Help me save my teapot, please.

[Space Samurai]

Take a look:



I first noticed it a few months ago, and it has been getting worse. Is this just mineral deposits? If so, how do I get rid of it? I've heard white vinegar, but not only is this my favorite and most used pot, it is the most expensive. I want to be very sure that whatever I do will not harm it. If it isn't mineral deposits, any ideas? Your feedback would be appreciated.

[skywarrior]

Wow, that looks like mineral deposits to me. Do you have a lot of iron in your water? (I usually see only white deposits because of the filters, but before that, I had red). It looks slightly like copper from your photo, but my guess would be iron because I get so much of that out here.

My question to you, is this a porous pot? If it is, I would be loathed to use white vinegar because it might absorb the taste. However, you might want to consult with whomever made the teapot on what to do to clean it.

[Mary R]

Crap, the picture's not showing up on my browser right now, so I can't see which pot it is or what the stains are. If it's mineral deposits or mold, though, and an acidic environment will go a long way in getting rid of both, but I'm pretty sure your pot is unglazed. If you do choose to apply vinegar, I'd go with a light dilution first, and rinse the heck out of it. But before doing that, I'd e-mail your pot's vendor to see what their recs are.

I think sky's post mentioned red stains, and that sounds like rust. Vinegar's not so good with rust in my experience. If you've not had red stains on any other teaware, it might be iron in the clay itself. ABx is a ceramicist...he might know a bit more about that.

[Ed]

Yes, be careful with that vinegar. I cleaned my kyuusu with vinegar last year and rinsed it out with boiling water many times. The pot still smelled like vinegar for a week and my sencha tasted funny. And this is a glazed pot! I only soak it in a baking soda solution now, but I don't know if that will get the hard water deposits out.

Maybe industrial strength hydrochloric acid is the best bet? (I'm kidding)

[Space Samurai]

More information (sorry, I realise I was kind of vague on the specifics ):

It is indeed a porous, unglazed pot. The deposits/stain/mutant fungus is white. The pot itself is brown (yakishime). Its this pot right here: http://www.rishi-tea.com/store/product. ... =25&page=1

I'll contact Rishi, and I'll also contact Toru @ Artistic Nippon (I trust him more).

[Mary R]

This thread suggests a lot of pot boiling...couldn't hurt, I guess.

[skywarrior]

More information (sorry, I realise I was kind of vague on the specifics ):

It is indeed a porous, unglazed pot. The deposits/stain/mutant fungus is white. The pot itself is brown (yakishime). Its this pot right here: http://www.rishi-tea.com/store/product. ... =25&page=1

I'll contact Rishi, and I'll also contact Toru @ Artistic Nippon (I trust him more).

White is most certainly mineral deposits. I've had them for years at my old house in my teapots and now with my Utilitea. I have filtered water and I use a Brita.

Baking soda will help neutralize the vinegar, but it does cause a reaction as the two are mixed. I don't know what that does to clay pots.

[bambooforest]

Maybe if you poured boiling distilled water it would sorta "absorb" the mineral deposits? Let it sit for a few hours, then put more boiling distilled water in. Not sure if that would work in the least.

[CynTEAa]

Could be limescale:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime_scale

Think something acidic will remove it, perhaps lemon juice?

Hope Toru can help!

[scruffmcgruff]

Mary and I both posted about scale, its in the science section of my blog (I can't remember where Mary's post was). Acid will help, but the problem is that most acids will leave behind some flavor (for example, maleic acid is insanely sour, citric acid is sour as well) or they may be toxic, neither of which would be problematic with nonporous teaware, but which might be things to worry about with Yixing. Have you tried scrubbing with a (clean) toothbrush, or steel wool if you're feeling brave?

[Mary R]

What about using a cleaning process like that detailed for yixing restoration on TEAfiles?

[Space Samurai]

Thank you every one; I've been following the tread at work all day.

I'm going to try some distilled water and gentle scrubbing and go from there. I like Mary's last sugestion and may try that next. If the a little scrubbing doesn't work, I'll use the fukugata as a guinea pig before I try anything radical.

I'll let you know.

[CynTEAa]

Best wishes for speedy and safe teapot cleaning!

[thor0298]

how about vinegar, i know people use that on coffee pots

[Space Samurai]

Rishi and I conversed a bit and we have come to the conclusion that the problem is caused by letting water dry in the pot, which is what I do. I rinse my pots with tap water, and thought I am diligent in drying the outsides to preven water stains, I let the interior air dry.

So now that I know how to keep it from getting worse or happening to my other pots, I am going to leave it at that. At the moment it is not harming anything, so not worth trying something that might hurt the pot.

On a related note...I cleaned my tasting cups with some baking soda today, worked well.