The History of the Teapot

When your attention is caught by the beauty, flowing lines or humour of a teapot, do you realize that the invention of teapot making goes back seven hundred years to the Ming Dynasty in China? Our tea trading in the U.K. goes back to the 1650s but to go back twice as long is indeed a long, long time.

To preserve the aroma and flavour of tea often carried over many miles, it is understandable that the Chinese used stoneware containers, which were superior to porcelain. They were produced around the hills of Yixing near Shanghai, which supplied clays ideal for making storage jars and pots for tea making.

As making the same thing every day leads to boredom, it is hardly surprising that the Chinese potters started producing imaginative shapes. Designs incorporating fruit, foliage and animals appeared and they were adapted by the manufacturers in Germany and England and have been in production in England ever since.

In the Victorian age, novelty teapots adapted to contemporary tastes sold by the thousand with the China figures and Toby Jugs. The twentieth century added the motor car, the aeroplane, space ship and established their own themed cottages. As the variety grew, the survivors of past generations dwindled, adding the spice of variety to collecting.

Nevertheless, a word of caution…. While whimsical or novelty teapot collecting is tremendous fun, it is important not to forget what the original teapot was made for. It certainly was not made for a teabag, but rather it met specific criteria to be the correct size, to be sturdy and able to stand on a table without easily being knocked over. The top opening was large enough for the pot to be cleaned. The knob was comfortable to grasp without being so big as to get knocked off. The lid also stayed on as the tea was poured and you did not burn your knuckles against the heat. Grooves and corners were not difficult to clean. There were other considerations regarding the height of the handle, the spout, the grille at the bottom of the spout and the material the teapot was made of.

In short, the classic product was a "Brown Betty" teapot used for infusing leaf tea.

Although I state the obvious by reminding readers that the original use of a teapot was to make tea, the fact is that if you allowed the teabag to encroach on our tea making ceremony, each guest might take their own flavoured teabag and place it directly into their cup or mug. The teachers do this in a school staff room, it is done in motorway cafes and if carried to its inevitable conclusion, we would end up with no teapots at all. Indeed people might not be able to comprehend how we ever made tea in a pot.

And so I have a suggestion - as well as collecting your novelty teapot (my definition is that it is one that makes you smile), why not collect or at least have one formal teapot with a grille at the bottom of the spout purely for making traditional orthodox tea. Such tea could have the 5 minute infusion which was the heart and soul of English Afternoon Tea.

By Edward Bramah - Founder of Bramah Museum of Tea and Coffee