Teapots

Everyone loves teapots and tea drinking. When using a teapot to brew your tea, it puts you in a magical world where you can reflect on your younger days and hosting tea parties. Remembering the special times you shared tea with friends and family. Making you feel like you just stepped out of the childhood fantasy book “Alice in Wonderland”.

Whether displaying them in your home or using them for brewing, teapots have always been popular. Every young girl had a tiny teapot to use for her tea parties with friends and stuffed animals. Tea parties are a great way to teach your children good table manners and table etiquette when their older. 

People have always been collectors of teapots. Many people have collections of teapots and display them in their homes. They display them in the homes as focal pieces. These people spend a lot of time and energy searching for unique teapots to add to their collections. . Some are very expensive, and can be an investment that is passed on from generation to generation.  A fine English bone china teapot may cost you $50 to $100.  If you’re a collector of antique teapots you will pay double that price for a vintage one.  

You can find antique teapots being auctioned on e-bay, being sold in antique shops, and at estate sales. For a newer teapot there are many online stores that specialize in them.  Your local mall’s department stores should carry variety of teapots to choose from. Your town may just have a specialty store full of teapots.

You may not know exactly what a teapot is. It is far different form a tea kettle as they heat up on your stove, and you can’t do that with a tea pot as they are much too fragile. A teapot is a vessel used for steeping tea leaves or tea bags in boiling water. Teapots have an opening at the top where you pour in hot water and add the tea bags or tea steeper, whichever you prefer to use. It has a handle for holding by hand, and a spout through which the tea is poured. A tiny hole is in the lid of the teapot and is necessary for air to access inside to stop the spout from dripping and splashing the tea when it is poured into cups.

Teapots are made of many differ types of materials. The teapot originated first in China and was made of clay. The teapot can be traced back to China and the Ming Dynasty, about, 1500. Chinese potters first created an unglazed teapot made of red stoneware for steeping tea leaves. By the end of the sixteenth century, the Chinese were making the teapot of fine glazed porcelain and decorating them with blue and white designs. Then the Japanese begin making red clay teapots. Both always used teapot in the religious rituals.

Now teapots are made of all different kinds of materials like bone china, glass, porcelain, stone, silver and cast iron, just to name a few. They come in many different shapes and sizes with millions of different designs. We are also able to find a teapot in the finest china, glass, sterling silver, and stoneware in every shape and form imaginable.

The world’s smallest teapot weighs only 1.4 grams and can sit on the tip of your finger. It was created by Chinese porcelain artist Wu Rui-shen in November of 2007. You can visit the world’s largest teapot in Chester Wet Virginia and it is big enough to live in. It measures 14 feet by 14 feet and was constructed in 1938 by William “Babe” Devon. The giant teapot began as a wooden hogshead barrel made especially for a Hire’s Root Beer ad campaign. The oldest teapots that have been unearthed by archaeologists are the purple sand teapots form the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

A china teapot or porcelain teapot is the best for keeping the tea piping hot, a ceramic teapot or stoneware teapot is interesting and can set the mood as well as be a great conversation piece.

Giving a teapot to someone is a very thoughtful gift. It is the perfect gift for a wedding, anniversary, or to give when someone is feeling under the weather. The teapot isn’t just used exclusively for brewing tea; you can also brew coffee and make hot chocolate in your teapot.

It also seems to make a person feel more intellectual when drinking from a fancy teapot. There is a certain etiquette that the English follow when they drink tea. In China, intellectuals promote Chinese tea and teapot culture, and are closely related to tea and teapots.  You may want to try brewing some tea in your teapot to see if after drinking it that you feel smarter.

For those of us who love to drink tea, the teapot is like a toy for adults. The appearance of a whimsical teapot will set the mood for the perfect tea party.  Bring out the homemade cookies and serve them to your friends along with a nice hot cup of tea.

No wonder the teapot has remained so popular. Today, tea is second only to water in terms of worldwide popularity as a drink. And what better way to drink it, than out of a teapot.