The tea kettle.

My old CorningWare tea kettle broke this past winter. I was bummed, as it was passed down to me from my mom. But, as the old saying goes, "when one teapot stops boiling, another one starts"... or something like that.

After several discouraging trips to stores around Chicago, I found out that it's harder to get an old-school tea kettle that's made in the US or Europe... but leave it to my mom to make her picky son happy. Under the Christmas tree this year for me was a brand new tea kettle - called "La Théière" - made in France, by Staub.



This tea kettle works as well as it looks - awesome. It holds 1 quart - enough for 3 cups of tea, or one standard-size French-press - in other words, at least for me, it's the perfect size. It's made out of cast iron, which is then coated in enamel, making it durable and long-lasting - and it doesn't look half bad either. The enamel color is "Grenadine" - a really nice deep red/burgundy. The two stainless steel handles come together to lock the lid into place, so you don't need to worry about holding a lid when pouring hot water. And finally, it comes with a removable large tea infusion ball - large enough for steeping the above-mentioned 3 cups of tea, and can be kept in a drawer if you rarely use it.

If you're in the need of a new tea kettle, and end up with this, or any other cast iron pot, be sure to read up on how to care for cast iron cooking ware - it's easy to care for them and preserve them for years (and years) to come.

I couldn't be more happy with my La Théière tea kettle, and hope this will be the last one I'll ever need. Thanks Mom!

More on tea later - it's a big part of my daily routines, and deserves more than a mention in a post!