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- I was at my mom’s house one day and happened to have to move a (cold) teapot from the stove top. It’s a plain metal pot used for heating up water on the stove, not anything ornamental. It’s the regular type, with the whistling cap on the spout. Anyway, as I moved it I happened to lok inside, and saw a scary gray fungus coating the whole inside of the pot! Mom has the habit of never pouring out or cleaning it, she just leaves the water in it all the time. Sometimes she dumps the water out, but usually because she’s immediately dumping more right in to heat up. I hadn’t ever seen her try to clean it out. I said something about it but she didn’t seem too concerned.
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The way these pots are constructed, they are virtually impossible to clean out very well (-the lid doesn’t come off, there’s just a small opening for pouring water in and out).
Is teapot fungus deadly?
Does it add to the flavor of the tea? - DougC
- I was at my mom’s house one day and happened to have to move a (cold) teapot from the stove top. It’s a plain metal pot used for heating up water on the stove, not anything ornamental. It’s the regular type, with the whistling cap on the spout. Anyway, as I moved it I happened to lok inside, and saw a scary gray fungus coating the whole inside of the pot! Mom has the habit of never pouring out or cleaning it, she just leaves the water in it all the time. Sometimes she dumps the water out, but usually because she’s immediately dumping more right in to heat up. I hadn’t ever seen her try to clean it out. I said something about it but she didn’t seem too concerned.
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Half the time my wife or kids use our pot, they leave it on until it boils dry, so it’s pretty darn sterile most of the time. The lid comes off, too, so I can put it in the dishwasher when I want to get it cleaner. It doesn’t really get too shiny-clean seeing as how it’s been heated up to volcano heat about nineteen times. Good thing there aren’t any plastic parts…
After I make tea (I have both the ornamental and the stovetop kind) I rinse out the pot and turn it upside down to dry. Every once in a while I boil water with a bit of white vinegar in it to really clean and deodorize.
The fungus is NOT supposed to be there, and she should NOT leave standing tidepools of water in pots and pans. I’ve read warnings that the filters in office water coolers can grow nasty fungus if not cleaned out, this sounds like the same sort of thing. Although, I dunno - you should take the fungus to the lab and get it tested. Maybe you’ve got the cure for Anthrax growing in there, like penicillin on a moldy orange.
Better yet, maybe it’ll cure us of T-sippers. 
Short and stout.
First, the metal thing you put on the stove is a tea kettle. A tea pot is the (usually ceramic, and thusly not stovetop-safe) dealie that you actually brew the tea in.
Are you sure it’s fungus? It’s most likely just hard water deposits. They can be soft and easy to wipe away, or kind of scaly. It’s harmless, though may affect the flavor of the tea. You can get rid of them with vinegar (as magdalene says), or, if you’re impatient or it’s really thick, with a commercial cleaning product like Limeaway or CLR (in which case, DON’T heat the kettle with the cleaning product in it!)
Screw that! Just go buy another tea kettle!
If you do, can I have your old one? Half hour and some elbow grease, and that baby will be good to go. . .
Oh, you said “teapot.” I thought you said “penis.” That’s very different.
Nevermind.
Get a Mrs. Tea - it’s the greatest.