How to Clean a Yixing Teapot (Daily Care, Musty Smells and Mould)

Clean a Yixing teapot with hot water only: empty the leaves right after the session, rinse inside and out with hot water, brush gently with a soft brush kept for tea, and let it dry completely with the lid off. Never use soap, detergent, a dishwasher or scouring pads: unglazed clay absorbs them and gives the taste back to your tea. For a musty or sour smell, flush repeatedly with boiling water and air the pot for a few days; stubborn cases get a gentle simmer in plain water. Mould is usually a drying problem and can often be fixed the same way.

I'll own up: the only Yixing pot I've ever had to rescue was my own fault. I left a session of shou in my small pot over a long weekend away, lid on. When I came home it smelled like a damp cellar, and there was a faint grey fuzz on the leaves inside. I was sure I'd ruined it. It took a few days of boiling-water flushes, a gentle simmer and a week of drying on a sunny windowsill, and it came back. But I've never left a pot with leaves in it since.

Most Yixing care is simple and takes a minute a day. This page covers the daily routine and the rescue methods for when something goes wrong. More in the teaware guide.

Daily care, in one minute#

1. Empty the leaves as soon as the session is over. Use a bamboo tool or your fingers, not a metal spoon.
2. Rinse inside and out with hot water. Include the lid and the spout.
3. Brush if needed. A soft toothbrush kept only for tea, for the inside, the strainer holes and under the lid.
4. Pour hot water over the outside and wipe it with a soft cloth. This keeps the surface even; the natural sheen comes from using the pot often.
5. Dry with the lid off, ideally upside down on a towel or rack, until completely dry inside.

That's it. More on building patina and dedicating a pot to one tea in how to season a Yixing teapot.

Why no soap#

Yixing clay is fired without glaze and stays slightly porous. That's what makes it good for tea: it absorbs a little of every brew and softens the cup. It also means it absorbs whatever else you put in it. Soap and detergent soak into the walls and come back as a soapy, perfumed taste that can take weeks of flushing to lose. The same goes for bleach and scented cleaners. Dishwashers add heat shock and harsh detergent on top.

Fixing common problems#

The gentle simmer (for stubborn smells and mould)#

Only when rinsing and drying haven't fixed the problem:

1. Put a folded towel in the bottom of a pan. Place the pot and lid on it, separately.
2. Cover with cold water and heat slowly to a gentle simmer. Never a rolling boil, and never drop a cold pot into hot water.
3. Simmer for 10–15 minutes, turn off the heat and let everything cool in the water.
4. Rinse, then dry thoroughly in a warm, airy place with the lid off, for several days if needed.

Be extra careful with thin pots and red zhuni clay, which is the most sensitive to sudden temperature changes.

Should you clean off the inside stains?#

No. The brown tea tone that builds up inside a Yixing pot over months is the part of "seasoning" that people value, and it's harmless. What you do want to remove are loose leaf fragments, slime, sour smells and mould. Brush gently; don't scrub with anything abrasive.

The outside is the same: a soft, deep sheen is the patina of a well-used pot. A sticky, blotchy crust is something else, usually tea left to dry on the surface. Rinse and wipe it away with hot water.

Resetting a secondhand pot#

Old pots have a history, and you don't know what's been brewed in them. Here's how I reset one:

1. Inspect it for cracks and chips with a torch, and smell it.
2. Rinse and brush thoroughly with hot water.
3. Gentle simmer in plain water, as above, once or twice.
4. Dry completely for a few days.
5. Brew several sessions of the tea you'll dedicate it to, discarding the first steeps.

If it still smells of something you don't want, or of chemicals, retire it from tea. A pot with a chemical smell may not be real zisha at all: see how to spot a fake Yixing.

Storing a Yixing pot#

Store it completely dry, with the lid off or resting loosely on top with a little air gap, somewhere clean and away from kitchen smells. Don't store it in a closed plastic box or bag. If you won't use it for a while, give it a hot-water rinse and a full drying before you put it away.

My rescue, step by step#

For the curious, here's exactly what brought back the pot I neglected over that long weekend:

Day 1. Tipped out the leaves outside, brushed the inside, flushed five times with boiling water. Smell: much better, but still damp and musty. Dried upside down with the lid off.

Day 2. Gentle simmer in plain water for 15 minutes, cooled in the pan. Dried on a sunny windowsill all day.

Days 3–7. Left to air, a boiling-water flush once a day.

Day 8. No smell left. Brewed two throwaway sessions of shou, poured them over the outside. By the third session it tasted exactly as before.

Myths about cleaning Yixing#

"A drop of washing-up liquid won't hurt." It will. The clay absorbs it and you'll taste it.

"You should never clean a Yixing pot, to keep the seasoning." Rinsing with hot water doesn't remove seasoning. Leaving old tea in it doesn't build seasoning; it builds sourness.

"Mould means the pot is ruined." Usually not. Surface mould from dampness can almost always be removed with boiling water, a gentle simmer and thorough drying.

"Baking soda or vinegar is a natural cleaner, so it's fine." They can affect the clay's surface and leave their own taste. Hot water is enough for almost everything.

My honest take#

Yixing pots aren't fragile divas. They need three habits: empty them straight away, rinse them with hot water, and let them dry with the lid off. Do that and you'll almost never need anything on this page beyond the first section.

The bottom line#

Hot water, a soft brush and full drying: that's Yixing care. No soap, ever. For smells and mould, flush, simmer gently, and dry for days. And keep the tea tone inside; it's part of a well-used pot.