A Tea Addict's Journal

Antique roadshow

April 5, 2011 · 5 Comments

Living in the part of the US that I do, hitting antique shops sometimes yield some decent loot.

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This isn’t anything too special, just some Republican period export ware.  Nevertheless, it’s not a bad find, since it’s not expensive and is still in pretty good condition.  There was a better one last year that I passed up, and which I forever regret, but alas, can’t buy them all.

These pots are usually big.  They’re very impractical for making tea the usual way, so I tend to use them for half-grandpa brewing — leaves in a pot with renewed water whenever I feel like it.  This is usually done to squeeze the last bits out of somewhat spent leaves, and it works pretty well.

Edit: I should also note that pots like these seem to err on the low-fired side of things.  You almost never see the really high fired, close to glossy finish that is so common on new pots.  I wonder if that’s deliberate, or accidental because they couldn’t get the heat up as high as modern electric kilns can.

Categories: Objects
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5 responses so far ↓

  • Su Ming Ng // April 5, 2011 at 2:15 am | Reply

    Love the pot!!

  • DM // April 5, 2011 at 7:14 am | Reply

    “These pots are usually big. They’re very impractical for making tea the usual way, so I tend to use them for half-grandpa brewing — leaves in a pot with renewed water whenever I feel like it.”

    That’s a pretty good description of how the ancients kept their inner fires glowing in the pre-central heating icy north of England. A true Brown Betty pot (as distinct from the pallid modern version) is a massive ball of red clay, and some of the family-size examples hold a couple of liters or more. Into the pre-warmed pot mater familias would throw a generous fistful of CTC leaves, then add water without much agitation. With careful addition of fresh water to avoid “stewing,” the same fat pot of leaves could serve revivifying sustenance for half a day or more.

  • Михаил Самарин // February 15, 2014 at 10:59 am | Reply

    Fang Zhong,
    Angelina models,
    good teapot, Republic

  • alexander_f // March 31, 2016 at 12:22 am | Reply

    pf-ff.. so nasty pot -)..

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