Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing

[Mark-S]

Today, I tried to season a new pot after cleaning it. I have not done this before, because normally, I season my teapots by use.

So I prepared some tea and boiled the pot in it (without the leaves) for about an hour. I removed the pot after some time and cleaned it with hot water.

What I find weird is that the tea was then very dark and the smell was odd to say the least. Hopefully, the tea brewed in this pot won't taste like this. Is this normal, or have I done anything wrong?

[DailyTX]

Today, I tried to season a new pot after cleaning it. I have not done this before, because normally, I season my teapots by use.

So I prepared some tea and boiled the pot in it (without the leaves) for about an hour. I removed the pot after some time and cleaned it with hot water.

What I find weird is that the tea was then very dark and the smell was odd to say the least. Hopefully, the tea brewed in this pot won't taste like this. Is this normal, or have I done anything wrong?

I have encountered once where the tea had strong hot stone scent because the pot was new. If your tea smells like plastic, chemical, or artificial scent, I would be concerned about the pot assuming your tea leaves were not the problem

[Mark-S]

@DailyTX
I think that's not the problem. I boiled the pot before, and the water did not change. It's a genuine factory one teapot. The tea is also not bad. In my opinion it is medium-grade tea. The boiling seems to have done something to the tea. I did not know that this would be possible since I removed all leaves.

[Victoria]

What I find weird is that the tea was then very dark and the smell was odd to say the least. Hopefully, the tea brewed in this pot won't taste like this. Is this normal, or have I done anything wrong?

Yes, that is strange. What kind of teapot is it? Did you simmer in filtered water a few times, before using tea to season it? I have a few very porous shigaraki clay pieces that oozed out slightly reddish liquid for many months each time I’d leave off-boil water in them to clean. A very old Tani Seiuemon shiboridashi in particular did this. Aside from absorbing some gyokuro/sencha after steeped, it seemed to be something in the clay itself. Water tastes fine in them, so does tea. Before actually using it, I’d fill it with filtered off-boiling water overnight and taste it in the morning.

[Mark-S]

Yes, that is strange. What kind of teapot is it? Did you simmer in filtered water a few times, before using tea to season it? I have a few very porous shigaraki clay pieces that oozed out slightly reddish liquid for many months each time I’d leave off-boil water in them to clean. Something in the clay itself I think. Water tastes fine in them, so does tea. Before actually using it, I’d fill it with filtered off-boiling water overnight and taste it in the morning.

That's the teapot: https://facebook.com/groups/14293783206 ... 1306970194

The tea was Oolong (Da Hong Pao) for about $13/100g. It's from organic agriculture (I hope that's the right word for it).

I boiled the teapot in filtered water before with no change to the water at all. The water used for the tea had also been filtered. I find it very unlikely, but there could have been some residues of Sodium Percarbonate in the cooking pot. But again, it's very unlikely. I think it has something to do with the boiling of the tea.

[Bok]

@Mark-S at that price the tea is unlikely to be medium quality, more likely low. What you describe sounds to me like the problem is the tea. Not even mentioning that genuine DHP is not available at even close to this price point, so to begin with it’s something else than written on the bag.

I also don’t think boiling a pot with tea is not a very good idea. All the bad stuff is gonna come out and impregnate the clay.

I’d reset it with sodium percarbonate and then slowly season it by brewing. There’s no shortcut to season a pot, patience is key.

If anything, after the last brew, leave the tea and water for a night, before drying it.

[Mark-S]

@Bok
Ok, thanks for your advice. The seller told me that the trees were very similar to the old ones. That's why they call it DHP. $13 for 100g tea is not cheap in my country. A very popular black tea here costs $0.61 for 100g.

"I also don’t think boiling a pot with tea is not a very good idea. All the bad stuff is gonna come out and impregnate the clay."

For this reason, I had removed the leaves before boiling it. I still wonder how the tea could have changed this much. I think I will boil some tea in another cooking pot without the teapot this weekend to see if I can reproduce the outcome. Maybe there really were some residues of sodium percarbonate in the towel that caused this change. I prepared a cup of tea and it tasted a little bit salty. I hope that was just pure imagination.

[Bok]

@Mark-S I call BS on what the seller told you... also there’s no such thing as affordable Yancha. Can’t really compare it with other teas. The same money will get you a less good quality compared to say a Dancong or Taiwanese Oolong, simply die to scarcity and demand for Yancha.

Germany is not (yet) known for demand in high quality tea

[DailyTX]

Bok
Ok, thanks for your advice. The seller told me that the trees were very similar to the old ones. That's why they call it DHP. $13 for 100g tea is not cheap in my country. A very popular black tea here costs $0.61 for 100g.

"I also don’t think boiling a pot with tea is not a very good idea. All the bad stuff is gonna come out and impregnate the clay."

For this reason, I had removed the leaves before boiling it. I still wonder how the tea could have changed this much. I think I will boil some tea in another cooking pot without the teapot this weekend to see if I can reproduce the outcome. Maybe there really were some residues of sodium percarbonate in the towel that caused this change. I prepared a cup of tea and it tasted a little bit salty. I hope that was just pure imagination.

I am not too familiar with Yancha market, I think local tea shops sell Yancha low to mid range starts at $180-300 usd per pound here in United States. I was told by those sellers that high quality Yancha hardly leave China...not sure how true. I guess that’s probably the reason I don’t touch Yancha often. Good quality Yancha is like Lao Ban Zhang in the pu erh world, I would not dare to explore without mentors and years of experience

[Victoria]

That's the teapot: https://facebook.com/groups/14293783206 ... 1306970194

The tea was Oolong (Da Hong Pao) for about $13/100g. It's from organic agriculture (I hope that's the right word for it).

I boiled the teapot in filtered water before with no change to the water at all. The water used for the tea had also been filtered. I find it very unlikely, but there could have been some residues of Sodium Percarbonate in the cooking pot. But again, it's very unlikely. I think it has something to do with the boiling of the tea.

Nice Yixing, it looks very clean. I’d make sure all the sodium percarbonate is removed, and use it as a pitcher for a week or more with the tea you plan on pairing it with. Like others have mentioned, the tea you used might have cause the strange reaction, or residual sodium percarbonate, although I’ve never had that happen.

[Bok]

In my experience a week is maybe a bit excessive. I usually only boil once more with hot water for a short period after the sodium percarb. Never had any taste remaining... or also good just soak in hot water overnight.

[Mark-S]

@Victoria
Thanks Yeah, I will clean it again and use it as a pitcher with better tea. My favorite tea is "China Black Honey" (about $21.50/100g) from Tunxi Shiyan (near Huangshan). Hopefully, it will match with this teapot.

@Bok
What do you think about this price? I am no expert in tea.

Btw.: I have boiled the low quality tea in another cooking pot without any sodium percarbonate residues and without the teapot or a towel in it. The tea also got very dark and smells odd. The change in color could have happened because much of the water evaporated. However, this does not explain the nasty smell. The tea on the left smells normal and the boiled tea on the right smells like rotten fruits or something like that. Sweet but also harsh. I had never boiled tea before, so I do not know how it should smell and look but this is definitely gross.

[Victoria]

Btw.: I have boiled the low quality tea in another cooking pot without any sodium percarbonate residues and without the teapot or a towel in it. The tea also got very dark and smells odd. The change in color could have happened because much of the water evaporated. However, this does not explain the nasty smell. The tea on the left smells normal and the boiled tea on the right smells like rotten fruits or something like that. Sweet but also harsh. I had never boiled tea before, so I do not know how it should smell and look but this is definitely gross.

Are you by any chance boiling the tea leaves in copper or a similar reactive metal, rather than glass? Only other thing I can think of is some teas don’t like to be boiled .

[Mark-S]

Are you by any chance boiling the tea leaves in copper or a similar reactive metal, rather than glass? Only other thing I can think of is some teas don’t like to be boiled .

I prepared the tea in a porcelain teapot and boiled the tea without the leaves in a stainless steel cooking pot for one hour and let it sit until it was cool.

[Mark-S]

That's what the tea looks like (I had to use flash).