Do you wash your teaware? — The Tea Squirrel

Jul 14

Jul 14 Do you wash your teaware?

A few days ago, I asked my Instagram community the following two questions:

Do you wash your teaware?

82% yes
18% no

Do you wash your teaware with dish soap?

39% yes
61% no

I thought you’d be interested to hear what works for me. If you disagree, that’s okay, you do you, no judgement. Most importantly, I encourage you to do your own research and when in doubt, contact the manufacturer or the seller of your teaware. Better safe than sorry, am I right?

In general, I don’t recommend putting any piece of teaware of any kind in the dishwasher, unless you are a business serving tea to the public and you have to comply with specific health and safety regulations. Again, do your own research, this is a tea blog, for information purposes only.

Porcelain, ceramic, glazed stoneware, glass, borosilicate glass

I hand wash teapots, gaiwans, teacups and sharing pitchers made of these materials with a drop or two of unscented dish soap and a soft kitchen sponge (non abrasive) dedicated only to teaware (so I don’t get kitchen smells on my teaware). I only use two brands of dish soap (not sponsored), Seventh Generation Dish Liquid, Free and Clear and ECOS Dishmate Dish Soap, Free & Clear.

Unglazed clay teaware (like Chinese yixing and Japanese Tokoname)

I own a yixing teapot, an unglazed Japanese kyusu and a few unglazed tea cups. In this case, I strictly use hot water only to clean, absolutely no dish soap, warm running water to rinse out and then I let them air dry on a clean tea towel. Did you know that you can ‘season’ a brand new yixing teapot by boiling it in a pot with water and tea leaves?

Electric Kettle

I use lemon juice to descale it. I simply fill the bottom of the kettle with enough lemon juice and I will add some water if needed (some kettles have a minimum amount line). I like to filter the lemon juice so that the lemon pulp or seeds don’t make it inside my kettle. I set it to boil, discard the lemon juice and then I rinse it out and set it to boil again with just water, which I discard too before making tea again.