Warming the pot

Before brewing tea in your dainty teapot you might want to run hot water through it first.  You just pour some hot water in, swirl it around, you can even let it sit in there for a minute or two and then pour it out.  This is called “warming the pot.”

You want to do this for two reasons.  If  you pour boiling water into a pot that’s at room temperature you run the risk of cracking it, especially if it’s made of delicate material like china.  I have a few teapots that you can see fine crack  lines in the glaze because I didn’t take the time to warm the pot first.  The other reason to do this is it slows down the heat transference from the hot tea to the pot keeping your tea warmer a little longer.  This is the Second Law of Thermodynamics in action.  Tea and physics – all in one!