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As a tea drinker who uses a collection of vintage unglazed teapots, I have over the years found various ways to reset these pots. I have gone through each of these steps below, with good results, so thought I would locate the information in one area for everyone. Recently I got a very dirty old yixing pot and had to go one step further, so am sharing the whole process with you. If you have reset older unglazed pots, or very thin ones, let me know what method you used.
*This is assuming your pot is not super fragile or very thin*
*I have only done this with pots from 1960s forward, older pots may need even greater attention and care*
Awakening Old Yixing (old pot that hasn’t been used for a long time)
1. Leave teapot in filtered or spring water for two days.
2. On day three put teapot into large stovetop pan, with trivet or towel under pot and lid. Simmer the teapot for 30mins-1hr.
3. Turn the power off and let the pot cool down overnight.
4. Next morning rinse with hot water. It may be ready to use, if not repeat or proceed to next step.
Resetting Old Yixing (dirty, smelly)
1. Put a large pan on the stove, lined inside with a cloth or trivet. 3/4 fill with filtered water. The pan should be large enough to completely submerge the teapot.
2. Bring the water to a slow boil, reduce heat to a simmer and gently cook for 1hour.
3. Allow the water to cool with pot inside.
4. Discard water setting pot aside.
5. Refill the pot with filtered water, bring to a boil and add a few tablespoons of the tea leaves that are not fancy or leaves that you used a few times already. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and steep the leaves for 30 minutes. Strain out the leaves and return the teapot to the tea letting it rest overnight.
6. Wash pot with hot water, place pot in bowl, drench with hot water and after a few minutes hand dry with soft cloth and place in sunny spot to thoroughly dry.
7. Fill teapot with just boiled filtered water let cool overnight. Taste water, if distasteful repeat steps 1-6 several times and or proceed below.
8. If teapot water tastes fine use cleaned teapot as a tea pitcher for a week or two to reset pot.
- Option1 Filter out leaves Option2 leave in-sm.jpg (50.45 KiB) Viewed 2976 times
If pot is still dirty, moldy or smelly then try the following;
Getting Rid of Discoloration in Yixing
Scrub with Baking Soda, using non abrasive material so not to scratch clay.
if pot is still not clean then;
Follow steps 1-6 in Resetting Old Yixing only also add 1-3TBS Baking Soda & simmer for 1hr.
if pot is still not clean then;
If Discoloration & or Mold remains use Sodium Percarbonate
I’m not using chlorine in this step because chlorine will not penetrate porous surfaces, only the water penetrates, while chlorine stays on surface, leaving mold's roots alive and eventual having mold return. Percarbonate by-products are non-toxic and environmentally safe.
1. Put 1TBS Percarbonate into vessel large enough to submerge teapot into (like pyrex pitcher) & put 1TBS of Percarbonate into teapot.
2. Boil filtered water & pour into pot & holding vessel. Stir the mix. Place lid on teapot.
3. Let it cool & then rinse & lightly scrub where needed again with toothbrush or nonabrasive cloth.
4. Rinse a few times with hot water.
5. Put a large pan on the stove, lined inside with a cloth or trivet. 3/4 fill with filtered water. The pan should be large enough to completely submerge the teapot.
6. Bring the water to a slow boil, reduce heat to a simmer and gently cook for 30 minutes.
7. Discard water setting pot aside.
8. Let it dry completely preferably in the sun.
9. Fill teapot with boiling filtered water and let it sit overnight. If no off taste is present then you can now use the teapot.
10. Use cleaned teapot as a tea pitcher for a week or two to reset pot.
- after Baking Soda & Percarbonate-sm.jpg (35.05 KiB) Viewed 2976 times
