Cleaning teaware____what do you do?

[LavenderPekoe]

I rinse cups right away and don't seem to have too much of a problem. But, for my ingenuitea I will just let it go for a while and then soak in hot water with an oxygen cleaner like oxyclean. So far my one teapot has been good with just rinsing after use.

[Mary R]

After I make tea, I wash everything in warm soapy water, rinse, and towel dry. I find that the hotter the water I use, the easier it is to remove darker stains. Sometimes I'll even boil water and use that to rinse something particularly disobliging.

I don't like to use soda as I think it is a little abrasive and can affect the finish of things if used frequently.

I do, however, widely advocate the use of vinegar in removing scale, or hard water buildup--particularly in kettles. If you find that your teaware easily stains, you might have a hard water problem. Tea that comes in contact with very hard water precipitates leaves a sort of film that strongly binds to a surface. You do need something acidic to bust that up easily, and vinegar is very handy. Just give it a quick water rinse after the vinegar and immediately towel dry to keep the hard water film off the clean things.

And, hey, in the latest teacast Amanda recommends a teaspoon of bleach and an overnight soak to make those ingenuiteas sparkle like new.

[Chip]

The cleaning method used is based on the teaware material and finish.

If it is glazed or glass or non porous material, rinsing with water and ocassionally a cleaning with vinegar is pretty much all I need to do. A few tea stains do not really bother me on a daily basis. The vinegar really does the trick and cures any scale issues I have. I usually go with about a 1:1 ratio, but less vinegar will work. A bottle brush works wonders in conjuction with the vinegar. I do this around once a week.

If the pot is porous, such as a yixing pot and some tokoname ware, extreme care must be taken not to use anything but water since the clay will absorb whatever cleaner including vinegar you happen to use. Besides rinsing and allowing the pot to air dry properly, little else is done. Besides, with many porous pots, you do not want to disturb the build up of stains...allowing it to develop a patina as it seasons over time. It is critacal to rinse and air dry properly with this type of pot...or it can become a haven for all kinds of bacteria and mold.

[Mary R]

What's teacast?

Teacast is Adagio's in house video podcast. There's been two thus far--Tea at Disney and Cleaning the Ingenuitea--and both have been done by Amanda. See that TeaMuse button up on the header? Give it a click.

[Space Samurai]

All my pots are porous, so I just rinse them. I've been told that it is good to pour boiling water into the pot and let it sit for a minute, but I only do this when I have time. One of my cha wans and my koryo tea cup has absorbed the color of my tea over time, but I don't worry about it.

[Chip]

Unless you are brewing pu-erh or lapsang souchong or another particularly aromatic tea, I do not think it is necessary to use different infusers...just make sure you rinse well.

[rabbit]

I clean out my gaiwan with cold water after I use it, I don't let the leaves sit in it long enough to make a stain. Same with my cups. Don't need to worry about that with my yixing though.