TeaDay Fanatic Friday 6/25/10 Clean Fanatic?

[Chip]

Welcome everyone to fanatical Wednesday. Please share what is in our cups today ... all day? AND are they CLEAN?

Yesterday we discussed how fanatic we were about tea vendors. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic is about our teaware cleaning habits. This is an oft discussed subject here on TeaChat ... dealing with scale and how to clean our different teawares. But how fanatical are you ... and why or why not. What steps do you take to keep your teaware clean so your tea tastes as good as it gets?

I am as always looking forward to sharing TeaDay with everyone. Sooo, bottoms up. refill, repeat ...

[Seeker]

Extremely, tho there is no need for descaling as I use RO water.

Ancient moonlight and puerh now.

Cheers.

[nickE]

I said pretty much, as I rinse with hot water after and before using any of my teaware. However, I don't descale very often, but I don't really need to because I use filtered water.

Tried the Adagio Master's Pouchong today, not bad. Very light & floral.

Right now some '02 CNNP "Huang Yin" shengpu is set up and ready to go. I wasn't that impressed last time I tried it, the leaves are very chopped which leads to heavy bitterness. Oh well, we'll see!

[debunix]

I do rinse, sometimes with very hot water, but rarely use soap or scrubbies, and descale the kettles when things start floating in my water.

[Chip]

Gladly descaling is a thing of the past, thanks to the GraviTea from Adagio. This thing literally changed my life for the better! (commercial over ) But seriously, if you loathe descaling like I do/did, this is a very good solution.

I am probably on the verge of extremely, but since I can let a teapot full of leaves sit around for hours, I must not be OCD about it anyway. But all teaware must be "dealt with" before going to bed ... w/o fail. A personal rule as I hate getting up to dirty teaware.

Most cleaning is simply rinsing thoroughly with hot water, hotter the better for teapots so they dry quickly. Porcelain and similar I may occasionally be a bit more heroic and scrub clean, etc., but not every time.

Began the TD with YM from the O-C. Shared with SweeTea ... Koi and Pyrit stopped by the TeaTable for a visit.

[ladybean]

Descaling? What is this you speak of? I do rinse with hot water after each use though. Each cup is handwashed and immediately dried and put back on my shelf.

I could use a new kettle, but that's about it.

[brian]

Cups are hand-washed, hot water only (no soap, and never in the dishwasher!), immediately after use. Pots may sit with leaves in them for a little while, but usually no more than an hour or two, and like Chip, it must be clean before going to bed. Kettle gets descaled when it looks like it needs it, but way before it starts flaking into my water. The rest of the family thinks it's pretty fanatical

Den's Houryoku OTTI shincha this morning.

[artmom]

I chose Other. I never descale - don't need to. Cups, etc. are cleaned every day.

[Skippyandjif]

I don't need to descale; however, I do clean out any teaware very thoroughly after each tea session. This is especially the rule since the "Night of the Undead Berry Flavor" several months ago, in which I pawned off- oops, gave my girlfriend some berry-flavored green tea and the smell/taste didn't come out of the cup for days, despite repeated washings.

Pu-erh this morning, in a cup that has seen so much pu that it has been permanently caffeine-stained on the interior... Scrub as I might, it won't come out.

[JBaymore]

Voted "other".

I am blessed with great natural spring water (benefit of living in rural NH..."The Granite State". Wonderful aquafer here.)....so descaling is not an issue. We get "bottled water" out of the ground .

As to cleaning the teaware, it varies from piece to piece as to how it gets cleaned. Porous type clays typically get treated very carefully as far as soaps are concerned. Usually only rinsed with very hot water immedately after use. Vitreous glazed wares get lightly washed with a mild detergent. Anything with overglaze enamels gets treated very gently as to abrasion and strong alkalinitiy or acidity of cleaning products.

My chagama for Chanoyu never get "washed" in the traditional interpretation nor descaled. Seasoning is part of the process for those pieces. They are carefully dried after use to prevent excessive rusting.

best,

...................john

PS: The really "good stuff" I have gets treated like the gold at Fort Knox .

[Victoria]

The GraviTea has really stopped my need to descale also. Plus now It's the only water I drink at home, I love the clean crisp taste. I was hoping my new fridge's superfilter 2000 would eliminate the need for the GraviTea,
but sadly no. It is not as efficient.

I'm a clean as I go type, so things stay cleaned or at least rinsed off. Dishes sitting in the sink make me crazy.

2010 Darjeeling oolong from Camelia Sinensis to start the day.
Have a nice day everyone!
.

[Mikael]

Hate... cleaning....so much... need a woman to do it for me...

[Marco]

Sometimes I'm a little bit lazy about that.
Should clean more and descale a lot because of the hard water here. - Perhaps getting happy with a filter system

TD started with the last matcha Izumi - time for a new matcha
At work I had Asian White from Lipton - bought it in the Ukraine - don't laugh at me
And now the very last of my gyokuro Asahi. Something is not at my liking with it today. Even the leaves where a lot of small and broken ones. And it doesn't feel right today. - strange

[entropyembrace]

Not really, I just rinse my teapot with hot water between sessions...tea cups get washed with hot water and soap every day.

I dont descale the kettle often or give my teapot a proper wash all that often though.

[Proinsias]

I'm pretty lazy when it comes to cleaning my teaware. I rinse with boiling water before use. If I see a mark I'll rub it with my finger and re-rinse

Glazed stuff gets soaked in hot water and vinegar every few months.

1st flush Thurbo today, but from 2009. It's a foil sealed 1oz pack and it's lovely. A nice change from recent shincha madness, this stuff has decent bite to it.