Tea Cups through the Ages

Now that we have a basic understanding of where our favourite cuppa came from perhaps we should take a look at the history of the different types of tea cups that have been used over the centuries and led to the kind of cup we use today.

Since drinking tea began in China it makes sense that the very first tea cups would originate there as well, in essence the very first tea cups were actually small pottery tea bowls that were held by the thumb and forefingers by the lip and base. Originally tea in China was reserved only for the aristocracy and tea cups were made into works of art that can still be seen in museums today. However with the invasion of the Mongols, tea became the drink of choice amongst even the lowest members of society.

When the European traders arrived in China they found this new drink and exported it back to Europe along with the handless tea cup. This did not sit well with the Europeans as they tended to burn their fingers on the hot rims and bottoms of the cups. To solve this problem, handles were added making the cup much easier to hold onto and less messy to drink from, which would fit in much better with the highly decorous standards of 17^th century Europe.

Traditionally European tea cups differ in more ways than just having a handle from their Asian counterparts, they are taller than they are across the base for added stability and generally hold a much larger serving. In most European homes you will find at least one set of tea cups and saucers that can be brought out when guests are expected for afternoon tea.

As tea drinking became popular amongst the aristocracy the impetus to create more elegant and delicate cups to grace the tables of the aristocracy in both halves of the world. In China the first tea bowls were made from clay and were simple affairs used as drinking bowls for a variety of beverages. As their skills and knowledge grew the Chinese potters learned to create hotter kilns and how to blend the necessary levels of iron into the clay to create the first porcelain tea cups. Many fine examples of these cups are still found in museums today.

Because the Europeans prefer a lighter thinner cup, porcelain became more popular and porcelain manufacture became a true art form by the late 18^th century. Many of the tea cups of this period were made thin enough that you could almost see through them leading some makers to embed images into the layers that could only be seen by holding them up to the light.

Not satisfied with the overall fragility of the fine porcelain tea cups and other products he had learned to make in his father’s factories in England, Josiah Spode II decided to create porcelain that would be much stronger while still retaining the original beauty. There are essentially three types of porcelain, hard paste, soft paste and bone china.  The younger Josiah found that by adding bone ash from the crushed and burned bones from animals to the mix he could create a porcelain or bone china that would be exceptionally strong.

Today the standards established by Josiah Spode II are still the same standards by which all bone china is measured and those actually made in the Spode factory are among the most collectible and valuable in the world.

Many people love to collect tea cups and there are almost as many different ways they go about it as there are different types of tea cups. For some they collect them by time period such as Victorian or even by Chinese Dynasty. Others may prefer to collect only porcelain or bone china cups and yet others may choose to collect some of the many whimsical cups that have been created over the centuries. Collecting Tea Cups can be a lot of fun, but there is still one very important job that every tea cup must be able to do and that is hold a delicious cup of tea for your drinking pleasure.