What's the next step up, after loose leaf+metal strainer?

Regular ceramic teapot

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>>8680660

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>>8680690
only the finest will do

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>>8680660

>>8680660
Serveware teapots are silly unless you really are uhh serving people in a sit down tea.
Just explore fancier tea leaves.

If you do often have houseguests, guests and tea ceremony kind of occasions, you might enjoy an electric kettle with base, so you can have a hot pot of water on the table for refills, oatmeal, cocoa and other uses.

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GONGFU
O
N
G
F
U

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>>8680695
>tfw the heat will conduct through the metal and burn you when you finish sleeping

>>8681022
If it's hot enough to burn you, you've ruined your tea anyway

>>8680660
Zero Japan and the London Pottery Co. make some nice teapots

>>8681022
>sleeping

Seeing as this is a tea thread I was wondering if you lads have any advice for nice blends of black tea. I usually just drink plain Assam/Darjeeling but I fancy trying some interesting blends. Any ideas?

>>8681324
Simmer your assam in milk with ginger, cinnamon, anise, cardamom et cetera for a fresh brewed masala chai?

Blend your assam with some ceylon and Kenyan tea until you get an English Breakfast?

Wait for the gonfu nerd to come back and recommend you some Chinese blacks to try?

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>>8680979
i have this guy

so cute

>>8681431
thanks m8, I've actually made Masala Chai before and enjoyed it, bit of a hassle to make though

Chinese blacks are something I haven't tried much apart from Lapsang Souchong so that would be appreciated

>>8681324
Russian caravan if you like lapsang.

Finum Brew Basket

>>8681324
For me, Assam is a breakfast tea. In this direction, check out some Pu-Erh tea. IIRC the Chinese call this actually black tea, where most of what Westerners call black tea is actually red tea in the Chinese classification. Russian Caravan is also nice brewed very strong, and lends itself quite well to milk & honey/sugar, if you're into that.

Darjeeling is an afternoon tea for me, milder than Ceylon. Here, I tend to go toward greener teas. There's one that my local shop sells called Milky Butter Oolong. It brews green, but smells and tastes like popcorn.

Lapsang Souchong is an amazingly flavourful tea. Mixing this with Echinacea Purpurea on the second infusion adds a peppery edge to all that smoke.