Good Stuff

My favorite coffee, Lavazza Qualita Rossa, brought back from Italy by a co-worker.  Lavazza does not sell whole bean Qualita Rossa in the US.  They do sell Qualita Oro in whole bean, but I prefer the Qualita Rossa.

A close up of green tea.  A special friend brought back packages of loose green tea and jasmine tea (my favorite) from China.  Part of the tea is very fine, and doesn’t work well in a typical American tea ball.

The solution?  A good tea pot.  Here is mine; it’s a 900 ml Chinese model from 99 Ranch (it was on sale for $5).  It’s not a surprise that it works very well with Chinese tea. The fine mesh keeps the tea in, and I like that the mesh goes all the way to the bottom – I typically only make 12-16 oz of tea at a time; 12 oz of water is just over the bottom of the strainer.  The quality is acceptable – workmanlike, but nothing extraordinary. The handle is a little wobbly, and you can see weldmarks on the strainer. I think it will last at least a few years, but not a few decades.

Bodum makes designer tea pots. Most of the Bodum tea pots are actually tea presses designed to work with tea bags (supposedly the Bodum design eliminates any bitterness); I don’t think it would work as well with my Chinese tea.  The holes look a little large, allowing tea leaves to get into the tea drink, and the holes don’t go all the way down.

I don’t care for most of Bodum’s designs, and they can be very pricey (the Bora Bora is nice, but $150 for a tea pot?).  But I do really like the Assam Line I (shown above; photos re-arranged from the Bodum web site).  It’s a nice size for me (16 oz), the quality is definitely better than my Chinese pot, and the price (about $25), while pricey compared to my tea pot, is much less than the others I like (the $50 Classic or the Bora Bora).  From the boxes I’ve been able to examine, it appears the Assam Line I is made in Germany, and the Assam Line III (about $35) is made in China.  If I’m going to buy an expensive, fancy European brand tea pot, I want it to be made in Europe, not China.  I haven’t seen any reasonable prices for the Assam on eBay, so while I might get one (new or used) eventually, it’s not going to be anytime soon.

I do like Bodum’s Chocolatiere.  It’s a simple, reliable, non-electrical design that’s classic. It’s occasionally seen on eBay, at both reasonable (<$15 with shipping) and unreasonable prices.

Tony

Notes 8/24/2011: sometime I’ll write more on tea and teapots, but I’ll just add a few quick notes for now.  I’ve had a Bodum Classic teapot for a couple years now.  It really is very nice, with great style, quality construction, wonderful pouring, and a fine mesh that works great with loose teas — but it wasn’t cheap (~$40).  A friend uses a substantially cheaper (~$20) — and more compact — Bodum coffee press with loose teas, and is very happy with it.

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