Pam on wed 7 jan 04
Monday, while working my volunteer shift at the local clay
guild/gallery, I completed my first teapot :-) 999 to go before I get a
good one :-)
Anyway, setting it in the ware room to dry sparked thoughts of how to glaze
it, and of course that led to a browsing of the Clayart archives. (Browsing
the archives is my favorite excuse for not doing house cleaning.) There I
saw Mel's advice to not scrub tea pots.
I have been a tea drinker for decades, first drinking tea from my mom's
old (very old) brown betty, then moving out on my own, and getting a pretty,
delicate porcelain pot with rice holes all over it. Translucent white glaze
inside and out, with a touch of blue floral pattern. (I broke the tip off
the spout last winter, after 20+ years, I need to repair it!) I have been
keeping it meticulously clean, because the white glaze on porcelain looks
bad when tea stained. I guess I have been wrong! Just a rinse at the close
of the day, and rinse with hot water just before the tea goes in next time?
No soap??
I guess that means I need one pot for my lapsang souchong, and another pot
for my daughter's chai, and another for my husband's green? And if I want a
bit of earl grey, I need yet another pot? I cannot imagine that leaving
behind residue from strongly flavored teas would taste good in subsequent
delicate teas. And maybe if I have a pot devoted to just green tea, it could
be unglazed inside, relying on the wonderful green tea to keep it healthy?
So, what do you rabid tea drinkers do?
No soap?? No scrubbing? No dishwasher?????
*Sigh*
(I got a great, heavy cast iron skillet for Christmas, so I could sear big
fat chunks of mad cow and other proteins, and seasoning that pan just seams
so wrong, I have to fight with myself constantly not to give it a good
scrub. I confess, I have used a bit of soap on it, oh the shame....)
Back to tea pots:
I have a new little pot that was a gift from my sister, it is a one mug or
two tea bowl size earthenware, but the color is a deep purple brown, no
glaze. It is beautiful! I think I need to go put some green tea in it right
now, then return to the archives again for ideas on how to glaze the pot I
made.
Pam, by a big creek in in the cold, cold Midwest, making another pot of tea
now that the kids are safely in school and the husband is across town
earning the grocery money
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