Serve Tea As It Should Be Served- in a Cast Iron Tea Pot
The origin of the cast iron tea pot, what the Japanese call ‘tetsubin’, is lost in a hypothetical past. It may have primarily been a kettle used for medicinal teas which enjoyed wide application in curing various types of ailments in Asia. We have to remember that medicinal tea was not always just concocted from leaves. Sometimes, the bark, the stems and the roots of plants would be included in the mixture. Obviously these would require a much longer cooking time in a vessel similar to the kind that was used for softening animal meat and root crops.
Cast iron tea pots are capable of boiling the liquid uniformly and with high temperatures
Many ingredients used for herbal teas were the harder portions of the plants, such as the bark, the stems and the roots. Cast iron pots made possible boiling those tough elements of the brew in a quicker time. The durability of iron allows it to retain a lot of heat, more heat than other metals can withstand without becoming molten hot. In addition, the even distribution of the heat is made possible because of the peculiar atomic structure of iron. Because of this, the brew is more finely made. Once cooked, the tea stays hot longer in cast iron tea pots. It can withstand intense heat and therefore can reach temperatures that are not possible with other types of common metal vessels. Once the brew is done, iron keeps it hot for a longer time. The peculiar physical structure of iron makes for even distribution of heat. This ensures that no portion of the ingredients is either over-cooked or under-cooked and that the whole brew is boiled as it should be.
When the pot boils, it infiltrates the liquid with healthy iron molecules
In addition to its excellent heating properties and optimal rentention of heat, the pot releases iron minerals into the tea, thus increasing its nutritional value. Remember that iron is essential for healthy red blood cells. This must be one of the principal reasons why even today, people prefer to use cast iron vessels for their brews.
Iron tea pots contain oils and residues from that complement the flavor of the tea.
If you have been using your cast iron teapot for some time, some of the oil and residue from previous teas will have clung to the insides of the cast iron teapot, something than can intensify the flavor of the tea. This may or may not be an advantage.
However, be sure not to boil non-compatible blends of tea in the same cast iron tea pot. Instead of make your tea taste better, the residue may only spoil its taste for you. Of course the question of whether tea blends is complementary or not depends on the particular person’s individual taste On the other hand, using one pot for different tea mixtures with conflicting flavors may make the taste of the tea disagreeable, depending on the sensitiveness of the person’s taste buds and nose.
How to clean cast iron tea pots
If you use your teapot to concoct different and conflicting tea flavors, you should wash the inside of the pot well with cleaning liquid. Take care to rinse the cleaning solution out very thoroughly other wise it may flavor the succeeding pot of tea that you make. But if you like brewing just one type of beverage, you should simply wash out the pot by shaking it vigorously with warm or hot water. This is to prevent the growth of microbes inside. Additionally, the inside of the pot has to be completely dry before you store in. Remember, microbes do not thrive on a surface that is completely dry. Be careful to rinse it thoroughly to avoid your tea tasting like the cleaning agent you used. On the other hand, if you drink one kind of tea all the time, you should not bother washing the pot with a cleaning liquid as that will remove the taste-enhancing oils. Just rinse the pot with boiling water to make sure the microbes are killed and then thoroughly dry the inside before keeping it.
The better cast iron tea pots are coated with porcelain
A porcelain coat prevents the cast iron tea pot from rusting, beautifies the outside of the pot and allows it to keep the tea hot for an even longer time.