Kyusu: The Japanese Teapot Built for Green Tea, Teas.co.uk

Kyusu: The Japanese Teapot Built for Green Tea

The kyusu is a teapot purpose-built for Japanese green: a side handle and fine integrated mesh suited to cool, short, frequent infusions of sencha and gyokuro.

Published 24 Mar 2026 Curator-written, not crowdsourced

The kyusu, in summary: The kyusu is purpose-built for Japanese green tea: a side handle and fine integrated mesh for cool, short, frequent infusions of sencha and gyokuro.

The kyusu is the traditional Japanese teapot, and it is designed with one job in mind: brewing Japanese green tea properly. This page explains it, within the teaware cluster and the Japanese tea hub.

Last reviewed by the teas.co.uk team in May 2026.

What a kyusu is

The classic kyusu has a hollow handle set at the side, at right angles to the spout, rather than over the top or at the back. That side handle is ergonomic for the small, low, frequent pours Japanese green tea wants, and it signals the kyusu’s whole design philosophy: built around the tea, not the other way round.

The integrated mesh

A good kyusu has a fine built in mesh, often ceramic or metal, across the base of the spout, sized for the fine, needle like leaf of sencha and gyokuro. This lets very fine Japanese leaf brew loose with full room and still pour clean, which a coarse Western strainer cannot do well. It is teaware shaped precisely to one tea, the opposite of the all purpose gaiwan.

Why it suits Japanese green

Japanese green tea is brewed cool, short and often, sometimes many small infusions, and the kyusu is sized and handled exactly for that rhythm, see how to brew green tea, sencha vs gyokuro vs bancha and the water temperature guide. Using a big Western pot for sencha is possible but works against the grain of the tea.

How to use one

Cool the water well off the boil (sencha around 70 to 80 C, gyokuro cooler). Add leaf, add water, steep briefly, then pour out completely in steady low passes, sharing between cups a little at a time so the strength is even and the last drops, the most flavourful, are not left behind. Re steep; good Japanese green gives several infusions.

Caring for it

Rinse with water only, never detergent, especially if it is unglazed Banko clay, and dry it fully, the care principle in teaware essentials. The mesh should be rinsed clear so it never clogs.

Who should get one

Anyone who drinks Japanese green tea regularly and wants it at its best. For matcha you want a different kit entirely, see the matcha kit; for everything purpose loose leaf the gaiwan is more flexible; but for sencha and gyokuro specifically nothing beats a kyusu, the same match the tool to the tea logic as the tea ceremony.

The essentials: why the kyusu suits Japanese green

Feature	Why it matters
Side handle	Ergonomic for small, low, frequent pours
Integrated fine mesh	Holds needle-fine sencha/gyokuro, pours clean
Small size	Matches the cool, short, multi-infusion rhythm
Full pour-out technique	Even strength, no bitter stewed re-steep
Water-only care	Unglazed clay must never meet detergent

The bottom line on the kyusu

Reduced to one paragraph: the kyusu is a teapot purpose-built for Japanese green, side handle and fine integrated mesh suited to cool, short, frequent infusions; use it by pouring out fully each time and re-steeping, care for it with water only, and for sencha and gyokuro specifically nothing beats it. It is not an expensive object, and a modest, well-made one with a good mesh outperforms an ornate display piece for the only thing that matters, brewing Japanese green well, so it is a small, high-return upgrade for anyone who drinks it regularly. Pair one with leaf from the green tea range, the sencha selection, or the full tea shop.

Related on the wiki: The Kyusu teapot.