Boiling teapot
A heat-resistant pot, usually borosilicate glass with a wide base and a spout, made to sit on a heat source with leaf and water in it. It is the vessel for boiling rather than steeping — aged white tea, dark tea, ripe pu-erh and roasted oolong at the end of a gongfu session, where the leaf is exhausted for short infusions but not exhausted for a simmer.
Identity
- Category
- Brewing vessel
- Native name
- 煮茶壺
- Romanised
- zhu cha hu, zhuchahu
- Also called
- tea boiler, glass boiling pot, simmering pot
- Material
- Borosilicate glass, or heat-resistant ceramic; some have an integral basket
- Typical capacity
- 500–1500 ml
- Skill level
- Beginner
Porosity
Not porous. It contributes nothing of its own to the liquor, so it can be moved between teas freely and washed with detergent without consequence.
Where it comes from
Chinese and contemporary. Boiling tea is old and this particular object is not — it is the modern replacement for a clay or metal pot on a brazier.
Named here rather than presented as generic equipment. The object belongs to a practice, and TeaHQ describes it from the outside.
If you do not own one
A saucepan, which is what most of the world boils tea in and which works identically. The glass pot shows you the colour developing, which is genuinely useful when you are learning how far to take a simmer.
This one is not marked essential. The tea can be made without it.
Brewing methods it is used for
- Boiling aged and dark tea (zhu cha) — Compressed or aged dark tea put into a kettle of water and brought to a simmer rather than steeped. It is a normal winter preparation for Liu Bao, aged shou pu-erh, brick tea and tea nuggets, and it is also what a gongfu session’s exhausted leaf is for.
- Boiling and decoction — Leaf, and usually other ingredients, simmered in water or milk rather than steeped — the basis of masala chai, butter tea and noon chai.
Tea types it suits
Care and maintenance
Borosilicate tolerates heat and not thermal shock — never set a hot pot on a cold wet surface. Check the manufacturer’s statement on whether the base suits induction, because most glass does not.
Other brewing vessels
- Berrad (Maghrebi teapot)
- Brewing saucepan
- Çaydanlık (Turkish double kettle)
- Chawan (matcha bowl)
- Chinese lidded mug
- Cold brew bottle
- Dagwan (Korean teapot)
- Dobin
- Enamel-lined cast iron teapot
- Gaiwan
- Glass teapot
- Glazed stoneware teapot
- Houhin
- Kyusu
- Nixing pottery teapot
- Plastic teaware
- Plunger tea press
- Porcelain teapot
- Quick-brew infuser press
- Ru-glaze crackle ware
- Shiboridashi
- Silver teapot
- Stainless steel teapot
- Travel gongfu set
- Travel infuser bottle
- Unglazed clay teapot (non-Yixing)
- Western teapot
- Yixing teapot
- Zavarnik (concentrate pot)
Sources
This page is TeaHQ synthesis. No external source stands behind the description, the material or the account of how the object is cared for. Where the record names a tradition, that attribution is TeaHQ’s own reading of common practice rather than a citation.
TeaHQ names no maker, brand or shop and has nothing to sell. Nothing on this page should be read as advice to buy the object — the substitute note above exists because owning it is usually optional.