Easy way to de-scent tins

[ABx]

I recently found a way to get the smell of tea out of tins that I plan to reuse, and wanted to share since this subject comes up from time to time.

It turns out that it's really easy, you just have to have central heating. Just put the tin on top of a heat register upside-down and leave it there for a day or so, and voila - it eliminates most tea odors. If you've got little bits stuck in crevices then you can also rinse it out with water (or scrub it out with a dish scrubbing brush) and the hot air will also dry it out really well.

I've done this successfully with a half dozen tins or so; some of which I had tried to air out in the sun for days or weeks prior. The only ones I haven't had luck doing this with are tins that held flavored/scented and particularly fragrant herbal teas. There's one that I've had particular trouble with, but I'm continuing to try with scrubbing it out and leaving it on for several days.

[Victoria]

Great, thanks for the tip. I've been into recycling used tins recently, especially the nice double lidded ones.

[Geekgirl]

I agree that heated circulating air works for most scented tea odors, but I can tell you from experience that the horrid "Japanese Cherry" tea (teavana, specialteas) smell NEVER comes out. I tried everything on a tin that held it. I never got the smell out. Baking soda, air, vinegar, dishwasher, etc. Still smelled. Partly it was due I think to the plastic ring, which had absorbed the odor, but the tin smelled too. The ONLY thing that worked for that tin was the recycle bin.

[ABx]

Hehe, yeah, I actually haven't had much luck with any artificially flavored/scented teas - I've been using it mostly for tins of my regular teas, which usually leave at least some odor, and can be a little difficult to get out completely.

In my very first order of loose leaf tea I got an Ayurvedic tea with anise and other spices (it wasn't very good.. I think I only had it twice), and I've been trying to air it out for months without any luck. It's too bad, because it's a nice copper double-lidded tin. The smell has been reduced some, though, so I haven't quite given up on it yet. I'm going to leave it on the heat register for a week or two and see how it does. With all the snow and ice, and this crappy house, the furnace has been running quite a bit.

Quickly Googling I've found a few tips for stubborn smells in plastic:
- Add water to baking soda to make a paste, spread on the area and let it sit for several days
- Bleach or dishwasher detergent (not dishwashing liquid) and soak for some days
- Crumple up newspaper, put it inside, and seal for a day or two

[Oolonga]

I agree that heated circulating air works for most scented tea odors, but I can tell you from experience that the horrid "Japanese Cherry" tea (teavana, specialteas) smell NEVER comes out. I tried everything on a tin that held it. I never got the smell out. Baking soda, air, vinegar, dishwasher, etc. Still smelled. Partly it was due I think to the plastic ring, which had absorbed the odor, but the tin smelled too. The ONLY thing that worked for that tin was the recycle bin.

It's a bummer that nothing works...
I have a very nice tin that smells of "horrid "Japanese Cherry" tea" too and I was hoping to remove the odor by putting the tin in the dishwasher... oh well
Looks like flavored teas are not supposed to be stored in tins.

[Lainie P]

I had two tins from Harney and Sons that were strongly scented even after the tea was done. I figured that the scents were from the oils used in flavoring the teas, and since oil catches oil, I wondered if I could use a neutral-smelling oil to remove the oil residue in the tin.

I began by coating the inside of each tin with vegetable oil, and then carefully wiping the tins dry with a paper towel. I then used "Dawn" dishwashing liquid (which is very, very good at dispersing grease) and very hot water to wash each tin. The tins were dried and left to air.

This helped, but didn't remove the scent, entirely. I repeated this process and left the tins to air for several days. Voila. .. it worked, and the tins are scent-free and ready to hold other teas.

--L.

[Consilium]

I've run into this same problem recently and have found a rather effective way to remove odor.

I originally used this method for much larger tea storage than tins, such as large storage bins - usually the plastic ones. New plastic storage bins smell like, well, plastic. Strongly and offensively so. I store my larger collection of oolongs separated by variety in them, typically with each one variety in either a clay/porcelain jar or storage tin.

Many air filters and ion filters use some sort of activated carbon to remove odors. I also happen to own and have to maintain a few large aquariums. Anyone who is into this hobby probably knows how you can buy activated carbon for you canister filters, so needless to say I've got a few larger jars of it always on hand.

To make a long story short, I decided to try it out on the bins. I placed a paper bag with maybe a cup of activated charcoal within the bin, and put the lid on. I left the paper bag open, and within a couple days the bin had absolutely no smell. This works for the jars I have too, as well as the tins. Just put a spoon or so of carbon inside and cover for a few days.

I now just leave the bag in the bin with the tea jars. Not only does it keep odors out of the bin, but it keeps moisture from accumulating as well. For tea tins, just rinse the carbon dust out and let them dry afterward.

[ABx]

However you deodorize your tins, just make sure to seal it up empty and leave it for a couple days. I almost always get a false start the first time around - the tin will seem completely odor free until I seal it up for a couple days; sometimes it even turns out not to be deodorized at all (this has happened several times with the copper tin I mentioned previously).