Kyusu Tea Pots

July 18, 2018
Kyusu Pots

One of the first items I wanted to bring into the shop whenever we opened, going on ten years now, was a kyusu teapot. I enjoyed the design and the craftsmanship of the pot and felt it would add a very unique aspect to our classic teapot collection. Over the years it has been a slow mover, only picking up steam during the holiday season. But over the last two years this little pot has come into its own and began to move rather frequently.

What is a kyusu teapot? Kyusu is a Japanese teapot used for drinking Japanese green tea exclusively. The design is known for having a handle on the side. You can also find kyusu with handles on the top or the back. Most kyusu pots are designed for sencha-style teas. By styles, I mean basic sencha, fukamushi, guricha, and shincha.

Japanese green tea needs a lot of room to brew so the kyusu pot is designed with a built-in filter, rather than an infusing basket. Since Japanese green tea has smaller particulates than what you would find in other teas, the holes of the filter have got to be smaller. This tend to prevent smaller particulates from finding there way into the finished brew.

You have three types of filter whenever you are working with a kyusu pot.

1. Wrap Around/Belt Filter: Made primarily of stainless steel, this style of filter has a larger surface area, so it will pour a little faster than the other two. It’s called a belt filter because it wraps a complete 360 degrees around the pot.
2. Sasame Filter: This style of filter is designed within the teapots surface itself. This tend to be the more authentic filter, but the one downside of this design seems to be a slower pour.
3. Swing Filter: A style of filter that spans the bottom of the pot, keeping excess leaves from finding there way into the resulting brew.

To glaze, or unglaze? A glazed kyusu is more versatile and can be used with various styles of Japanese tea. The unglazed pot has a porous clay, and over time will result in the flavor of the tea that is brewed within it. If you don’t mind buying multiple pots for the different styles of Japanese tea that you consume, then the unglazed is for you.

Source: https://theartofjapanesegreentea.com/kyusu-japanese-teapot/