REVIEW: The Best Tea Kettles for Gongfu Tea

[@jang.1185]

Great video :) I have Brewista which is similar to your Bonavita. It works good. But usually you cannot tell it to gong fu cha master :D because these people use tetsubin.

[@nannuoshan]

A Tetsubin is certainly a nice piece of equipment to have but it also depends on which master you are speaking to, isn't it? I wouldn't sasly that most masters use it in a regular basis but, as you said, for some is a must.

[@teastudent9794]

I used bonavita and my tetsubin I just bought is ten times better. But I still have love for bonavita. It’s been 5yrs

[@barbll000]

Thank for review and advice.

[@martinnhantran]

Fantastic video I've seen so far for buying kettles.

[@ryanmeadows3545]

Very informative. Thank you for helping me choose the correct kettle for gong fu tea.

[@TheCynthiaRice]

I have two kettles similar to the ones in your video. I hardly ever use my gooseneck. I just use the bigger one and only fill halfway. My bigger one boils so much faster.

[@nannuoshan]

Hi Cynthia, thanks for sharing! You see, at the end it is a matter of taste and habit! There are many tea kettles out there to make us all happy 😉

[@Ygdrasil18]

Really good video. I have a bonavita too and it works really good. I use it by occasional friend visitings or early in the morning before work. But when I‘m home from work or have a little space then I use a small tetsubin. The taste is really good. But takes more time.

[@nannuoshan]

Thanks for sharing! Yes, with more time available also a ceramic kettle on a charcoal furnace is lovely.

[@hasitdawnedonyou]

How cool that you used to be a thermal engineer! 😅

[@zhubajie6940]

Another thermal-fluids engineer I was! :D LOL Watch out for departure from nucleation :D

[@gabrielezimmermann5946]

Thanks for the informations! I have a Taiwanese kettle made of clay. It lasts very long to bring the water to 99 degrees, but it doesn't bother me, in the opposite, it calms me down and brings me into the mood of having time, time for good tea. What do you think about boiling water in clay?

[@nannuoshan]

I also like to take it easy and slow when preparing tea. As for boiling water in clay, if the clay is not glazed, it will influence the taste of the water; maybe just a little, maybe substantially; maybe improving it; maybe not. but sometime the experience associated with a nice piece of art in the chaxi compensate for it. If you are curious about the influence i have an experiment for you. Boil water in the kettle with clay, pour boiling water it in a glazed cup. In another identical cup, pour at the same time unboiled water, the same water. Wait that it cools to room temperature and compare the taste of the two waters. If you have also a standard metal kettle, you can add it to the comparison. Let us know the result!

[@gabrielezimmermann5946]

@@nannuoshan Experiment done! To taste tea is much easier than to taste water... Water cooked in the metal kettle was tasting a bit stale. Water cooked in the clay kettle was tasting more mellow, soft. The uncooked water was tasting fresh, sharp. But the differences weren't that much. I think my clay kettle isn't that bad! Thank you for suggesting this experiment!

[@nannuoshan]

Agreed, tasting water differences can be challenges. Well, when you filter hard water the difference is clear, but the influence of clay is subtle. However, sometimes, although to waters taste similar, the effect on the tea can be quite different. Since you have a metal kettle, you can try boiling the same water in both kettle, put 3g of leaves in each of two bowls, add 150ml of the waters and let steep for 5 min. After 5 min start tasting, while it continues steeping; similar to what John and I did here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZnUfZqtaJmeqaM. You might even notice color differences in the tea liquor.

[@gabrielezimmermann5946]

It took some time, but in the end I did this experiment! You are right, the effect on tea is clearer than on water alone. The tea made with water from the clay kettle was more full-bodied. The high notes, the floral and the fruitiness was more pronounced, but also the woody and earthy notes were stronger. In comparison the tea made with the metal kettle tasted a bit flat and empty. WOW! Thanks!

[@nannuoshan]

Cool, I am glad that the experiment helped! At the end, it's fun to do some tea experiment from time to time, isn't?

[@i.m.m5846]

What do you think about the korvo kettle ?

[@paolo8888]

Ciao, bellissimo canale! Ho iniziato da poco a bere tè seriamente e volevo chiedere un consiglio. Meglio comprare un bollitore come questi oppure un buon thermos per riempire il gaiwan ogni volta? Usare un thermos mi permetterebbe di non alzarmi ogni volta da tavola e concentrarmi meglio ma tengono davvero bene la temperatura? Grazie!

[@gabokuroki]

Ciao Paolo, di sicuro meglio un bollitore. Il thermos va bene in viaggio, ma ha svantaggi, fra cui: l'acqua non è mai a 100°C, importante per alcuni tè. Infatti anche preriscaldando il thermos è difficile raggiungere i 90°C. La temperatura dell'acqua scende parecchio man mano che il thermos si svuota e le molteplici aperture non aiutano. Già 5°C possono fare una notevole differenza per alcuni tè.

[@paolo8888]

@@gabokuroki grazie! Dovrò armarmi anche di prolunga allora! :)

[@sanzouchenlong587]

hi, could you please tell if the kamjove did have a minimum level of water to place in? if yes do you know any kettle that does not have the min amount? and most important do you consider the minimum amount of water, an important feature to take respect of?

[@gabokuroki]

Hi, I don't think there is a minimum water line but, no matter which brand, it is better to avoid turning on the kettle with a very minimum amount of water because you risk to damage thr kettle, overheating it.

[@sanzouchenlong587]

@@gabokuroki thank you, in that case, do you think 150 / 200 ml is too low?

[@gabokuroki]

@@sanzouchenlong587, I would say that 150-200ml is still ok, but I would not go below that.

[@overratedprogrammer]

Is the steam hitting the plastic handle on the inside and condensing back down not bad also?

[@nannuoshan]

On the Bonavita there is only a small portion of the handle inside; I think that the amount of steam that condense there is quite minimal and does not affect the taste. But this is just a personal opinion, hard to verify.

[@overratedprogrammer]

@@nannuoshan Thanks for the reply. I found the oxo pour-over kettle which doesn't have a plastic handle insert part and seems to be more powerful and a better spout so I may get that. As well as an auto hold temp function

[@nannuoshan]

@@overratedprogrammer, the bonavita has an hold temp function as well. But a larger spout would be better for tea. The narrow one was meant for pour over coffee.

[@synchemist6462]

My 1.0L Bonavita rusted within 4-5 months of use.

[@nannuoshan]

Good to know, thank you for the heads up. I am quite surprised as I have been using two Bonavita kettle for years without any problems and the other people I know that own one, did not mention any rusty surface. Maybe it has to do with the type of water used?