Hōroku Tea Roaster

Tokoname sits on Ise Bay in Aichi and is one of the six ancient kiln sites of Japan, with a pottery tradition that goes back roughly a thousand years. For most of that time it made storage jars and pipes. Teapots came later, in the nineteenth century, and became what the town is now known for.

The clay there is high in iron. That is why an unglazed Tokoname pot is red-brown rather than grey, and it is the reason these pots have a reputation for taking the edge off a tea. Iron reacts with the compounds that cause astringency, so a sencha brewed in one tastes a little rounder than the same leaf brewed in glass.

Most of our pots have a ceramic mesh built into the wall of the spout, thrown from the same clay as the pot itself. There is no basket to lift out and nothing to replace. Fine deep steamed leaf passes through without clogging it.

Mogake is a different technique: seaweed is laid on the wet clay before firing and burns away, leaving dark trails across the surface. No two pieces come out the same, which is also why a mogake pot you liked is rarely available twice.