Come settle a sisterly argument. AIBU to wash my teapot after every pot of tea made or does it ruin the flavour?

[Nevergoogle]

Ok, so my sister thinks her teapot is seasoned by not washing her teapot in between pots of tea.

I don't drink tea, so have no idea whether the flavour is better or not, I just don't like a stained teapot and think it's a bit minging to leave old tea in the pot.

She'll be along in a minute.

ew

Oooh Kurri... more chambermaid tales please... the more icky the better

Well ....this was a nice thread about tea making, so I shouldn't lower the tone. But I've had those extra thick anal sex condoms pop out of beds a few times. Totally unflushable toilets - people leaving logs the size of an arm, that we had to fish out with our rubber gloves. Walking in on couples having sex - they don't respond to a door knock. Drugs on the dressing tables fairly common, skiddy underwear people left behind and we had to record it in the lost property book. You can't buy memories like that

Back to your tea ladies!

thanks for that kurrikurri.

i've worked in hotels too. people are filthy. we used to have a man who would come into the spa and just sit in the corner of the men's changing rooms making phone calls. the other men complained about his gawking.

and we had a list of people who weren't allowed to book in for a massage on account of them not being able to leave themselves alone.

The scum is from hard water (it's calcium carbonate aka chalk), and you will get it unless you use a filter. Apparently if you take lemon instead of milk then it (mostly) disappears.

Nooooooooooooooo! don't clean the inside! it's the tannin that makes the tea...

LOL - so many different ways aren't there

I rinse after each 'brew' and stick it in the dishwasher if it's going on at a convenient time (ie when we're off to bed and it wont be needed during the cycle - it's seldom not used the length of a dishwasher cycle if I'm home in the day ).

nooka, I remember terrible scum from mugs of coffee in London.
Where we are here (bavaria), the water is unbelievably hard, washed straight off the mountains, yet there is no scum on the top of the tea.
Our water is among the best tap water in europe though, I have been told.

Oh, and I would wash the teapot - but then Im not a tea drinker, so am revolted by such dirty habits!

It's only an issue if it's washed through the mountains, and if the mountains contain lots of chalk. I really like the taste of London water

I rinse out teapots, but I give them a scrub on the outside so they don't get those streaky tea marks

I read somewhere in the dim and distant that you shouldn't wash a teapot.

My inlaws use theirs virtually all day everyday and I have never seen it washed. Bags emptied, and rinsed.

You should always take the kettle to the pot, not the other way round. Or is it the other way round?

And "hot the pot" before you put the bags in.

And apparently you have to stir the tea anti-clockwise

Teapot is so regularly used here that I really ought to buy an urn! It is never washed (cunningly it is a posh charcoal grey colour that doesn't show the dirt!) but is always rinsed out very thoroughly in very hot water. Tea is not allowed to gather for long enough to attract mould. Once a week I put all the mugs into a solution of Milton though because (irrationally) I'm not prepared to drink from any cup that is covered in tea stains. If I believed in dishwashers, I might, possibly, do the tea pot in one. But mainly, teapots and detergent should never mix.

Don't bother with a teapot at all... a teabag in a cup is just as good. Controversial.

Wash your mouth out, PuppyMonkey! Sacrilege!

I know....

Well especially if OP doesn't drink tea herself... why go to all the bother???

Dishwasher here, it has taken me years of selective purchasing to get the kitchen down to only two things that can't go in the dishwasher. It gets used once a day on weekends and holidays and run through dishwasher the next time it is going.

I think you should do whichever you want, I wash it out after every use as well, but at least every two times I'd say.

I think other things improve the flavour of the tea, like always fresh water.

Try some other teas as well, sometimes the regular ones aren't as nice as some of the others, I quite like the regional brand one.

I usually try to get organic & fairtrade, cos then my tea can help the world!

I rinse it under the hot tap, drain upside down and wipe the outside. No nasty detergents in my teapot. I usually remove bag/leaves fairly soon after tea drunk though so it doesn't fester.

nooka, I do know what hard water is. And ours is harder than Rambo, trust me. If you dont use calgon type stuff everywhere, your washing machine/dishwasher etc are kaputt in about 3 weeks.
We have no scum on hot drinks though.

When we went back to the UK, it felt like drinking swimming pool water, was so heavily chlorinated.

I only wash (no detergent) the teapot when I can see tannin lumps/bits in the bottom of my cup of tea! I drink black tea so you can see floaty bits in the tea...and they won't be tea leaves as we use bags! I feel really yukky admitting this!

The outside gets wiped umpteen times a day though as it's in constant use.

Hard water just means it has a high mineral content. The minerals themselves can vary, although I did think only calcium causes limescale, and it's the calcium binding with organic compounds in the tea that causes the scum. Water qualities vary depending on the source, and local treatment methods. Some parts of the UK have very hard water (ie London, filtered through the Chilterns) and with a pretty low level of chlorine. Areas like the Lake District have much softer water, and I think Birmingham has very highly chlorinated water. I hate the taste of chlorine and I don't like the feel of soft water at all. It's something that would affect where I would choose to live (for example one of the things I really disliked about Toronto was getting out of my bath and smelling the chlorine on my skin it was so strong).

Well, I always put mine through the dishwasher, had no idea!
Good old Google showed me what too do.
Instructions on seasoning your tea pot.
www.culinaryteas.com/Seasoning-Yixing.html

"To do" I mean.