Cleaning your teapot - do you?

The only times I actually use a teapot are when I have company over for tea (or occasionally if I just feel like drinking more than one cup in a sitting). Mostly, though, I use a single in-cup strainer.

When I do use a teapot, I use either my cast iron or my Yixing pot. I don’t ever use soap on either of them, because cast iron and clay are the two surfaces on which it’s not recommended to use soap. I do use my hand sometimes to swish the water around, but not a sponge.

I also have a French press that I also use for tea occasionally, which is made of glass and metal, that I’ve used soap and a sponge on. Pretty much everybody who’s posted here has got it: if it’s glazed, cleaning solutions are okay because the material won’t absorb them. :)

Firstly, thanks for the sharing. For me, I ‘d like to clean my teapot after steeping my tea, also, this is the same way for my Gaiwan.

If you are using a Yixing/Zisha pot, cleaning with anything other than water is a big no-no.
You can ruin a perfectly nurtured teapot that way.

If it’s ceramic, porcelain or glass, no real issue but unless you left your tea in the pot for hours, especially for white ceramics, there is no real need to.

I use my little Chatsford pot every day, often more than once. Usually I just give it a good rinse with warm water and maybe a drop of dishwashing liquid, but I occasionally shake some baking soda onto the inside surface and scrub it with a sponge. Works like a charm to remove the build-up!