I have a pot that I've been using for several months now. Lately I notcied that it has developed what I can only name as a "sour" tea smell. It's most noticeable when I put hot water in the pot. As you can imagine I don't think this is really helping me make better tea.
I haven't done any funny things to it like boiling it in tea for several hours. I've used 2 or 3 different types of tea with it, usually rinsing it with boiling water afterward.
Any ideas how I can fix this? Has this happened to you?
p.s. the pot is from a well-known vendor and I know several people have been using it with no complaints
Initially I was only brewing baozhongs. After a few months I decided to brew roasted teas in it (some roasted tgy's, some aged oolongs).
After brews I would empty out the leaves, fill with boiling water and pour that out right away. After that I would dry the outside with a towel and leave the pot, with lid off, upside down overnight. Next day I flip it over and put the lid on.
My hunch is that I had some bad brews, that just stuck with the pot. Passing hot water through it over and over again seems to be helping so far.
After brews I would empty out the leaves, fill with boiling water and pour that out right away. After that I would dry the outside with a towel and leave the pot, with lid off, upside down overnight. Next day I flip it over and put the lid on.
My hunch is that I had some bad brews, that just stuck with the pot. Passing hot water through it over and over again seems to be helping so far.
This is probably the problem. By leaving the pot upside down the moisture can't escape and when you put the lid on it's still damp inside.taitea wrote:After that I would dry the outside with a towel and leave the pot, with lid off, upside down overnight. Next day I flip it over and put the lid on
What I do is to leave the pot standing after rinsing and draining with the lid tilted so that the moisture can escape.
Potters toss quartz powder before firing, it does have some sour taste I'm noticing but fades out easily.
Except for that, I've no idea where it came from. Many pots had clay smells but never sour smell but one. The potter of this pot blended many other none-yixing clays to have special effect..even dyes come out of the clay when brewing, yuck, I stopped using already.
Other possibility of it might have industrial dyes contained.
Either ways, it's a sign of being fired at low temperature IMO.
Except for that, I've no idea where it came from. Many pots had clay smells but never sour smell but one. The potter of this pot blended many other none-yixing clays to have special effect..even dyes come out of the clay when brewing, yuck, I stopped using already.
Other possibility of it might have industrial dyes contained.
Either ways, it's a sign of being fired at low temperature IMO.
I always leave it slightly tilted when I leave it upside down so that there is no seal and air can escape.tsverrir wrote:This is probably the problem. By leaving the pot upside down the moisture can't escape and when you put the lid on it's still damp inside.taitea wrote:After that I would dry the outside with a towel and leave the pot, with lid off, upside down overnight. Next day I flip it over and put the lid on
What I do is to leave the pot standing after rinsing and draining with the lid tilted so that the moisture can escape.
Feb 3rd, '09, 16:50
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Certainly a possibility. I brewed a weird tuocha that smelled like tomato sauce in my larger sheng pot, and it took boiling it to get that smell to disappear from every subsequent brewtaitea wrote:My hunch is that I had some bad brews, that just stuck with the pot. Passing hot water through it over and over again seems to be helping so far.
