Choosing a Tea Pot is Lots of Fun

Finding a teapot can be as simple, and as hard, as simply looking on line. Simple because a simple search with your favorite search engine will bring up hundreds, if not thousands, of websites through which to search for the teapot of your choice. Hard because there are just so many different choices to make.

Not only are there so many different types of teapots to choose from, there are all the varied things that can be added. Many of them come with, or can use, the very many different types of add-ons such as infusers, strainers, timers, thermometers, handles and bases which can be removed, and so on. It can get very confusing for the a novice tea drinker to know just what she should get.

Then there are the varieties of substances that teapots can be made from. There are cast iron pots, porcelain pots, clay pots, silver pots, stainless steel pots, plastic pots, and glass pots. If it can be shaped into a tea pot and used to brew tea, you can probably find one made of it.

Next after materials, is the shape of the tea pot. You can find a tea pot in just about any shape such as one with six sides or made to look like a rabbit. There are the interesting looking Russian samovars. There are tall pots and squat pots.

If you have a decor you wish to match, you will find that color of teapot somewhere. Just about any color or color combination can be found. If nothing else, there is always the basic black of the cast iron Japanese tetsubin or a basic white glazed pot.

Tea pots as you might have guessed from all the above come from all over the world. There are Russian samovars with theirs, Chinese clay pots, porcelain from Europe and Japan. We also have the Brown Betty teapots made from Great Britain. No matter what region you want one from, you can probably find it.

Not only has geography left its mark upon the humble, or not-so-humble, teapot. Each era throughout time has left its trace as well. Indeed some believe that the first teapots in Europe were not from China but instead were influenced by the Moorish coffee pots. There were the oval shaped ones of the late 1700s and the drum shapes just before the Napoleonic Wars. Even modernism of the last century impacted the shape of teapots. Whatever your taste, there is a teapot for you.

Lastly, not only will your aesthetic senses decide the teapot for you, but the tea you like to drink will as well. There are so many different factors in choosing a teapot. Sometimes it's simply a matter of saying, "I like that one."