Episode 52 18th Century Pre-Revolutionary Tea - You Are Invited to Have a Dish with Me

-
Listen to "052 18th Century Pre-Revolutionary Tea" on Spreaker.

 Link to the Episode:
Episode 52 18th Century Pre-Revolutionary Tea - You Are Invited to Have a Dish with Me

Tea is a beverage that invites the invention of ceremony.  And one where it should be: To each, Their own.  The kinds and ways of tea – virtually infinite, for there is always something new to be found or made.

 

And yet – might we love to be the pedant more than we love the joy of personal enjoyment?


Van Aken's 1733 Family Tea Party
Notice - Pinkies up! Already.
(for the adults anyway - the kiddo has a cooler cup 
they can hold with the entire hand) 

18th Century (fancy) Tea Paraphernalia:

porcelain tea caddy
The lids of caddies was often used as a tea measure

Fruit shaped tea caddies were popular.
A pineapple shaped tea caddy is such a double display of wealth

gilded 18th century tea set - caddy, tea pot & auxiliary pitcher
Notice the handleless cups and deep saucers.
Also - the garden scenes on these tea sets were influencing
American & English garden designers (see next week's episode)

silver teapot


Kitties taking advantage of the deep 18th century saucer

Book:

Roth, Rodris. Tea Drinking in 18th Century America: It’s Etiquette and Equipage. Vancouver, WA: Tea Trade Mart Publishing Co., 2017.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Episode 65 Pudding & Cream & Cake that is Not a Lie

-
Listen to "065 Cream & Pudding & Cake that is Not a Lie" on Spreaker. Link to the Episode:  Episode 65 Pudding & Cream & Cake that is Not a Lie 18th Century, pre-revolutionary cake was generally a heavy dense thing compared to our modern, airy baking powder assisted cakes.  The only leavening was yeast and eggs.  And sugar?  Expensive.  Cakes were definitely less sweet.  If you were not wealthy, or it wasn't a wedding, birth or a death,  molasses and maple syrup (more generally known as "maple molasses" in the 18th century) would stand in.  And these too would tend to make your cake more dense as well. It was also common for cakes to be only slightly sweetened and then studded with dried or sugared fruit - think fruit cake.  Either the dense bricky stuff of English descent - or the new Italian star of the modern American winter holiday scene, panettone 18th century cake American cakes were largely thick, moist things that wer...
Read more

Episode 64 Milk & Butter Money

-
Image
Listen to "064 Milk & Butter Money" on Spreaker. Link to the Episode: Episode 64 Milk & Butter Money The Dairy Maid arrives on the scene.  Unlike so many depictions of this or that type of colonial person or other, which tend to be overly idealized depictions, the representation of Dairy Maids is not too far off. She's going to be seen in a colonial dress (don't forget the cap or head wrap), and apron and carrying pails, hanging out with cows, or seated at a churn.  The main place they miss is giving her slim forearms and shoulders.  Between the milking,  the carrying and the churning, she would be a first pick for any arm-wrestling team.   Colonial Williamsburg did lots of the heavy lifting for me - and has excellent photographs of 18th century dairymaid dress , and the dairy out buildings - as well as longer explanations of how they functioned. Dairy House in Colonial Williamsburg Long eaves and slats - but no windows.  And a stone foundation...
Read more