Cleaning tea ware

Cleaning tea ware

A week or so ago, I came across a very useful looking video from Mei Leaf. It's not about how to make tea, rather it is how to clean up after tea. Since I've been wanting to clean my small teapot, I decided to give it a try. You need a big container to hold water, gloves, a soft cloth or sponge, baking soda, and citric acid.

I found citric acid in the bulk food section of my grocery store. The one that has the really nice selection of bulk spices. I wasn't quite sure how big of a container I needed because the mixture does fizz up. I had this right next to the sink, and several towels around it when I mixed everything together. As it turns out, it doesn't fizz all that high, and I had plenty of room in my bowl. It wasn't deep enough to completely immerse my tea ware, but I kept changing its position to allow the bubbles to work everywhere. I also used a Q-Tip to clean the spout on the tea pot. 

So, how did it work?

This is the before picture. I did't get the tip of the spout in this shot, but that was the worst stain on the teapot. This is what it looks like even though I wash it every day when I use it. The stains don't magically dissolve in the solution, but wiping them after soaking will, for the most part, take them away. 

The instructions said to add equal parts of baking soda and citric acid to the water (1 tablespoon per liter). I added more baking soda and it fizzed up again. I'm not sure what the chemistry equation for this reaction is, so I figured add one or the other, or both until the reaction started again. 

After:

Again, I didn't get the tip of the spout in this shot, but the inside of it was white again. It was incredible. I can't say that it looks completely brand new inside, but it looks a lot better. 

I also tried this on a cup. 

I've had this cup since I was a kid. I don't remember drinking much tea out of it (since I had it long before I started drinking tea). This was/is my hot cocoa cup a lot of the time. It is the perfect size for that since hot cocoa packets are made to be used with 6 ounces (a scant 200 ml) of water. I'm really not sure what the stains inside of it are from, but I thought I would give it a try. 

It did help lighten the stains a bit, but no amount of scrubbing with the solution was going to take those stains out. However, having the before and after pictures does help to see that it did help. I wonder if part of the problem is the finish. I noticed that the glaze on the cup is not as smooth and shiny as it used to be because it has been washed in a dishwasher a lot over the years. Maybe it needs several treatments before it will look better. 

As they say in the video, this is okay to use on glazed tea ware, and glass, but don't use it on crackle finish or clay tea ware. As you can see, I don't have high end tea service. I have 2 teapots, they have the same pattern on them, and they were both purchased during after Christmas sales. Yes, I use Christmas tea pots year round. This is definitely a tip I will revisit again (especially since I have enough citric acid to do another cleaning).