I bought an old crome plated tin tea pot a a garage sale, I realy like this pot. My problem is that its imparting a very unpleasent metalic taste to the tea. Is there anything I can do to clean or contition this tea pot so I can use it?
Unfortunately, a metallic taste is one of the cons of metal teapots. That's why the preferred and recommended teapots are usually earthenware or glass.
Depends on how sensitive you are to the taste. Chrome plating is particularly challenging in this regard. Chrome itself is pretty inert (due to a coherent oxide layer). But chrome is generally plated over intermediate metals (like copper and nickel) that in turn are plated onto the base steel (not tin; that's a carryover from long ago) to enhance adhesion. When microcracks inevitably form, the resulting junctions of dissimilar metals form a galvanic couple that accelerates corrosion, hence taste production.
However, most metals passivate pretty well when exposed to random organic mixtures like tea. If you repeatedly brew strong tea in the pot and let it sit for a day or so at room temperature, then clean only with a water rinse and no scrubbing, an organic deposit will build up. This will reduce and possibly even eliminate the metallic taste. Like seasoning clay pots, it's a good use for stale tea that would otherwise be binned.
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