"Seasoning" the coffee and tea mugs? Anyone do this?

[politicat]

I am having a "JUST what kind of freak DID I marry?" set of moments today.

I pulled out a slope-sided,ceramic coffee mug (the travel kind) from peaberry in which to make my morning mocha latte. (By the way, thanks for all of the superb advice on buying an espresso maker. We ended up with a less than automatic one, because even the filtered water in our area is hard, and the idea of waking up to a machine that sounds like the mating rituals of a couple of orcs is just a bit much. Anyway)

I'm 90% done - frothing the last of the milk - when in comes The Love of My Life, He To Whom I have Yoked Myself and says in the utter horror of a PETAist on the kill floor of an industrial meat plant, "Did you make COFFEE in that mug?"

Well, yeah. And I washed it yesterday, too.

"That's a TEA mug. Now I have to start over."

Huh? Okay, we do have designated PLASTIC or plastic lined tea and coffee mugs because the coffee etches the plastic and leaves a film that, even after cleaning, doesn't really go away. Tea from a plastic coffee mug tastes like tea that is brewed with water that is heated by pouring it through the coffee maker - the residues come out in the wash. But with ceramic?

He stomps off to finish clearing out the shed - today is the great demolition and reconstruction project - and I poke around a little. He and I have different china mugs in our sets - he likes a shallow, wide bottom cup (harder to spill) while I like a taller, more fluted mug (keeps tea warmer longer) so we have 12 place settings of each and he uses one while I use the other. The saucers fit both, on purpose. I don't pay much attention to his cups, because I don't use them. His saucers are generally clean, but his mugs are absolutely filthy... at least, four of them are. Two are stained a definite tea brown and two a definite coffee black-brown, and if I run a fingernail through the grime, it comes off. The other eight are pristine - I don't think they've ever been used except at our dinner parties, where I rarely serve more than 8 at a time.

He tells me this is "seasoning" when I mention quietly when next he comes in that these need to be soaked and washed.

I think he's crazy and killing the potential of the coffee/tea.

Am I being a neat freak on this one? Is there really a seasoning process for cups that I've managed to miss, or am I dealing with Mr. Lazy and he's being oddly territorial about mugs?

[The empressof all]

1. I think this is a strange quirk

Sort of like folks who can't stand to have the different foods touch each other on a plate. I would be concerned about bacterial growth though. :shrug:

He's nuts....but if it's the worst you have to contend with...Consider yourself blessed.

[mandyky]

2. What empress said!

LOL

It has taken 10 years to get mine to dump out the last dregs of coffee from his morning coffee. It never mattered that much until I started using a dishwasher except when it dried up and left stain in the bottom of the mugs. He still forgets occassionally, but que sera sera.

[politicat]

17. He is nuts... but he's a good nuts, most of the time.

I will solve the problem later this week - rearranging the cupboards, and giving him one that's for his mugs exclusively. I'll use the household china and my one stainless travel mug.

I won't say this is the worst -- he has some other quirks (programmer, very mild Aspie's) but they're manageable. At least he's not Republican and he votes the way I tell him and he comes out Liberal-Libertarian on the Political Compass (we're both to the left of Ghandi.)

[Dora]

3. My boss's tea mug

is quite coated with tea leavings. I believe it's entirely intentional on her part. I'm not about to ask.

[babylonsister]

4. "The Love of My Life, He To Whom I have Yoked Myself" -

:rofl: I honestly had a hard time getting past that!

You both surely do like your morning beverages and the attending individual rituals. Who knew anyone could be so serious about china, but I've never heard of this 'seasoning' of which you speak! I'm always trying to scrub tea stains away.

[politicat]

20. Very serious about our china and our caffeine.

The china comes from having the wills of other imposed upon us for dishes. We were married for 18 months and had been together for well over 2 years when we finally found THE china - plain white, large plates, wide rims, no decor, with both soup plates and salad dishes, mugs and saucers (who knew saucers had gotten rare?) and salad plates. And it's open stock, so there's more if we break some. I'm still working on glassware and flatware, and our 5th anniversary is coming up in December. (His ex had rather ... erm.... ornate taste, and mine was happiest with Big Lots junk, the more mismatched the better. We both like simple, clean lines and things we can use for the next forty years without worry.)

And as for caffeine... well, yeah. Drug of choice. Every junkie has 'em.

[chefgirl]

5. Yes!

My ex husband used to do this 'seasoning' you speak of with his coffee mug. I was very young when we were first married, and got thoroughly grossed out by it, and decided to wash it one day after he left for work.

Well, OH MY GOD, you might have thought I had sold our first born on the black market the way he reacted!! Im not kidding. I couldn't believe anyone would freak out so bad over something like that, but he did.

So, of course, after the huge argument, when I made the obligatory phone call to my mother, I was equally stunned when she took his side!!

She explained to me that it was a very old tradition, and not many people did it anymore, but there was a time when, to drink a cup of coffee in a cup that wasn't properly 'seasoned', one would be considered something of a coffee novice.

Needless to say, I won the argument ultimately, because his cup was always washed after that but :puke:

I've never heard of anyone doing it with a tea cup, but I have heard of it being done with a tea pot, so I guess it's not much of a stretch.

I say, dirty dishes are meant to be washed.

-chef-

[Duer 157099]

6. Hold on. I've never heard of this, but

do you mean I might have an excuse to not wash my coffee mug? I'm all ears!!

(although the gross-out factor is quite strong, and I don't think I can get passed it)

But really, what is the idea exactly? To, after drinking your coffee, just rinse the cup but don't wash it with soap? Or... something worse? (like, don't even dump out the dregs?)

This is so confusing...

(but, I'm quite familiar with how it works with cast iron, and I managed to get passed the potential gross-out factor there, so I'm willing to learn about this)

[NMDemDist2]

7. we use "seasoned" coffee mugs

but I do wash them occasionally when the build up is getting to much but NEVER with soap

I (and Mr K) both can tell the difference when soap is used. So I usually just give em a swish with the scrubby side of the sponge with no soap and hot as I can stand water and call it good

this is especially true of tea mugs

I'd give him a pass on this one.....

[The empressof all]

9. I Don't understand

Do you all drink black coffee? I use milk. Don't they get smelly if you don't thoroughly clean them? I can understand if you use black coffee or tea....

[NMDemDist2]

10. Milk? never! or sugar either

black coffee, black tea

I drink something sweet MAYBE once a month. and if it's a soda, I have to cut it 50/50 at least with club soda or I can't get past about 4 ounces

I got some great cherry cider in NM on our trip and it even gets the club soda treatment :shrug:

[The empressof all]

12. Oh Thank God

Then it's not disgusting. You're ok in my book again! :hi:

[NMDemDist2]

13. ROFL

that's a relief :pals:

[japple]

27. Hey AZDem! I do the same thing. Can't stand sweet drinks

esp. coffee and tea. I even hate hot chocolate. I tasted chai tea once and almost barfed. I do love fresh fruit juice and even like unsweetend cranberry juice. I, too, mix stuff with club soda or tonic. And all this time, I've been thinking I was weird!

[politicat]

16. He drinks everything black.

Thus, can get away with just rinsing out his cups with very hot water (I think he uses the hot water from the tea kettle). I do not drink my coffee black, and I prefer iced tea to hot tea, even in the dead of winter - raise a kid in hot climates and she will always associate comfort with ice. So I want clean stuff.

I'm giving up. I just won't touch those cups.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

8. I don't know,

but when you say that stuff comes off when you run a fingernail over it, I say it's disgusting. That's not seasoning - that's just dirty.

I might be a philistine about all of this, but I think it's a great candidate for my "Oh, Please" Hall Of Fame.

[Duer 157099]

11. That's what I'm thinking

With cast iron, the concept is at least to provide a non-stick surface.

With a coffee mug... the idea is ... what?

Is it that soap somehow doesn't rinse well out of the mug and so the coffee has a soapy taste? That by leaving a coffee film, you cover up the pores that would otherwise hold soap?

[NMDemDist2]

14. that's the main idea

but hot water and a green scrubby work wonders (as long as you don't over do it)

:D

[Warpy]

15. Eccch!!!

I'd get one of those plastic scrub pads and scrub the sediment off the inner walls of those cups ASAP. A bleach solution will remove any staining that remains.

Any layer that can be scraped off with a fingernail is a bacteria condo, and trust me, there are bacteria that live on coffee and tea residue. Ick!

He's Mr. Lazy. There is no seasoning process for cups, unless you're referring to preheating one with hot water before you pour the coffee or tea into it.

My pop was the same way about his bourbon glasses. They were actually rather nice glasses when I got the layer of brown haze off the inside.

[politicat]

18. He's got a Tungsten tummy.

Between his hot sauces and the other mad foods he eats, I am almost certain that any bacteria that enter his system immediately write to the Red Cross/Red Crescent and ask for amnesty.

I ended up bleaching one on him - "dropped" it into the sink full of bleach and water I was using to bleach out the kitchen towels. ... Oops.

It's nice to know that they WILL come clean.

[Warpy]

19. Still, you'll want to get rid of that layer of scuzz

because you don't want to court disaster if you don't have to.

You don't have to use soap, although adequate rinsing will remove all the residue. Just use one of those plastic scrubbers to get rid of it.

My #1 tea mug is a hand thrown, heavy job done by a local potter with wonderful glazes and a great sense of humor. I keep that puppy exquisitely clean between cuppas.

[wryter2000]

21. I think you need a separate cupboard

Keep his "seasoned" cups as far away from yours as possible. :rofl:

[Duer 157099]

22. As I made coffee this morning...

I did what I usually do with my french press -- just dumped out yesterday's grounds and rinsed it with water. Although, just out of guilt I usually wash it with soap about once a week, but now I'm thinking that hmmm maybe I don't even have to do that.

[politicat]

24. He cleans the french press!!!

And I clean the espresso maker. And he asks me to run vinegar through the baby pressure-drip (sort of like auto-drip, but for we high altitude types) about once a month, because I can handle the smell (or go outside) of the cooking vinegar, and it makes him seriously nauseous.

That's what gets me about this whole thing. It's just... goofy.

[Arkansas Granny]

23. I have known, and still know, people who refuse to wash their

coffee mugs because they swear it ruins the flavor of their coffee. For myself, I don't want to drink anything out of a cup or glass that still shows the signs of the previous occupant.

I once worked in an office where the coffee pot had a dark brown film all over the inside. When the boss caught me cleaning it with Comet he swore that I had ruined it, but later had to admit that I made the best coffee in the office. Go figure.

[Rabrrrrrr]

25. Of course one should never drink tea and coffee from the same mug.

That just ruins it - and, in fact, one should have separate tea pots for each kind of tea: I have one for green, one for black, one for white, and one for flavored teas, so that the flavors of don't corrupt each other (other than that the variety of flavors used in the flavored tea pot will undoubtably touch each other, but I rarely drink flavored teas, so it's a compromise I'm willing to make).

And tea and coffee cups, nor the tea pots, carafes, or other coffee/tea making devices, should never be touched by soap.

That said, i've never heard of "seasoning". Tea and coffee mugs, and the pots, should still be rinsed out after use until clean. No film should remain, in my opinion. That's a bacteria colony waiting to rise up and destroy.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

26. My Italian grand- and great-grandparents

would be mightily amused (and confused) by the preciousness that's overtaken the simple ritual of enjoying a good cup of coffee.

They washed their pots, their cups, every utensil, with soap and the hottest water available.

In China, the teapots are mercilessly boiled and scoured and cleaned with all sorts of things. Some are still alive.

Although a good Japanese friend of mine is a Master in Tea Ceremony, so maybe I should check with her about all this, but, you know, I've been in her kitchen when she put our coffee and tea cups/mugs into the dishwasher when we were finished.

[Warpy]

28. I've always scrubbed 'em out with soap and water

My ex liked coffee. I was a tea drinker. Soap and water got rid of that coffee scum in the cups so that my tea tasted like tea.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

29. Nonna?

Nonno?

You my grandma? Grandpa?

Oh, sorry. They're, uh, you know, "not here anymore," as my mother used to say about the disappearing budgies.

Yeah, this whole concept of cleanliness appeals to my taste buds, too.