Old Kettle

Here's an old Chinese kettle. Notice the spout of this kettle is also elongated and narrow. None of that funny wide-spout jug kettle business.

Sometimes just because it's new doesn't mean it's better.

This kettle has an interesting design. Notice the spout has a hinged cap on the end. I guess that's to prevent anything from getting into the kettle and contaminating the water.

Notice the knob on the side of the kettle. It's a handle rest. If you handled this kettle, you better be skillful - because it would be quite hot. So you need to have a towel to grasp the handle. And same thing with the lid. Use a towel to take the lid off to pour more water into the hot kettle.

This is such a lovely old kettle. I'm sure many people got a lot of pleasure out of making tea with this kettle in days gone by. Well, anyway, there is a thick caking of scale inside the kettle, so I'm sure it was used quite often.

Chinese Eletric Kettle

Here is an electric kettle that comes straight from China. I bought it in the tea market for 20 yuan. That's really cheap!!

Here it is shown with the the base. The design of this kettle is kind of interesting. It has a pressure switch in the base, so you could turn the kettle on only if there is the weight of water in the kettle to push the switch down. No water, no electrical current. It's some kind of safety feature anyway.

The capacity of this model is 0.8 Litres. Some would say it's too small, but I have no complaints with it. It's quite sufficent, and it boils water quickly.

Notice the spout of this tea kettle. It is elongated and narrow enough for precise pouring of hot water. The small, compact size makes it easier to handle in the hand too. No awkward bulkiness of larger kettles.

Electric Kettle

This is an electric kettle of the sort commonly available in North America. I bought this one at Target.

Here, it is shown without the cordless base.

The capacity of this model is 1.7 Litres. Wow, that's kind of too big.

Notice the spout is very wide, and not at all dainty. This type of tea kettle is not the ideal type for tea, but I guess it will do if nothing else is available.

Tea Kettles

An important piece of equipment for boiling water for tea. But not all kettles are the same. And when it comes to kettles there are many kinds. There's the plain old-fashioned stainless-steel kind that you use on your stovetop. Except, boiling water on the stovetop is not always the best place to boil water for tea. So what's a person to do?

Well, there are several solutions. There are electric kettles; some are stainless steel, and others are plastic (not good). Go for the stainless steel kind. Except in North America, tea kettles have such a dumb design. They're not really designed for tea use. So we're so unlucky here. Electric kettles used in China are better designed than the ones available in North America.

Mostly, the diffrence is in the spout. Chinese electric kettles have an elongated, and dainty spout; which is good for precision pouring of hot water into your little teapot or teacup.

The North American electric kettles all seem to be the jug design - with a wide spout. When you pour, hot water just gushes out of them - dangerous, and not very useful if you need a precise pour. And these kettles are just too darn big and ugly. Ok, maybe they look kind of cool, but they're not that useful for tea.

So why would anyone want to use and electic kettle anyway? Well, they can boil water more quickly than the conventional method. So it's convenient to have if you need hot water right away.

But you could still use the stove-top kettle to boil water. Except, maybe you would want to buy a small hotplate to use to heat the water instead. Then, you could have your tea kettle near your tea equipment. You could even make a simple, decorative wooden box to hide the hotplate from view. It has been done before. At least with this method, you could choose just about any kettle you want to use. But the only downside is that the water will take a while to boil. But maybe that's okay too. Just play some relaxing music, and wait.

Ok, I have to admit here, most tea lovers would say, hey, doesn't the metal react with the water? And yes, your kettle might impart an undesirable taste and smell to your boiled water. So the best thing is to check, and taste your plain boiled water.

Ok, maybe if you don't like the metal kettle, there are porcelain kettles, and earthenware kettles are available too. But they are hard to find outside of China. If you don't like the stainless steel kettles, then, you could try using Yixing Zisha 宜兴紫砂. Just buy a cheap, large zisha teapot, suitable for boiling water. After you clean it well, then try it out. But maybe it's better to use such a pot over a flame, like an alcohol burner, rather than on an electrical element. And keep in mind, that using this method for boiling water, would take longer than using an electric kettle.

Well, there you have it. There is still a lot more to add to this discussion, because there are still many more methods for boiling water. But here, I have just covered the most realistic options that are available. There are more exotic methods of boiling water - some are from ancient China; and they require specialized equipment. But I won't get into those - because it's just not practical for most people.