General Info
Questions About Utensils

Find answers to common questions about our teas, shipping, and utensils.

Black storefront of Ippodo Tea's flagship store, tearoom and headquarters in Kyoto, Japan with lush cherry blossom trees

We recommend cleaning your teapot with just water. Just throw the tea leaves out soon after you have finished using them. Rinse the pot until there are no more leaves in the pot. Wipe dry with a clean cloth, and leave to dry until next use.

Over time your kyusu will develop tea stains with regular use. These brown color stains are fine and expected, and they will not hurt the character of your tea.

Each of our kyusu is meant for use with tea only. If you use your kyusu to brew other teas besides green teas it may eventually develop an aroma of those other teas. This is especially true with teas with added fragrances, and teas (tisanes or herbal teas) that are made not from the tea leaf.

You can try these options to dislodge these leaves.

  1. Pour water in through the spout, close the lid with water inside, and then shake to try to dislodge any leaves from the filter.

  2. Let the teapot dry completely. Then fill with boiling water, which can flush out any leaves stuck in the filter.

  3. Gently brush the filter with a toothbrush to remove leaves. Be careful—these handmade filters can break with vigorous scrubbing!

The chasen can develop a crack in the handle portion over time, and sometimes even before purchase. There is nothing wrong with your chasen if it has a crack in it. Cracks will form naturally in the bamboo due to changes in humidity, and they do not affect the performance of the whisk.