I hate to ask this question, but I noticed a very dark band forming around the top of one of my yixing pots as well as along the lid (the outer surface of the part that slides down into the pot top).
I was thinking it was just tea residue at first, but now I've been wondering if it's maybe mold. I have not been giving this pot a rest for over a week now, and I tend to leave it full during the day while I'm out at work.
In this particular pot, I've been brewing shengs.
Any ideas on how to figure out the difference between mold and tea residue...??? Ugh.
Lemme guess -- you pour water/tea over your pot when you brew?
You need to use a brush to smooth out/brush out the liquid that gets pooled around that area, because otherwise that line will get darker and stronger, and it will take you ages to remove that. At some point, it will become an eyesore. If your water is heavy in minerals, it will start forming a mineral deposit, which will be even more unsightly.
You need to use a brush to smooth out/brush out the liquid that gets pooled around that area, because otherwise that line will get darker and stronger, and it will take you ages to remove that. At some point, it will become an eyesore. If your water is heavy in minerals, it will start forming a mineral deposit, which will be even more unsightly.
Jan 29th, '09, 22:56
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Whenever MarshalN tells you not to worry about one thing, he always seems to have another thing that you do need to worry about! Don't worry about mold, do worry about tea stain.
I get similar marks on my most used pot, though mine don't sound as dramatic as yours ... probably different water. As MarshalN conjectures, I pour water over the brewing pot. In addition I have a line running down the front of the spout from dribble. I am now trying to keep the pot spout down in a cup or sharing pitcher between brews to minimize that feature.
It sounds like you can control the stain around the top, but probably not the one on the part of the lid that goes inside the pot. The inside of my pot is quite dark and stained. I am sure it is not mold, BTW, because I rinse my pot without fail very well after use with hot water and let it sit with another round of plain hot water for a minute of two to kill anything living inside. Then I wipe the inside dry with a paper towel ... including sticking a little piece in the spout! I also let it sit uncovered until the next session or at least for a couple days. (I can get a little carried away
)
I get similar marks on my most used pot, though mine don't sound as dramatic as yours ... probably different water. As MarshalN conjectures, I pour water over the brewing pot. In addition I have a line running down the front of the spout from dribble. I am now trying to keep the pot spout down in a cup or sharing pitcher between brews to minimize that feature.
It sounds like you can control the stain around the top, but probably not the one on the part of the lid that goes inside the pot. The inside of my pot is quite dark and stained. I am sure it is not mold, BTW, because I rinse my pot without fail very well after use with hot water and let it sit with another round of plain hot water for a minute of two to kill anything living inside. Then I wipe the inside dry with a paper towel ... including sticking a little piece in the spout! I also let it sit uncovered until the next session or at least for a couple days. (I can get a little carried away
)Yeah, you're getting carried away there -- I don't think there's any need to dry it out with a paper towel for the inside. Besides, drying it with paper means there are little bits of paper/strings that might be left behind, and I wouldn't want to drink bleached paper towel.
You can still work off the area under the spout though, using the same tool -- a brush.
You can still work off the area under the spout though, using the same tool -- a brush.
Jan 30th, '09, 01:42
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All of which brings us back to the recent thread about brushes for basting teapots.
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?t=8025
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?t=8025
Yep, you got it. Thank you (and Sal) for the ideas on how to handle it. I think I got kind of paranoid from the couple shengs I had recently tried w/ seeming little taste.MarshalN wrote:Lemme guess -- you pour water/tea over your pot when you brew?
So I guess that seasoning inside = good, but visible-outside-staining = less aesthetically pleasing?
Jan 30th, '09, 07:57
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You want staining on the outside too, but the trick is to try to keep the overal color of the pot even, without stripes and blotches and drips.Drax wrote: So I guess that seasoning inside = good, but visible-outside-staining = less aesthetically pleasing?
Of course if you like your uneven stains, go for it. You can create a new teapot fashion for 2009.
茶也醉人何必酒？
