Houhin
A small Japanese teapot with a lid and a spout and no handle at all. You hold the body directly, which sounds alarming and works because the water in it is never hot: a houhin is built for gyokuro and top-grade sencha, teas brewed at 50 to 70 degrees Celsius rather than near boiling.
- Capacity
- 150 to 200 ml
- Material
- Tokoname or other unglazed clay, also porcelain
- Origin
- Japan
- Best for
- gyokuro and premium sencha at 50 to 70 °C
What it is
Think of it as the Japanese answer to the gaiwan, with a proper spout instead of a tilted lid. Capacity is typically 150 to 200 ml, larger than the shiboridashi it descends from, with a built-in strainer at the spout. Bodies are often Tokoname clay, sometimes porcelain. The absence of a handle is not minimalism, it is a consequence: at gyokuro temperatures a handle is redundant, and removing it makes the pot smaller and lighter.
What it does to your tea
Nothing exotic. What it does is make low-temperature brewing practical: the vessel is small, so a modest amount of cooled water covers a lot of leaf, and the wide low body lets shaded leaf unfurl in very little liquid. Holding the pot in your hand also tells you the water temperature directly, which is the feedback loop the design is really built around.
What it suits
Gyokuro first, then premium sencha and kabusecha. It is the wrong pot for anything brewed hot, for the plainest possible reason: you would burn your fingers.
How to use one
Cool the water first, usually through a yuzamashi. Use a lot of leaf for the volume, cover it with a small amount of water at 50 to 60 degrees for gyokuro, and steep considerably longer than you would a hot tea. Pour out completely, alternating between cups. The second infusion can go hotter and shorter.
How to choose one
The rim is what you will actually judge it by, since you grip the pot near it. Check the lid sits deep enough that it will not slide off during a full pour, since you have no handle to compensate with. A clay strainer fired into the body is the mark of a hand-made pot; a steel mesh is easier to clean.
Care and cleaning
As for any unglazed clay: hot water only, no detergent, dry with the lid off. Back-flush the strainer rather than scrubbing it.
What people get wrong
Buying one and then brewing sencha at 80 degrees in it. The design assumes cool water and punishes you immediately if you ignore that. The other confusion is with the shiboridashi, which is a different and smaller object.
What it is made of
