Stainless steel, lasts forever is easy to clean very low maintenance and can't chip rust or flake. If you get one that is pure stainless it will work on induction hobs, mine have encased copper bottoms so will not. I've boiled them dry, forgotten about them for hours used them in the
oven, used them on outside fires and the bbq and they still look almost exactly as new 20 years later. (minus a dent where I dropped one) And if you do really manage to burn them you can use pretty much anything to quickly clean them up, acid or alkaline.
how does the teapot get "nasty"? I get it may be a bad shape to get a hand into but stainless it the absolute easiest material to clean since it's so forgiving of your method. That's why it's used in kitchens and sterile environments.