Strange smell on vintage japanese tea cups...help!
I recently bought a set of old (looking) japanese tea cups. They came in a wooden box with a hand painted mark and yellow cloth. Hand thrown, in what I assume are Tenmaku and Shino glazes. They’re absolutely beautiful and were a bit expensive, and I’d love to use them. The only problem is that the first time we used them my wife and I noticed they made the tea taste different. If you smell a cup, it has a fairly strong, musty, dusty, honey and possibly a shade of lavender smell. It’s not unpleasant but it smells…..almost rank too. I put the cups through the dishwasher (I know I know) and still the smell is there as before. Is this common? Is handmade japanese teaware ever perfumed? Has anyone had a similar situation before? It’s quite strong and noticeably changes any tea and makes them smell all very similar…
Any help much appreciated. I’d love to use these daily!
I doubt the cups themselves are perfumed or anything, though the box might have been or they could’ve been stored with something smelly at some point or maybe some idiot used them to hold or burn incense. Try washing them a few more times, If they’re glazed then the clay shouldn’t actually absorb an odor like yixing would, it’ll just be stuck to the surface, don’t give up, it should come off eventually, hopefully.
Try rubbing them with baking soda and a little water (making a paste) to get any surface grime off and then let them soak in baking soda and water for a few hours. I found baking soda helps pull off smells even in plastic tea devices.
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