Saturday 22 February 2014

Tea and Civilisation

We're still working our way through the multitude of tea bags stashed in our cupboards.  At some point I realised that part of the fun of having tea in the various cafes and tea shoppes is because of the lovely cups and saucers.



So Bill got out some that belonged to his mother. I've long admired these ivy-covered cups. I thought we should look for a matching tea pot, but Bill said it wasn't customary that the pot matched the cups. Who knew? In any case, if I tire of ivy, there are quite a few other sets to choose from in the loft...

4 comments:

sanda said...

Is that pot a Brown Betty? I bought one in Englanf and, silly me, sold it in a garage sell once when I was moving. Wish I had it back. You are so right in that serving tea in beautiful cups is part of the tea experience! What is the everyday tea fav there?

Shelley said...

Sanda - Bill looked at the underside and found 'Rockingham' and when I looked up Brown Betty teapots, Wikipedia says these have a 'Rockingham' glaze. Apparently they date back to the Victorian era. Who knew? I'm sure this one is 20th century, mind; I think it belonged to Bill's mother and she definitely was not a collector or a sentimental type. Still, who knew it had a name? They don't seem very expensive on eBay.co.uk if you wanted to replace yours. Personally I don't think it's terribly attractive...just functional.

Gam Kau said...

I went through a phase where I bought a lot of china and then I decided I had enough of owning so much stuff and it all got sold or donated. I still own too many dishes, but I'm down to just a couple of teapots. I love having tea in pretty china cups, but admit at home I drink tea out of a big pyrex glass.
Anyway, I am found of a mismatched look and like your cups and creamer and teapot - so pretty!

Shelley said...

Gam Kau - One time Vivien and I visited a 'coffee house' but we ordered tea. It came in really cool glasses that seemed to be a glass inside a glass, but all of a single construction so far as we could tell. The liquid in the inner glass was hot but the space between inner and outer glass protected our hands. I'd be sorely tempted to buy some of these, but fortunately I've not seen them.