Remove Scale From A Tea Kettle

I'm sure there are hundreds of articles already posted on the topic "how to remove scale from a tea kettle", but this is my quick and easy trick to make my tea kettle shine like new.

I've been using the same stove-top stainless steel tea kettle for tea and pour-overs the past two years. About two months ago I noticed there was a thick, ugly, gross looking, layer of light gray scale crusted to the bottom of my kettle. I'm not sure if this had a negative effect on the taste of coffee and tea, but it looked terrible. I want my coffee and tea reviews untainted by bad water so I began searching the web for a cure.

After an hour or so of searching are reading, a plan came together. I poured about 2 cups of vinegar into the cold and empty kettle and let it stand for around 30 minutes. After 30 had passed, I filled the kettle with cold water, turned the burner on high and let it boil away for a good ten minutes. Once it was done boiling I poured out the gray brackish water, removed the the cover and tentatively peered inside. To my surprise, the scale was completely gone and the bottom had the nice shiny glow of a brand new tea kettle. Truth be told it was probably cleaner now than when it came from the original box. I did give it a cold water rinse and another boil to remove all traces of the vinegar.

To keep it shining like new, just add 1/2 cup of vinegar to half a pot of water and give it a quick boil every couple of weeks. It works for me!