Cleaning: Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing

[Bok]

My best guess still is that tea if of low quality... good Yancha can be boiled normally. But rotten fruit is nothing I would expect to smell, even if it’s over-boiled? Anyone else ever had that?

But then my Yancha is to precious to use it for seasoning a pot in boiling water...

[Mark-S]

@Bok
Yeah, I think you are right. This tea tastes not bad for the price, but I bought another tea from the same seller and it tasted soapy.

What do you think about the tea I mentioned earlier? Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of it, but it's from a more trustworthy seller.

"China Black Honey" (about $98.61/pound) from Tunxi Shiyan (near Huangshan)

Could this be good tea for the price?

[Bok]

Bok
Yeah, I think you are right. This tea tastes not bad for the price, but I bought another tea from the same seller and it tasted soapy.

What do you think about the tea I mentioned earlier? Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of it, but it's from a more trustworthy seller.

"China Black Honey" (about $98.61/pound) from Tunxi Shiyan (near Huangshan)

Could this be good tea for the price?

I have no real idea about Chinese red tea prices. But it should be proportionally be better than a Yancha of the same price.

[Mark-S]

@BokAlright, thanks

[Victoria]

@Mark-S just by chance a friend yesterday was talking about medicinal plants in Mexico, and in particular one that when fresh green leaves are boiled turn black and stinky. She didn’t remember the name of wild plant (I’m assuming it wasn’t Camellia Sinensis) but that it was used for medicinal purposes, in this case arthritis.

[Mark-S]

@Victoria
Interesting, maybe there are leaves from other plants in the tea which cause this to happen.

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I am going to clean this pot in about a week. Have you ever cleaned a similar one before? Is it safe to boil it and use Sodium Percarbonate on it, or will it destroy the white color?

[DailyTX]

Victoria
Interesting, maybe there are leaves from other plants in the tea which cause this to happen.

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I am going to clean this pot in about a week. Have you ever cleaned a similar one before? Is it safe to boil it and use Sodium Percarbonate on it, or will it destroy the white color?

I have boiled a 100+year old zisha teapot with sodium percarbonate, it should be fine. If your teapot is not too dirty, a bath in sodium percarbonate will be good prior to boiling with water. If you add tea to boil, it will stain the white color

[Mark-S]

@DailyTX
So it won't harm the white color? That's good to know. I won't boil it in tea this time. It was a stupid idea from the beginning.

What about this glaze? Is it also insensitive to boiling water and Sodium Percarbonate? I did not dare to clean it.

[DailyTX]

DailyTX
So it won't harm the white color? That's good to know. I won't boil it in tea this time. It was a stupid idea from the beginning.

What about this glaze? Is it also insensitive to boiling water and Sodium Percarbonate? I did not dare to clean it.

aww a glazed yixing. Mine turned out fine. You can flip through the yixing thread, I posted some photos on page 32. In fact, my glazed yixing was so dirty, I did 1 bath, 1 boil with sodium percarbonate, and 1 more boil with just water. Just a FYI, I don’t plan to use that pot because I am worry about color glaze bleed into zisha, and enjoy being poison

[Mark-S]

Great, thanks for the information I also do not plan to use my glazed pots because of the lead.

[Victoria]

A word of caution, when slow simmering in a big stockpot or cookware, be sure to use a trivot and cloth to protect the teapot from rattling (or it might crack). @Mark-S both your pots look pretty clean outside, if the inside is really really bad then I’d just; put a few tablespoons of sodium percarbonate inside, place teapot inside a large glass Pyrex container and fill to cover with boiling water, let rest till cool, then do a slow simmer with filtered water. If the inside isn’t terrible, you can just use baking soda interior scrub, followed by diluted vinegar wash, and then boiling water rinse.

[Mark-S]

@Victoria Why would you only use Sodium Percarbonate if the teapot is very dirty? I find scrubbing with baking soda and especially the use of diluted vinegar way more risky.

[Victoria]

Victoria Why would you only use Sodium Percarbonate if the teapot is very dirty? I find scrubbing with baking soda and especially the use of diluted vinegar way more risky.

Well, I’m not a chemist, but baking soda is less invasive (doesn’t penetrate the surface) and is 1/4 the cost of sodium percarbonate. Vinegar shifts the pH, evaporates and leaves no odor within 24-48 hours. It’s perfectly okay.

[Mark-S]

@Victoria
I only use 1-2 tsp for a teapot and boil it in fresh water for at least 30 minutes. This should be enough to remove all residues in my opinion, but I am also no chemist. When I have a very dirty pot and 1-2 tsp of Natrium Sodium Percarbonate is not enough I'll try it with baking soda and vinegar too. I did not know that vinegar leaves no odor. Baking soda only costs about 30% less where I live, so that's not a problem. Using this much of baking soda would be a comparatively costly affair:

[Bok]

@Mark-S that looks like way too much powder to me. I normally use one tea spoon in- one outside the pot. That cleans the dirtiest pots in 1, max 2 rounds. Sodium percarbonate, not Natrium percarbonate.