Whittard Pimlico Glass Teapot Review
The Whittard Pimlico Teapot was my first ever teapot and I still use it very regularly! Don’t let the delicate glass appearance fool you – this is actually a very sturdy and reliable teapot that’s perfect for everyday use. As an avid tea drinker, there are many days when I crave more than just one cup of tea. For those days, this teapot is perfect.
If you need a teapot that serves just one or two people, the Whittard Pimlico Glass Teapot is an excellent option. Read my full review below to find out why.
Whittard Pimlico Teapot at a Glance
- Method: Infuse within the teapot, then pour into cups
- Best For: Loose leaf and blooming/flowering tea
This is a lovely teapot that’s fairly easy to use, brews fine tea leaves very well, and is ideal for showcasing your most beautiful loose leaf teas and blooming/flowering tea varieties. It’s small enough to use every day, but elegant enough for tea parties too.
Full Review – Whittard of Chelsea Glass Teapot
- Type: Glass teapot
- Filter: Stainless-steel mesh basket infuser, spiral spout filter
- Volume: 600ml
- Ease of Use: Fairly easy
- Where to Buy: Whittard Official Website
The Whittard Pimlico Teapot is a simple teapot design. It consists of a borosilicate glass teapot with a 600ml volume, which is roughly three small teacups, or two mugs worth. It has a smart stainless-steel lid, a spiral spring filter that fits in the spout, plus a mesh basket style infuser that sits inside.
Obviously, it won’t survive being thrown about or knocked off the counter, but the glass is very strong nonetheless. I’ve used it for several years, pouring in boiling water straight from the kettle. It hasn’t shown a single sign of weakness!
Dual Filters
You’ll like the versatility it offers too, with the dual filters. The spiral filter that fits into the spout won’t catch fine tea particles, but it does catch large loose leaf tea leaves. This is a great option for brewing blooming tea bulbs, as the filter doesn’t obscure your view of the tea as it brews, but it does stop stray petals and leaves clogging the spout and entering your cup.
The spout itself is wonderfully designed. You can see in my pictures it creates a lovely arc and doesn’t ever drip anywhere. You have full control of the pour.
For more convenience when brewing, you can take the spiral spout filter out of the teapot and use the mesh basket filter instead. I really like that this filter has a silicone handle that tucks in the top. As you can image, the filter gets very hot as it brews, so that simple handle makes removing it very easy (but it does have drawbacks when it comes to cleaning, see below).
Finally, you have a stainless-steel lid that fits snugly on top thanks to the silicone rubber seal. I like that the seal is see-through, but it isn’t very sturdy. I carefully remove it and clean it after every use, but this is definitely the weakest link of the teapot.
Overall, it’s a lovely teapot for one. I like to brew up a whole pot and drink several cups over an afternoon. It stays hot for quite a while, usually around an hour, which is plenty of time to drink three small teacups over an episode of House M.D. (or whatever you’re in the mood for).
How to Use the Pimlico Teapot
Using this teapot is fairly easy, but it’s not fool proof.
Spiral Spout Filter
You need to put the filter in place before you fill the teapot with water. This is fairly easy to do, so long as you have small hands that can reach inside the teapot. Once it’s hooked in place, I recommend warming the teapot with hot water for a few minutes before you refill and brew.
Place your tea leaves inside the teapot and pour water inside, then place the lid on top and wait for it to brew.
The biggest drawback to using the spiral filter is that you can’t remove the leaves once you’ve reached the right brew strength. You can either pour out all the tea into three cups at that point, or pour a cup at a time and just let the tea brew dangerously strong in the pot as time goes on.
This is why I rarely use the spiral spout filter if I’m drinking alone.
Mesh Basket Filter
This is the better option, in my opinion, and the filter I use most often in the Whittard Pimlico teapot.
First, you can place leaves in the filter, place the filter in the teapot, and pour water straight over it. This is great for black and herbal tea that needs very hot water temperatures. But with the mesh basket, you can also pour water into the teapot first and add the filter later, when the water has cooled a bit. This makes it better for green tea and other tea types that need gentler temperatures.
Just be careful not to over-fill the teapot before you add the mesh basket, or water will go everywhere when you push the filter in.
Once the tea has brewed, you can pull the silicone handle on the filter to remove it. I like to place it on a tea saucer as it will leak tea for a while afterwards.
Cleaning and Storing Whittard Tea-Ware
Whittard confirm that this teapot is dishwasher safe, but I’d never risk that. First, the heat of the dishwasher can warp the filters and second, any large pot or pan that falls on the teapot will definitely crack it.
Unfortunately, washing this teapot by hand is not an easy task. I have small hands, so I can reach my sponge inside the teapot to clean it easily – but it’s still awkward for my wrists. You will also need to get a straw/spout cleaner, like the long blue fuzzy one I have pictured, for cleaning the spout.
As this is a glass teapot, any spec of dirt, tea stain or watermark is painfully obvious on the inside or out, so you can’t just rinse the Whittard Pimlico Teapot. You need to really clean it carefully and thoroughly after every use.
The spout and under the silicone seal are the areas where stains linger most, so pay attention there.
As for the filters, the little spiral one can be cleaned in a flash but the mesh basket is a nightmare. Even with my small hands, I can’t clean the inside bottom of the filter efficiently and I’m ashamed to say there’s a dark brown tint to the edges where I can only drag the sponge, not apply pressure to scrub it.
In short, I despise cleaning this teapot!
Summary
I highly recommend this teapot, even when it’s such a drag to clean. The convenience of brewing up several cups of tea at once for myself (without breaking out the family-size teapot) is excellent, and I love the clean pour it provides.
This is an elegant teapot too. The design is as lovely as the tea it creates! You can buy it directly from Whittard’s official website using the button below. They offer international shipping.
Tea Recommendation
If the full Whittard Pimlico Teapot seems a bit too much for you, have a look at my review of it’s baby brother next. The Whittard Pao Mug Infuser is another tea-ware item that I use regularly and has all the elegance you need with a smaller capacity.