The Best Teapots, According to Tea Drinkers

✔️ Size: Consider how many tea drinkers will be using the teapot. You may want a smaller size if it's just you and your roommate, versus a larger teapot if everyone in your family enjoys a hot cup of tea. Since you can't leave most teapots on the stovetop when not in use, you also want to make sure you have enough room to store your teapot safely so it won't break.

✔️ Weight: It's important to consider the weight of a teapot without tea, explains Bleyer. If a teapot is too heavy, it can be uncomfortable to hold and may be a dealbreaker for an older tea lover or a person with arthritis. Plus, its weight will only increase once you add water.

✔️ Material: Most teapots are made from ceramic, glass, steel or cast iron. Cast iron and steel tend to have the best heat retention, but you want to be careful when holding the handle of a cast iron teapot as it can get hot.

✔️ Infuser: Think about how you prefer to brew tea: Do you use tea bags or loose leaf tea? If you fall in the latter category, a teapot with an infuser may make the most sense, but you can also purchase an infuser separately if you fall in love with a teapot that doesn't include one.

✔️ Handle: The handle of a teapot will either be made of the same material as the rest of the pot, or something different. In our testing, thicker handles offered more stability and control while pouring. Ceramic handles were also comfortable to hold and didn't get hot like cast iron.

"Normally a kettle is designed to boil water for tea, while a teapot is designed to steep hot water and tea leaves," explains Bleyer. While a tea kettle can go on a stovetop, that is not true for most teapots, she adds. Kettles are typically designed to go on the stovetop or are electric, while usually only cast iron teapots can be placed directly on the stove.

As with all cleaning questions, our first piece of advice is to consult the user manual. Some teapots may be dishwasher safe, but others like those made of fine china will most likely need to be hand washed. Bleyer recommends using a sponge and warm, soapy water to hand wash your teapot. Make sure to get the spout too! You can use a straw cleaner for this step if needed. "If the teapot has a built-in tea infuser, that will also require extra scrubbing," notes Bleyer.

If you notice tea stains inside your teapot, fear not: Home Care & Cleaning Lab Executive Director Carolyn Forté is here to help. Her go-to tea-stain-removing method is using baking soda. "Start by wetting the surface, liberally sprinkle on some baking soda and scrub with a delicate scrub sponge," explains Forté.

For hard water stains, Forté recommends spritzing the teapot's interior with full strength white vinegar and then let sit for 10 to 15 minutes before scrubbing.

Elizabeth Berry is the updates editor at the Good Housekeeping Institute where she frequently collaborates with experts in the Kitchen Appliances and Innovation Lab to report on the best aprons, kitchen towels, picnic baskets and more. While Elizabeth begins each day with a cup of coffee, she switched to tea for her daily dose of caffeine for two years. She prefers English Breakfast in the morning and soothing chamomile in the evening.

To write this guide, Elizabeth teamed up with Raena Loper, a contributing writer at the GH Institute. Raena tests a variety of kitchen appliances in the Lab, including food processors and large air fryers, as well as writes shopping guides on the best pressure cookers and more. She conducted our most recent evaluation of the best teapots and prefers a cup of green tea or a fresh Southern iced sweet tea.

Eva Bleyer, Kitchen Appliances Lab reviews analyst, oversaw our teapot testing. Eva tests all kinds of kitchen gear, home appliances and culinary innovations at the GH Institute and has more than 10 years of experience in the food industry. She prefers a cup of herbal tea before bed and enjoys an Earl Grey, chai or green tea in the afternoon.