Teaware :: Kyusu from Rishi Tea and Botanicals

Hello, fellow tea enthusiasts! I hope you had a great week. In today’s post, I’m talking the next best thing to tea: teaware! More precisely, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the Kyusu teapot that I purchased from Rishi Tea and Botanicals. I enjoy Japanese teas and have wanted try out a side handled Japanese (or Japanese style) teapot, or Kyusu, for a while now; I’ve always found the design to be fun and interesting. At some point in my browsing of the interwebs I had come across the little Kysusu sold by Rishi and had since been eyeing it as a potential purchase; I was drawn to the somewhat spartan design of this particular “Traditional Japanese Teapot.” I finally broke down and ordered one of these little teapots somewhere around mid-October, and I’ve been meaning write up and fit in a post about it since I received the package about a week or so later.

Before rambling on, let me list some of the details for this item:

• Type of teaware: Teapot-kyusu – “Traditional Japanese Teapot.”
• Retailer: Rishi Tea and Botanicals
• Material: clay
• Color: black
• Origin: Japan
• Capacity: 6 oz, 177 mL
• Current Price: $30 (US dollars)
  

The Kyusu came in a cute little box.

I popped it open to have a look. The teapot was nicely packaged in the box and seemed to be secure enough. My first impression of the teapot was that it was quite small. I knew from the description that it was supposed to be a smaller pot (6 oz or 177 mL), but I guess I needed to see it in person to really appreciate the size. 

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I was also somewhat surprised to discover that I found the teapot to be much more charming in person even than my original impression based just on the image on the Rishi site. I think the smaller size of the teapot contributed to upping its cuteness factor: so kawaii! Overall, the teapot had a nice feel and the clay had a nice sound to it. The teapot has a front steel mesh strainer that covers the area around the spout; I like this design because the tea can be added directly to the teapot without the need of separate straining basket.

The straining mesh works well to keep all the large bits back, but of course allows some smaller particles through; allowing some smaller particles, or tea dust, through actually helps with getting more umami flavor from Japanese teas. The lid fits well onto the teapot and so far I haven’t had any major issues with leaking from the lid during pouring. I also think this teapot pours pretty well.

 And it turned out that the volume (listed as 6 oz or 177 mL) of this Kyusu matches perfectly with that of my double walled glass cup, making it great for my solo brews. However, it is just big enough that you could share smaller cups (2-3 oz) of brew with a friend or two.

Overall, I very much like this little Kyusu. It has a simple yet charming design. The pot itself seems to be well-made and it works great. I find the side handle fun to use, and the size of the pot makes it easy to hold and pour with one hand. I think it was well worth the purchase. If you want to see some more of this teapot in action you can check out any of my three most recent The Taste of Tea posts, for all of which I made use of this teapot.

Thanks for reading! Do you have your own kyusu teapot? If so, please comment and tell me about it. If you enjoyed this post or found it useful, then please like and share.

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