Buying Old Tetsubins

[trent]

Im looking into buying a tetsubin on ebay, but most seem to have rust inside of them.
Is it still okay to drink water boiled in them?

[edkrueger]

Yes, it is OK. All Tetsubins get rusty, and you will always be drinking a trace amount of rust. Too much rust will effect the tea [make it taste like rust]. To avoid rust I always rinse and dry my pot 3 times before and after use. For a side note, the tannic acids in tea do their part to prevent rust.

[Bert]

I am still alive and don't have courios symptoms since drinking from my tetsubin.

P.S.: Mineral deposits shall prevent rust in the inside..

[chamekke]

I have several old, unlined tetsubin, and I use them without problem.

Certainly a lot of them were very rusty when they first arrived. I filled them with boiling water and scrubbed off as much of the rust as I could, then did another boiling-water rinse so that the iron would dry off fast. Then a quick pat-dry with a cotton cloth to remove any remaining moisture, before leaving the tetsubin to air-dry. It worked pretty well, I thought.

Lots of people take iron supplements, and the Japanese attitude seems to be that any traces of iron you ingest are actually good for you. Provided you get rid of an excess of rust, a little iron will be just fine - and may actually be very beneficial, if you are a woman and/or anemic.