Should I clean my Teapot?
This is an age old question. Tannin builds up on the inside of the teapot when it is just rinsed out, should this be left or not?
Many years ago, in my late tees, I lived in Paisley, Scotland. During this time I had a part-time cleaning job at Arnott's department store. In the basement of the store all us cleaning ladies (think of Ena Sharples with her hair wound up in a scarf or Rosie the riveter); I was the babe, had a little gas ring and sitting area, I would hardly call it a kitchen, and here we would take an early morning break, as we went in at 6:00 am; and brewed up tea. These ladies where definitely of the opinion that tannin remained in the teapot and added to the taste.
I must admit that my little kitchen teapot is mostly just rinsed out, and therefore leaves the tannin in the teapot. I always brew up an Assam tea in this pot, so therefore it is not necessary to scrub it out.
If I drink a different tea, and want the pure taste of the tea, then I will get out a different teapot. To get the pure taste of teas such as a white, green or oolong tea you would want to start with a tannin free clean teapot. A white tea is far to smooth and delicate to brew in a tannin blackened teapot.
Christy
P.S. "The Messages": It took me one month with these dear ladies to figure out what getting the messages meant. Every day someone would say "after work I have to get the messages." Well as a girl bought up south of the border, I had to wonder why they had so many messages to pick up and where they picked them up. Eventually I twigged that it meant food shopping. If you shopped for clothes and household items that was shopping, but if you went for groceries, that was "the messages."
This is an age old question. Tannin builds up on the inside of the teapot when it is just rinsed out, should this be left or not?
Many years ago, in my late tees, I lived in Paisley, Scotland. During this time I had a part-time cleaning job at Arnott's department store. In the basement of the store all us cleaning ladies (think of Ena Sharples with her hair wound up in a scarf or Rosie the riveter); I was the babe, had a little gas ring and sitting area, I would hardly call it a kitchen, and here we would take an early morning break, as we went in at 6:00 am; and brewed up tea. These ladies where definitely of the opinion that tannin remained in the teapot and added to the taste.
I must admit that my little kitchen teapot is mostly just rinsed out, and therefore leaves the tannin in the teapot. I always brew up an Assam tea in this pot, so therefore it is not necessary to scrub it out.
If I drink a different tea, and want the pure taste of the tea, then I will get out a different teapot. To get the pure taste of teas such as a white, green or oolong tea you would want to start with a tannin free clean teapot. A white tea is far to smooth and delicate to brew in a tannin blackened teapot.
Christy
P.S. "The Messages": It took me one month with these dear ladies to figure out what getting the messages meant. Every day someone would say "after work I have to get the messages." Well as a girl bought up south of the border, I had to wonder why they had so many messages to pick up and where they picked them up. Eventually I twigged that it meant food shopping. If you shopped for clothes and household items that was shopping, but if you went for groceries, that was "the messages."
Ena Shaples as seen on Coronation Street
