with sugar and/or milk added at the same time as the boiling water. . .ew.

Re: When my dad was alive...

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

Then you can use a pot with a lid.

[melstra.livejournal.com]

This teapot greatly resembles mine, which I got at an outlet mall:
http://www.amazon.com/RSVP-Stoneware-Teapot-Blue/dp/B000BU7U9I/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/002-0456908-8942451?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1182013362&sr=8-3
(It works wonderfully, btw, and comes with one of those little strainer inserts, which I don't use)

And this one looks like a better quality version of what I have:
http://www.amazon.com/Brown-Betty-Cup-Tea-Pot/dp/B0009LIK5W/ref=pd_sim_dbs_hg_1/002-0456908-8942451?ie=UTF8&qid=1182013362&sr=8-3

Besides, it's made in Britain!

I seriously doubt it will be difficult to find a good teapot in Canada, of all places. ;-) My Aunt drives over the border to Woodstock, NB, regularly, just to buy things like tea and sugar, which she insists are better there. The tea, I don't doubt.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Why is it that the best pots for making tea are only sold in BROWN? I hate brown. It doesn't match anything I own, because I never buy anything that would match brown. I want that pot for everyday use, but I don't want to have to look at a brown teapot every morning first thing.

[melstra.livejournal.com]

Can't help ya there...mine is a lovely cobalt blue (my favorite color). It *is* annoying, though, isn't it?

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I've had two cobalt blue teapots, and both of them leaked like crazy. I love cobalt blue, and it would nicely match my home, but I think I want something with a pattern on it in blue, rather than a straight blue, because of the associations.

[melstra.livejournal.com]

Are you sure??? Le Creuset makes a damn fine looking pot...
http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=118953
(Though it does come in a myriad of other colors). I don't have their teapot, but I have lots of other LeCreuset stoneware (wedding gifts!!) like their soup crocks, which are marvelous.

Alternately, this one is adorable and the pattern has blue in it:
http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=415484

Hee hee, I guess you can pick out a teapot by yourself-- I need to stop procrastinating!!

[shadow-maze.livejournal.com]

My Dad has picked up a method for making Ice Tea, which involves a large clear jar (preferably with a bottom spigot) where the teabags and cold water are added, and the whole thing left out in the sun for some number of days. Can't say as I've tried this myself, not being much of an Ice Tea drinker, but it sure is a conversation piece on his backyard table...

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Solar tea! I'll let it remain a conversation piece, I think. :)

[lovmelovmycats.livejournal.com]

My parents used to make "Sun Tea", but only left it outdoors for several hot & sunny hours.

[kesmun.livejournal.com]

My mom made "Sun Tea" as well. *G* Same way yours did.

[catsarah.livejournal.com]

The Keeping Room in Dundas has a lovely selection of teapots. I got one of the last pots made by Caledonia Pottery at Old Caledonia Mills Stoke-on-Trent England. It's the best pot I've ever had (and I have many).

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Then I have to make a trip to Dundas soon. :)