Most of us make tea the quick way: bag in the mug, kettle, squish it against the side with a spoon, bin it. That’s fine on a weekday morning. But on a cold Sunday afternoon with a few people round, a proper pot of tea is a different thing altogether, and you don’t need anything fancy to make one.
Is it actually better?
Yes, for a few practical reasons rather than snobbish ones. The tea brews in a big volume of water that stays hot, so it steeps evenly instead of going from weak to stewed in one mug. Everyone gets the same strength. And a pot means second cups without anyone going back to the kettle.
It also lets you try loose leaf tea without the faff of a separate strainer (if you’d rather test the water with one mug first, a good infuser is the cheaper experiment). The tea leaves have more room to open up in a pot than they ever do in a bag.
Where a pot isn’t worth it: if you only ever drink one mug at a time on your own, or you like your tea very weak and milky, stick with bags.
The teapot we’d go for
The London Pottery Farmhouse 4 cup teapot is about as classic as it gets: a round ceramic pot in the shiny Rockingham brown glaze you’ll recognise from countless British kitchens. It holds 1.2 litres, which is a proper four mugs.
The useful modern bit is the removable mesh filter that sits inside, so you can use loose leaf tea and lift the leaves out once it’s brewed. That stops the last cup turning bitter, which is the usual problem with a big pot. With teabags, you can just leave the filter out.
The spout is long and fairly upright, which London Pottery says is there to stop drips. A couple of small catches: it weighs just over a kilo before you’ve put any water in, so a full pot takes two hands for some people. And care advice varies between retailers (the Amazon UK listing says it isn’t dishwasher safe), so we’d just wash it by hand. A rinse with hot water is usually all it needs, and it keeps the glaze looking shiny for longer.
How to make a decent pot
Warm the pot first with a splash of hot water and tip it out. Use roughly one teaspoon of loose tea or one bag per mug. Pour on water just off the boil and leave it for three to five minutes, depending on how strong you like it. Then lift the filter out, give it a stir, and pour. A tea cosy keeps it hot for ages if you’ve got one.
