A
teapot is a vessel used for steeping
teaTea is the agricultural product of the leaves, leaf buds, and internodes of the Camellia sinensis plant, prepared and cured by various methods...
leaves or an herbal mix in near-boiling
waterWater is an ubiquitous chemical substance that is composed of hydrogen and oxygen and is essential for all known forms of life.In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam. Water covers 71%...
. Tea may be either in a
tea bagA tea bag is a small, porous paper, silk or nylon sealed bag containing tea leaves for brewing tea. The bag contains the tea leaves while the tea is brewed, making it easier to dispose of the leaves, and performing the same function as a tea infuser...
or loose, in which case a
tea strainerA tea strainer is a type of strainer that is placed over or in a teacup to catch tea leaves.When tea is brewed in the traditional manner in a teapot, the tea leaves are not contained in teabags, but rather are freely suspended in the water. As the leaves themselves may be distasteful, it is usual...
will be needed, either to hold the leaves as they steep or to catch the leaves inside the teapot when the tea is poured. Teapots usually have an opening with a lid at their top, where the tea and water are added, a handle for holding by hand and a spout through which the tea is served.
A
teapot is a vessel used for steeping
teaTea is the agricultural product of the leaves, leaf buds, and internodes of the Camellia sinensis plant, prepared and cured by various methods...
leaves or an herbal mix in near-boiling
waterWater is an ubiquitous chemical substance that is composed of hydrogen and oxygen and is essential for all known forms of life.In typical usage, water refers only to its liquid form or state, but the substance also has a solid state, ice, and a gaseous state, water vapor or steam. Water covers 71%...
. Tea may be either in a
tea bagA tea bag is a small, porous paper, silk or nylon sealed bag containing tea leaves for brewing tea. The bag contains the tea leaves while the tea is brewed, making it easier to dispose of the leaves, and performing the same function as a tea infuser...
or loose, in which case a
tea strainerA tea strainer is a type of strainer that is placed over or in a teacup to catch tea leaves.When tea is brewed in the traditional manner in a teapot, the tea leaves are not contained in teabags, but rather are freely suspended in the water. As the leaves themselves may be distasteful, it is usual...
will be needed, either to hold the leaves as they steep or to catch the leaves inside the teapot when the tea is poured. Teapots usually have an opening with a lid at their top, where the tea and water are added, a handle for holding by hand and a spout through which the tea is served. Some teapots have a strainer built-in on the inner edge of spout. A small hole in the lid is necessary for air access inside to stop the spout from dripping and splashing when tea is poured. In modern times, a
tea cosyA tea cosy is a cover for a teapot, traditionally made of cloth or wool, which is used to insulate the tea, keeping it warm while it brews. Cloth tea cosies often have padded inserts, which can be removed and washed separately.Tea cosies are often available in matching sets with other items such...
may be used to enhance the
steepingSteeping or weltering may mean:# Soaking in liquid until saturated with a soluble ingredient. Tea is brewed by steeping the leaves to release the flavor and nutrients...
or to prevent the contents of the teapot from cooling too rapidly. A tea connoisseur will usually warm the teapot by rinsing it with boiling water and then draining it completely before making tea.
History of the teapot
The teapot probably derived from the ceramic kettles and wine pots which were made in bronze and other metals and were a feature of Chinese cultural life for thousands of years.
The earliest example of a teapot that has survived to this day seems to be the one in the Flagstaff House Museum of Teaware; it has been dated to 1513 and attributed to Gongchun
From the end of the 17th century tea was shipped from China to Europe as part of the export of exotic spices and luxury goods. The ships that brought the tea also carried
porcelainPorcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...
teapots.
The majority of these teapots were painted in blue and white
underglazeUnderglaze is a method of decorating ceramic articles, the decoration is applied to the surface before it is glazed. Because the glaze will subsequently cover it such decoration is completely durable, but because the subsequent glost firing is at a higher temperature than used in on-glaze...
.
Porcelain being completely vitrified will withstand sea water without damage, so the teapots were packed below deck whilst the tea stayed on top in the dry.
Tea drinking in Europe was initially the preserve of the upper classes since it was very expensive. Porcelain teapots were particularly desirable because porcelain could not be made in Europe at that time.
It wasn't until 1765 that
William CookworthyWilliam Cookworthy was an English Quaker Minister, a successful Pharmacist and an innovator in several fields of technology.-Parents, birth, siblings and early life:...
devised a way of making porcelain and founded a works at
PlymouthPlymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
UK for the
production of a porcelain similar to the Chinese.
When European potteries began to make their own tea wares they were naturally inspired by the Chinese designs.
Teapot care
It is recommended that unglazed teapots not be washed in a
dishwasherA dishwasher is a mechanical device for cleaning dishes and eating utensils. Dishwashers can be found in restaurants and private homes.-How dishwashers work:...
or soapy water. They should be rinsed with warm water only and left upside down to dry. If an unglazed teapot is used with different teas, it is advisable not to mix them and have dedicated teapots for every tea variety to preserve the taste. Natural
tanninTannins are astringent, bitter plant polyphenols that either bind and precipitate or shrink proteins. The astringency from the tannins is what causes the dry and puckery feeling in the mouth following the consumption of unripened fruit or red wine...
sediment in an unglazed teapot should be left untouched as over time it will enhance the flavouring without flaking off as in a glazed teapot. To remove build-up of tannin in a glazed teapot one can use boiling water and a couple teaspoons of baking soda and leave it overnight, then wipe and rinse to desired state.
Chocolate teapot
A
chocolate teapot is a
teapotA teapot is a vessel used for steeping tea leaves or an herbal mix in near-boiling water. Tea may be either in a tea bag or loose, in which case a tea strainer will be needed, either to hold the leaves as they steep or to catch the leaves inside the teapot when the tea is poured...
that would be made from
chocolateChocolate comprises a number of raw and processed foods produced from the seed of the tropical cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America, with its earliest documented use around 1100 BC...
. It is commonly supposed that such a teapot would melt, and be impossible to use, therefore the term is often used as an
analogyAnalogy is a cognitive process of transferring information from a particular subject to another particular subject , and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process...
for any useless item.
In fact, experimental research in 2001 failed to successfully use a chocolate teapot they had made, but later research by the
The Naked ScientistsThe Naked Scientists is a one-hour audience-interactive science radio talk show, broadcast live by the BBC in the East of England, and internationally as a podcast. The programme was created by Cambridge University clinical lecturer Chris Smith...
in 2008 shows that such a teapot can be used to make tea, provided that the walls of the teapot are made thick enough.
Teapots in non-teamaking contexts
A teapot has a rather peculiar shape, and its fame has often nothing to do with its primary function.
- The Utah Teapot
The Utah teapot or Newell teapot is a 3D computer model which has become a standard reference object in the computer graphics community...
is a standard reference object of the computer graphicsComputer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of pictorial data by a computer....
community, comparable to Hello, World for its popularity. It is included as a graphics primitive in many graphics packages, including AutoCADAutoCAD is a CAD software application for 2D and 3D design and drafting, developed and sold by Autodesk, Inc. Initially released in late 1982, AutoCAD was one of the first CAD programs to run on personal computers, and notably the IBM PC...
, POV-RayThe Persistence of Vision Raytracer, or POV-Ray, is a ray tracing program available for a variety of computer platforms. It was originally based on DKBTrace, written by David Kirk Buck and Aaron A. Collins. There are also influences from the earlier Polyray raytracer contributed by its author...
, OpenGLOpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...
, Direct3DDirect3D is part of Microsoft's DirectX API. Direct3D is only available for Microsoft's various Windows operating systems and in the open source software Wine. It is the base for the graphics API on the Xbox and Xbox 360 console systems. Direct3D is used to render three dimensional graphics in...
, and 3D Studio MaxAutodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio MAX, is a modeling, animation and rendering package developed by Autodesk Media and Entertainment.- Early history & Releases :...
.
- Along similar lines, in the "3d pipes" screensaver
A screensaver is a type of computer program initially designed to prevent phosphor burn-in on CRT and plasma computer monitors by blanking the screen or filling it with moving images or patterns when the computer is not in use...
, under Windows, a Utah teapot appears at pipe junctions periodically.
- Russell's teapot
Russell's teapot, sometimes called the Celestial Teapot, was an analogy first coined by the philosopher Bertrand Russell , intended to refute the idea that the burden of proof lies upon the sceptic to disprove unfalsifiable claims of religions...
, a skeptic analogy refuting the unfalsifiability of religious claims devised by Bertrand RussellBertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was an English philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. Although he spent the majority of his life in England, he was born in Wales, where he also died.Russell led the British "revolt against idealism" in the...
and further expanded upon by Richard DawkinsClinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL is a British ethologist, zoologist, Neo-Darwinian evolutionary biologist and theorist and a popular science author....
.
- The teapot has been featured in the nursery rhyme
The term nursery rhyme is used for ‘traditional’ songs for young children in Britain and many English speaking countries, but usage only dates from the nineteenth century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...
, "I'm a Little Teapot"The Teapot Song" is a song describing the heating and pouring of a teapot. The song was originally written by George Harry Sanders and Clarence Kelley and published in 1939.- Lyrics :...
".
- The constellation of Sagittarius famously resembles a teapot.
In architecture
- In 2004, a Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories, with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants...
n cultCult may popularly refer to a religious group with relatively few adherents whose beliefs or practices are regarded by others as strange or sinister.The term "cult" was originally used to denote a system of ritual practices...
called the Sky KingdomSky Kingdom is the name of the commune and sect founded by Ariffin Mohammed in Malaysia. The commune, based in Besut, Terengganu, was demolished by the government of Malaysia in August 2005. As of 2006, Ariffin Mohamed resides in exile in Narathiwat, Thailand, just over the border from Kelantan...
erected a pink teapot 35 feet tall on its property as part of its own private symbolism http://www.apologeticsindex.org/s/s53.html#Subject2.As part of a crackdown on the sect in August 2005 bulldozers and heavy machinery were sent in to tear down the structure.
- The (purported) world's largest architectural teapot is to be found in Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state of the United States. The thirty-fourth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the seventh-most populous with nearly 11.5 million residents...
http://www.wtrf.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=3995.In 1938 The Chester Teapot was constructed by William "Babe" Devon. The Teapot started its life as a gigantic wooden hogshead barrel for a Hire's Root Beer advertising campaign. Devon purchased the barrel in Pennsylvania and had it shipped to Chester where it was set up on Carolina Avenue, which is also State Route 2. A spout and handle were added at this time and the wooden barrel was covered with tin to form the teapot's shape. A large glass ball was placed on top to make the knob of the "lid". The Teapot stood in front of Devon's pottery outlet store. Local teenagers were hired to run a concession and souvenir stand which was set up inside the Teapot.
See also
- Kettle
A kettle, sometimes called teakettle, tea kettle or the pot, is a small kitchen appliance used for boiling water in preparation for making tea or other beverages requiring hot water. Used only on stovetops. Often made out of copper. Or at least copper bottomed...
- Kyusu
is a traditional Japanese teapot mainly used for brewing green tea.The common misconception is that a kyusu always has a side handle. However, the word "kyusu" merely means "teapot", even though in common usage kyusu usually does refer to a teapot with a side handle.The two most common types of...
, Japanese teapot
- Samovar
A samovar is a heated metal container traditionally used to heat and boil water in and around Russia, as well as in other Central, South-Eastern, Eastern European countries, and in the Middle-East...
, a heated metal container traditionally used to boil water for tea in and around Russia, as well as in other Slavic nations, Iran and Turkey
- Yixing clay teapot
Yixing clay teapots Yixing clay teapots Yixing clay teapots (also called Purple Sand are made from Yixing clay. This traditional style commonly used to brew tea originated in China, dating back to the 15th century, and are made from clay produced in the region of the town of Yixing in the...
, a special Chinese clay teapot
Further reading
- Steve Woodhead, "The Teapot Book" A.&C. Black, 2005 ISBN 0713660163.
- Robin Emmerson, "British Teapots and Tea Drinking" HMSO, 1992 ISBN 0-11-701509-1
- Garth Clark "The Artful Teapot" Thames and Hudson ISBN 0-500-51045-8
- Edward Bramah "Novelty Teapots" Quiller Press ISBN 1-870948-72-6
External links