Should you clean your teapot

[beanzontoast]

We have a brown teapot - hence seeing whether it is clean or not inside is somewhat difficult without the aid of a) a miniature video camera or b) a friendly pixie with a torch - neither of which I have recourse to.

We don't have a dishwasher as our tiny kitchen would not accommodate it without something more useful like the sink having to go - and anyway, being old fashioned about these things, I don't mind washing up by hand.

 

[Arch]

My other half uses those Steradent tablets. Put the teapot in the empty sink, fill to the top with hot water, bung 5 tablets in, put lid on. 30 mins later, sparkling teapot. Bish bash bosh, done!

Bicarb works well too - sprinkle it in, fill up with boiling water, leave.

I don't use a pot mostly - not worth it for one. My mug gets a build up over a couple of days if I only rinse it out, and then I scour it, and start again.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

We have a teapot (with cosy, natch) in the office - don't think we've ever cleaned it inside. I think the build-up has reduced its capacity to the extent that a good scrub out would probably mean you could get an extra cup out of it!

 

[guitarpete247]

I never clean the inside of ours just rinse with water. I wipe off any drips or tea marks on the outside just to make it look clean. The boiling water used to make the tea should kill off any bugs when we make the tea is our opinion.

It's the same as cleaning the wok. My dad decided that my wok needed a clean. 10 years of hard work wok destroyed in 5 minutes. Never got it back to it's pre-washed stated so left it at his house. I remember as a kid he did the same to my mum's favourite frying pan. He then had the nerve to complain that his fried eggs stuck to the pan (pre-teflon times in the mid 60's) .

 

[Crackle]

Great thread Crackle - my admiration knows no bounds!

Don't clean the teapot - in fact, don't even have one!

I dunno, I think the woodlice thread was my inspiration

And as the first representative of the 'no teapot' brigade, all I can say is tut. No teapot is only acceptable in a work situation and even then a little one is quite possible.

I scrub the outside but only rinse the inside with water. I had a new teapot a couple of weeks ago and with daily use it is already nicely stained inside. Tannin residue is v.important for a tasty cuppa.

See, that's the kind of sensible answer I'm ookling for.

 

[rich p]

We have a teapot (with cosy, natch) in the office - don't think we've ever cleaned it inside. I think the build-up has reduced its capacity to the extent that a good scrub out would probably mean you could get an extra cup out of it!

 

[numbnuts]

what's a tea pot

 

[rich p]

what's a tea pot

Not sure, Numbnuts but is that a tea cosy on your bonce?

 

[numbnuts]

Not sure, Numbnuts but is that a tea cosy on your bonce?

no, but is a tea cosy having a cup of tea in bed

 

[guitarpete247]

Ours is red but going brown on the inside.

 

[Crackle]

My other half uses those Steradent tablets. Put the teapot in the empty sink, fill to the top with hot water, bung 5 tablets in, put lid on. 30 mins later, sparkling teapot. Bish bash bosh, done!

Steradent! You Steradent your tea pot . No, no, no, no, no, NO. Thou shalt not Steradent thy teapot.

 

[Davidc]

What Philistines!!!

The only way to make a decent cup of tea is with proper tea leaves. Best to put them in the pot and use a strainer, although I do use one of those perforated metal ball devices in the pot these days.

Even then it only tastes right if pot cleaning is restricted to the outside. The inside just needs a rinse.

I know from experience that in hard water areas teapots do have to be descaled/ cleaned inside sometimes, and the flavour enhancing processes restarted, but as infrequently as possible. In soft water areas like here that really isn't necessary.

OK, I do sometimes use a tea bag in the cup. Doesn't taste anything like as good though.

 

[accountantpete]

Ours is an epns jobbie dating back to the 50's - never had a clean and makes a wonderful strong cuppa when the tea is brewed over a low light.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

Hm.... I just spent many a futile hour trying to clean our (dark coloured) teapot. I'd never noticed anything on the inside before, but was packing it away (we have two) when I saw the 'stuff' on the inside. I presumed it was mostly due to the hard water (recently moved from very nice soft water to hard water)...

 

[User482]

Why on earth would you clean the inside of a teapot? You can't see it, and it's sterilised with boiling water every time you make a brew.

Life's too short to waste on pointless cleaning.