Accelerated seasoning success

[Bok]

Maybe you should remind them that a good reputation takes time to establish, but no time to lose...

[Bok]

Does Chawangshop sell lead glazed wares? Not sure I've seen those on the site.

This ones are pretty good candidates for leaching lead:
https://www.chawangshop.com/tea-hardwar ... -35ml.html

Vintage, thick overglaze and also drawings on the inside.

[tealifehk]

Does Chawangshop sell lead glazed wares? Not sure I've seen those on the site.

This ones are pretty good candidates for leaching lead:
https://www.chawangshop.com/tea-hardwar ... -35ml.html

Vintage, thick overglaze and also drawings on the inside.

I have a 18th century export porcelain cup that I love, but it's overglazed, so it's something I use VERY rarely.

[Hmm]

Does Chawangshop sell lead glazed wares? Not sure I've seen those on the site.

This ones are pretty good candidates for leaching lead:
https://www.chawangshop.com/tea-hardwar ... -35ml.html

Vintage, thick overglaze and also drawings on the inside.

I have a set of small plates with that exact design, with that extremely thick overglaze, that were used probably at one time by peasants during the early Republic. The black enamels portions seem to have an iridescence look to them... meaning that it's very likely leaking out lead.

[Bok]

that were used probably at one time by peasants during the early Republic

Not only the peasants, actually a lot of the nobility died an early death, due to fancy table ware. Asia and Europe alike.

[Bok]

coincidence - Aloeswoods or Kyarazen as our forum member is known, just posted something about lead leaching tests on his IG account. Also describes a home-made way (sort of) to test.

[d.manuk]

This weekend I did a soft reset of 3 pots, by keeping them suspended in boiling water for 15 minutes (used floss to keep them in the pot without touching the bottom).

So next step is to marinate them in tea like Atlas is suggesting. My question is how should I brew the tea for the water? I'm going to test all of these pots for sheng puer and choose the one that brews best after seasoning them in this way. I'm not sure doing a 10 second steep of rinsed sheng would be good for this, it seems like I should steep the tea a bit longer, but a few minutes would likely not be best too since it would be very bitter?

Also how do you keep the pot submerged in the boiling tea? Do you let the teapot touch the bottom of the warm pot? I think I should avoid that so I think my floss method would work well with this too.

[Chadrinkincat]

This weekend I did a soft reset of 3 pots, by keeping them suspended in boiling water for 15 minutes (used floss to keep them in the pot without touching the bottom).

So next step is to marinate them in tea like Atlas is suggesting. My question is how should I brew the tea for the water? I'm going to test all of these pots for sheng puer and choose the one that brews best after seasoning them in this way. I'm not sure doing a 10 second steep of rinsed sheng would be good for this, it seems like I should steep the tea a bit longer, but a few minutes would likely not be best too since it would be very bitter?

Also how do you keep the pot submerged in the boiling tea? Do you let the teapot touch the bottom of the warm pot? I think I should avoid that so I think my floss method would work well with this too.

Why would it matter if it's bitter?
Your not drinking the tea and it's 100% unlikely to have any negative impact on future brews.

You can use your cleaned pots with out soaking them in tea first. I only soak pots that are overly porous, even than it's normally just letting tea sit in the pot all day or submerged in bowl of tea.

[Baisao]

Despite conventions, I argue that setting pots with tea should only apply to pots with bad clay or other foul characteristics. I would not do this with good clay and no longer season my high end teapots. Good clay is expensive; it doesn’t make sense to alter it with pore clogging fatty acids from tea.

[ShuShu]

Despite conventions, I argue that setting pots with tea should only apply to pots with bad clay or other foul characteristics. I would not do this with good clay and no longer season my high end teapots. Good clay is expensive; it doesn’t make sense to alter it with pore clogging fatty acids from tea.

I have been thinking about this ever since that post where you wrote you are entertaining this option. I think that this is certainly correct about red non-porous clays. But don't you think that a certain degree of seasoning will actually be better for more porous dark/brown clays?
My line of thought here is that by making very porous clays somewhat less porous, and when it is the tea that somehow fills the gaps, then you are not really clogging the surface but just make it less porous and still enjoy the clay. Does this make sense? this might be achieved by regularly rinsing your pots after use with cold water but just sometimes not...

[mudandleaves]

Despite conventions, I argue that setting pots with tea should only apply to pots with bad clay or other foul characteristics. I would not do this with good clay and no longer season my high end teapots. Good clay is expensive; it doesn’t make sense to alter it with pore clogging fatty acids from tea.

+1

Zisha will season quickly enough on its own anyways.

[tingjunkie]

I have Yixing expert friends who soak funky pots in a dilute beach soultion for a week or more to get rid of off storage notes. Of course, they must be soaked in pure water and boiled several times afterwards, but it doesn't harm the pots at all. Might be better than masking it with repeated "seasoning."

[Elise]

I have Yixing expert friends who soak funky pots in a dilute beach soultion for a week or more to get rid of off storage notes. Of course, they must be soaked in pure water and boiled several times afterwards, but it doesn't harm the pots at all. Might be better than masking it with repeated "seasoning."

I also heard tea advanced drinkers doing the diluted bleach bath and it seems all good afterwards.

[tingjunkie]

I feel like there was a thread back on TeaChat where another chemical was mentioned as well in having great success with cleaning Yixing, but I'm too lazy to go search.

[Victoria]

I feel like there was a thread back on TeaChat where another chemical was mentioned as well in having great success with cleaning Yixing, but I'm too lazy to go search.

I updated that information and posted it here, Awakening & Resetting Unglazed Ceramics / Yixing from Storage, Discoloration, Staining & Mold. I prefer using Sodium Percarbonate especially if mold is suspected as bleach won’t penetrate porous surfaces, only the water penetrates, while chlorine stays on surface, leaving mold's roots alive and eventual having mold return. Percarbonate by-products are non-toxic and environmentally safe.