Saturday, December 15, 2007

Help me save my teapot, please.

Update: Thanks everyone here and elsewhere for your help and advice. I contacted Rishi and their guy Sean, a fellow Shimizu enthusiast, figured out that the mineral deposits are most likely caused by letting water dry in the pot. Since that is exactly what I do--I always rinse my pots thoroughly after each use and let the inside air dry--I am inclined to agree with him.

Now that I know the cause of the problem and how to prevent it, I am willing to leave things as they are. The build-up is rather mild at the moment, and unless it gets worse, I see no reason to try anything potentially harmful.

Take a look:

I first noticed it a few months ago, and it has been getting worse. Is this just mineral deposits? If so, how do I get rid of it? I've heard white vinegar, but not only is this my favorite and most used pot, it is the most expensive. I want to be very sure that whatever I do will not harm it. If it isn't mineral deposits, any ideas? Your feedback would be appreciated.

(Edit) More information: Yes, the pot is porous. I use spring water to make tea, but I rinse my pots with tap water. Its this teapot right here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some spring waters are very high in mineral's. I use Ozarka bottled water and have noticed the same thing in my teaware. Eden foods has bottled spring water that is very low in mineral's. Also there's a brand called Crazy Water thats from TX. That you can get w/ almost no mineral's. When the scale build up get's to bad for me I just re-season the teapot in clean almost boiling water and scrub the inside w/ a toothbrush.

Anonymous said...

Hi Alex, It looks like a mineral deposits from tap water. If this is yixing teapot, I don't suggest you to use white vinegar to wash it. The clay has unique characteristic of absorbing the flavor of your tea and bring out nicer aroma and taste, so washing with soap or other detergents might take away from that unique quality. You could try rinse with spring water and pat dry with soft towels next time. Hope this help.

June from www.just4tea.com

Anonymous said...

Try to get a melamine micropore sponge, I don't know where in US, but w/ this item you don't need to use any soap or other detergents...