Teapots

[hardy49]

I was so fed up with our old teapot dripping everywhere that whilst we were out a couple of weeks ago we went into a branch of Steamers - one of my favourite shops.Whilst we were examining their teapots a very polite young lady came and asked if she could help.After explaining what we were after she explained that with a teapot you get what you pay for and showed us a Le Creuset teapot at �15.Whilst this was a bit more than I had thought to pay,the thought of not having tea spilt all over the worktop convinced me we should have that one.
Came home, washed the new teapot and later made a pot of tea.It dripped !!!!!!!!!! I suppose we could have taken it back but the store is quite a way off.What are we doing that makes our teapots drip ???? Any ideas please ?

[crete]

i blame the government,

[spudmuffa]

Interesting one this. First of all, as an old tea-drinker like yourself, did you test the tea-pot before you bought it? I normally always carry a couple of tea-bags and a small vial of milk with me, at all times.
You never know when you get the urge for a cuppa! Hope this helps.

[pingping]

are you over-filling them? Personally I've never found a teapot that doesn't drip regardless of price!

[heathfield]

I once did a dissertation on teapots, and looked into this very subject. I've looked at Le Creuzet teapots, and you've confirmed what I thought would happen. For a teapot not to drip, the edge of the lip on the spout should be fairly sharp.This allows the tea to divide cleanly. If the lip is at all rounded, the last bit of poured tea follows the curve and either drips off, or runs down the outside of the spout.
The best non-drip spouts are found among Georgian style silver teapots, where the metal was thin, and the lip was sharp.
If you remember the similarly shaped aluminium teapots that Woolworths used to sell, with the cast aluminium spout, they are certainly among the best pourers.
They might not look so good on the table, but they do the job. An alternative to these can be the thin enamelled steel teapots.

[hardy49]

Thank you all

[scotchollie]

My grandad filed the spout flat on his Le Creuset type teapot - that did the trick so I think Heathfield is right about having a clean edge for the tea to pour over.

If it persists, switch to coffee.

[hardy49]

Good idea !!