Don't laugh......loose leaf tea.

[JeandeServiette]

I can't remember exactly how you clean the pot.

I've ordered the tea and a strainer.

I know you don't wash a teapot. Just scald it.

But I can't for toffee remember how you deal with the leaves that stay in the pot instead of ending up in the strainer. Sink? Bin? Do they cause an issue? I'd prefer to save them for the garden, really.

I feel ridiculous because we made tea this way my whole childhood. But I can't remember anything after the strainer.

Sorry, dull I know. I'll make it a sex drugs and rock question next time.

Wait what?? You can't wash a tea pot!?! Says who? I've never heard this before. Mind you I almost never use a tea pot because it's only me that drinks tea (rarely) in our house. But when I do it's always loose leaf in a tea strainer. Any leaves left in the cup I just rinse down the drain. Never had a problem

I was taught to never ever put loose tea leaves down a sink. Always into the bin then rinse everything out with hot water. No need for soap

We tip it all out into the compost bin. Any little bits left over, we fill the pot with water and then pour it out, through a strainer (to avoid blocking the sink).

Into a sieve (so you can repeatedly rinse the pot and tip out all the last leaves) and then can have a little pot to keep them in before they go on the garden, or compost/food waste bin. Or get a little strainer that sits in the pot.
I sometimes put my teapot in the dishwasher but don’t think it needs a thorough wash between uses if it doesn’t sit there for too long before rinsing!

Compost heap.

My dad says. Also, weirdly, Stephen Fry said the same thing years later on QI. They're supposed to "season".

Okay. So why collects in the strainer we keep for the rose beds and what's left in the pot, gets swished down the drain. Thanks. Got it.

Put some water in the pot and tip into the garden?

We put our leaves into one of those enclosed tea strainers and put that in the pot. Less trying to extract leaves. Then the tea leaves go in the compost. If you have a camellia, they absolutely love tea leaves at their base.

Uh oh. I should have known there would be two camps.

I knew I put the compost heap at the wrong end of the garden. Dammit.

My DH never washed the tea pot, but I don't think this helps the taste any, so we run our through the dishwasher. We have delicious tea. It's fine. We add water to the end of the pot, let the leaves steep, then pour that over the garden. It's good for your plants.

I always use loose-leaf tea in a pot. I have to admit that I flush the used leaves in the pot done the lavatory, to avoid blocking the sink

Good idea. I'll try that, and I think I'll need a new counter top compost caddy.

And proper tea is no laughing matter! We have 5 varieties that we mix for different times of day!

Swill water into the pot, empty into a mini wire sieve (or even full size sieve if you don't have a small one), then into the council's compost caddy. Definitely not down the sink.

We don't have council compost collections since we moved here. Do have a garden and a compost heap though. So I'll buy a caddy.

I knew MN would have all the best advice. I re registered y Easter day as soon as if ordered the tea. Thanks.

That sounds serious. I aspire to that level of tea expertise.

Teabags will solve your dilemma 😁

I bought a 2nd larger strainer that I use when I rinse out the tea leaves left in the pot. I then tip all tea leaves into my food caddy and my food bin is collected weekly by my council. If I had a compost heap I would put the tea leaves on that. I occasionally just wash out the teapot with water and a green scourer.

I seem to remember years ago people used to tip their used leaves onto old newspaper and then put in the bin, but that when everything went into the old metal dustbin.

I seem to remember years ago people used to tip their used leaves onto old newspaper

Yes that rings a bell.

My grandmother used to empty her teapot under the rose bushes. They absolutely loved it.

I drink hardcore loose leaf tea .. Rinse the pot, compost the leaves. Or if it's too good to bin (eg high quality green tea like gyokuro) I put the used leaves on top of some rice, add a bit of good quality soy sauce, sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds .. Delicious.

I do dishwash my teapots though, the water round here is hard and they get gross fast.

My twp pences about cleaning the pot.

I think if you have a tead pot that can season (eg clay) then I fully agree, dont wash it!
But if your teapot is made of glass, then I would wash the pot! what's the point, it won't season anyway and over time you end up with some tea deposits at the bottom that need to be removed anyway.

Btw remember that if you have good quality tea, you should be able to rebrew the tea at least once before throwing it away.