hey guys, how do I clean my "vintage" Brown Betty teapot?

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it's an old 12 cup pot made in England by ALB in a brown betty style

since it has a screen built into the spout (just wooden match sized holes in the body where the spout connects) i can't run a cloth all the way through the spout.

I have tried pipe cleaners and while they get some of it out, I don't think it's doing the job. I don't want to use bleach or the heavy duty industrial coffee/tea cleaners I have for fear of it absorbing into the clay and making the tea taste bad

any suggestions?

[The empressof all]

1. Oxyclean

Oxyclean will work with this. It won't leave a taste. Use a scoop for the pot, fill with very hot water and swish it around the areas that are particularly dirty.

I use Oxyclean to clean my coffee maker and it does a great job.

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7. hmmm I think i have some of that around somewhere

i'll have to dig it out

[politicat]

2. I would suggest boiling vinegar,

but the bigger issue is - are there tea leaves stuck in the holes?

Those require, in my experience, a bamboo skewer.

If it's glazed inside, neither oxyclean nor vinegar will hurt it.

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8. no hole blockage now, i got that with pipecleaners

and boiling vinegar would be a last resort (unless i can vacate the house for several hours lol)

[Stinky The Clown]

3. A couple of ideas .......

Here are a couple of ideas, one made specifically for cleaning the sort of residue one encounters in one's teapot or coffee brewer:


It is a cleaner and descaler for espresso makers, but is a good all purpose coffee/tea stain remover. I buy it by the case and it works equally well on all sorts of coffee and tea equipment, not just espresso makers. Since cleaning an espresso maker (in particular the innards of the boiler) must be done without access to the dirty area (the boiler is sealed), it will work on your tea pot, I am sure. They sell it here (among hundreds of other places). They charge $11.00 for the three pack (three envelopes of it per box). I buy it direct from the manufacturer for $14 a case of 12 three pack boxes ..... waaaaaay cheaper!
http://www.wholelattelove.com/WholeLatteLove/cleancaf.cfm

The other thing I have heard works (but have never tried) is denture cleaner!

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6. thanks H2S I use a lot of those type cleaners in my biz

but fear they will leave a taste in the clay pot

they work great in glass, stainless and even plastic (with a vinegar rinse) but not sure they're right for a porous vessel

[Stinky The Clown]

9. I can't imagine it would leave a taste

The stuff rinses freely. I actually tasted it once (a drop on my fingertip cuz I'm crazy and curious - a dangerous combinbation!) and its pretty tasteless.

edit to add ...... I **know** you use this stuff in your store. I answered the quesioton without seeing who posted it! :)

Try the denture cleaner if you're really worried about the teapot. Can't hurt anything for sure and leaves no taste or residue.

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10. well they do rinse cleanly tis true!

hmmmmmm

[demnan]

4. Can you post a picture of your pot?

I collect teapots and I'd be interested in seeing it. My brown betty is a regular glazed teapot and I just put it in the dishwasher, but I'm sure yours is different from mine.

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5. here's my dowdy beauty

the makers mark says "ALB England"



what little I have been able to learn, it stands for "Alcock, Lindley and Bloore"

The last of the Staffordshire Alcock factories was the Vulcan works in Hanley, Stoke on Trent owned by Alcock, Lindley and Bloore Ltd. This was founded in 1910 and survived until 1974 when it was taken over by the Royal Doulton factory and subsequently closed down. Their produce consisted almost entirely of ‘Brown Betty’ teapots. These were the archtypeal standard brown teapot used in countless cafes, businesses and homes throughout the UK and boring as they may be, they were, and still are, much loved by everybody.

according to this website http://www.abcir.org/alcocks.html



this is another one with a different paint job I found at a collectables site on the web

[eleny]

11. What a cute work horse

Funny you should be needing to clean it. Just yesterday I washed some of my little crockery collection. It's on the top shelf of open shelves in the kitchen. Some stuff from the 40s my mom had and a few things I picked up over the years. Were they mucky! The open shelves are next to my stove and the ceilings are low. You can imagine. I filled the sink with hot sudsy water and kept washing. They look nice, now. I hope you got your "betty" all spiffed. It looks nice on the stove, btw.

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12. i love that little betty

DH broke my 6 cup when we were doing the potshelf etc, it was sitting on top of the fridge, he moved the tray to get into the cabinet, then forgot and opened the fridge! CRASH!!!




but i'm truly happier with Betty, I use her almost daily and a couple times a day on weekends

and I haven't cleaned her yet, she's full of tea! LOL

[demnan]

13. That's a teapot with real character

I'll bet it makes a great cup of tea too. What kind of tea do you guys like?

I'm into a lot of different teas. This morning I'm going to have Yunnan Green Imperial.

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14. my local coffee roaster also blends teas

so i try all kinds of stuff

we also regularly order tea from Pike Place Market in Seattle, home of the original Market Spice tea, call them at [phone] to request info

[imenja]

15. maybe this is heretical, but one in a great while I bleach teapots and cup

with a very small amount of bleach diluted in lots of water. I then rinse it very well. It couldn't be worse than all those chemical cleaners. Plus, I saw Martha Stewart do it on TV once. So there you are. It must be a good thing.

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16. bleach is fine on coffee/tea stuff

just use a vinegar rinse to finish it off