Hello everyone,
I'm fairly new to the Yixing teapot usage - a friend gave me one for my birthday a while back.
This was before I knew anything about prepping and cleaning and I accidentally burnt a brew ONCE. Unfortunately, every brew since has been a bit off-tasting. I know I'm not suppose to use soap to clean it, but is there another way to help get rid of the bad taste? I've only ever brewed black tea (I knew that much).
Apr 28th, '17, 19:42
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victoria3
Re: Help! Yixing producing bad brews!
I can't be positive how I did it because it was so long ago, but it was either one of two ways. 1/ steeped the tea too long 2/ water was too hot.victoria3 wrote: Can you explain how a brew gets burnt in a yixing pot?
Apr 28th, '17, 23:05
Posts: 813
Joined: Nov 13th, '12, 13:49
Location: santa monica, california, usa
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victoria3
Re: Help! Yixing producing bad brews!
OK, so you can reset the pot, it might take a few tries or more;
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 warm water, place pot in bowl, drench with boiling water and after a few minutes hand dry and place in sunny spot to thoroughly dry.
After resetting the pot, you might use it as a pitcher for a few weeks to further get it ready for use.
This is assuming your pot is not super fragile or thin.
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 warm water, place pot in bowl, drench with boiling water and after a few minutes hand dry and place in sunny spot to thoroughly dry.
After resetting the pot, you might use it as a pitcher for a few weeks to further get it ready for use.
This is assuming your pot is not super fragile or thin.
Re: Help! Yixing producing bad brews!
Hi Coda!
Overbrewing a tea once should not have that much of an effect. Step 1 here is to make sure that your Yixing is legit and that it isn't the culprit. Could you share a few pictures of the pot?
Overbrewing a tea once should not have that much of an effect. Step 1 here is to make sure that your Yixing is legit and that it isn't the culprit. Could you share a few pictures of the pot?
Apr 29th, '17, 01:49
Posts: 813
Joined: Nov 13th, '12, 13:49
Location: santa monica, california, usa
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victoria3
Re: Help! Yixing producing bad brews!
Yes your right overstepping shouldn't creat this issue, unless leaves were left in pot to mold or the tea was flavored with oils...steanze wrote: Hi Coda!
Overbrewing a tea once should not have that much of an effect. Step 1 here is to make sure that your Yixing is legit and that it isn't the culprit. Could you share a few pictures of the pot?
Apr 29th, '17, 02:57
Posts: 541
Joined: Aug 19th, '15, 07:03
Location: on the road
Re: Help! Yixing producing bad brews!
A single accident of the sort you' ve described usually doesn't do any harm to a clay pot as long as you stick with unadulterated teas - no artificial flavorings, like Victoria mentioned.
I constantly torture pretty much all of my pots in similar ways - boiling hot and sometimes extended steeps with a high leaf/water ratio of relatively strong teas and they continue to perform admirably even with more delicate teas that I know from the inside out.
Anyway, some clays are more porous than others and if everything else fails (just don't use any type of soap or cleaning agent - ever!) I'd follow Victorias advice to refresh the pot (see above), usually that's all it needs.
You can use some kitchen tissue underneath and around the pot to minimize the risk of damage from bouncing around.
I constantly torture pretty much all of my pots in similar ways - boiling hot and sometimes extended steeps with a high leaf/water ratio of relatively strong teas and they continue to perform admirably even with more delicate teas that I know from the inside out.
Anyway, some clays are more porous than others and if everything else fails (just don't use any type of soap or cleaning agent - ever!) I'd follow Victorias advice to refresh the pot (see above), usually that's all it needs.
You can use some kitchen tissue underneath and around the pot to minimize the risk of damage from bouncing around.
Re: Help! Yixing producing bad brews!
Did you put the lid back on the teapot when it was wet inside?Coda24 wrote: Hello everyone,
I'm fairly new to the Yixing teapot usage - a friend gave me one for my birthday a while back.
This was before I knew anything about prepping and cleaning and I accidentally burnt a brew ONCE. Unfortunately, every brew since has been a bit off-tasting. I know I'm not suppose to use soap to clean it, but is there another way to help get rid of the bad taste? I've only ever brewed black tea (I knew that much).
Re: Help! Yixing producing bad brews!
Thanks for the responses, everyone! It's very likely younger-me did any of the things you mentioned. All I know is that when I initially used the pot, all the brews were fantastic and then, suddenly, they weren't.
I'll try 'resetting' the pot. Thanks so much!
I'll try 'resetting' the pot. Thanks so much!