My new teapot

As you can see, the buying moratorium has frayed a bit, but I’m back in “no-buy” mode now. When I saw this teapot at Whole Foods, I was sorely tempted.

The lid is attached, which I like, and inside is a stainless basket for the tea leaves. The first cup you pour brings the water below the level of the basket, I believe, so that the tea doesn’t continue to steep.

My Adagio UtiliTEA teakettle lets you specify with a knob setting how hot to make the water, from barely warm to furious boil. White tea should steep in water between 160º – 170º F. The knob setting isn’t marked, but I have a highly accurate digital thermometer. I didn’t want to have to hot the pot, so I wanted a setting that would make the water hot enough so that, after it was pour over the tea leaves into the teapot and warmed the pot (almost instantly), the resulting temperature would be in range—i.e., the water would be heated enough so that the cooling effect from warming the teapot leaves the water at the correct temperature.

The first pot was too cool—the settled temperature was 141º—so for the second pot I turned the knob up. The settled temperature this time was 164º.

I like the teapot because it makes enough for 2.5 cups. Very nice.