Selected by tea master Gao Liuzhou — a quiet precision tool
Gao Liuzhou never liked kettles that hid the water. For years he tested heavy cast iron and stainless spouts, always feeling there was a disconnect between the heating and the pour. When he visited a small glass workshop outside Handan, he found an old craft that bent borosilicate into simple, elegant shapes. The master glassmaker there had been supplying local tea houses for decades, but her kettles were rarely seen outside the region.
Liuzhou commissioned a 0.8L version specifically for personal sessions. The smaller volume reaches a boil faster, and the transparency lets you read the water like a tea master reads a leaf. He spent mornings watching the bubble sequences — from ‘shrimp eyes’ at 70°C to rolling clouds at 100°C — tuning his pour timing for every tea in his library. Now this kettle is his constant companion during solitary Zao Chun brewing, and he insists it reveals the character of a tea better than any fancy thermometer.
The result is a kettle that pairs effortlessly with a glass gaiwan or a simple glass cup, creating a full visual loop: water, leaf, liquor. No metal, no noise — just the pure experience of tea as it was meant to be seen.