Tea Caddy

There are various tea caddies available in the market today that it would be hard to buy the perfect tea caddy. The oldest tea caddies were made of Chinese porcelain and shaped like ginger-jars with blue and white patterns. These were copied by the English kilns with slight revisions on the designs and forms. Tea caddies today are made of different materials such as pewter, wood, tortoise shells, copper, brass, and silver.

A tea caddy is a must have item for people who love to buy loose leaf tea. To buy the perfect tea caddy, there are several factors you need to consider. These factors are necessary to keep the tea fresh and at the same time look good.

The perfect tea caddy should be made from a material that doesn’t react with the tea. This is one reason why pewter is considered as the most preferred material when it comes to pewter. It is an inert alloy and doesn’t ruin the delicate quality of the tea.

Tea caddies should always be opaque because the tea must be kept away from direct sunlight, which can break down the quality of tea.

Dried tea leaves can easily absorb moisture, which is why it is required to be kept in an airtight container. Look for the tea caddy that has cover that fits perfectly with the inner lid. They should be airtight when closed. Moisture can ruin the tea leaves and would make them

worthless. Make sure that the tea caddy keeps moisture and other contaminates away.

Tea leaves can also easily absorb other aromas, just like chocolate. If you place them alongside spices, the tea would taste different. This can be avoided by storing the tea leaves inside an airtight tea caddy. It preserves the flavor of the tea.

The perfect tea caddy should be solid and functional at the same time. To store tea leaves, I strongly advise you to use a tea caddy because it is designed for that specific purpose. Functionality and aesthetics should be considered when buying the perfect tea caddy. Pewter is flexible that enables designs to be made easily on it.

History of Tea Caddies

Tea caddies come a long way from the ones from the 18th and early 19th centuries. Tea caddies from those eras reflect social customs and were made by the best craftsmen. They were made to be decorative and are unique in their own ways. This is why collectors are interested in them.

Tea drinking started over 5,000 years ago when the Chinese Emperor Shen-Nung was boiling water. Unknown to him, some tea leaves from the nearby bush were blew into the pot. The infusion was so good that it became a popular drink among the royalty and common people alike.

The art of tea was started by Lu Yu in the Tang Dynasty. Legend stated that Lu Yu abandoned worldly pursuits and set off on a quest to find the secrets of how to brew the perfect tea. His search had him going to places and used various tea leaves and water sources.

By the ninth century, the Japanese started drinking tea and made it part of their rituals. Later in the early 17th century that tea finally reached Europe when traders brought it to Holland around 1610. Then in the 1650s it was sold in England and was popular because of its medicinal values. By 1685 tea was accepted as a social drink in Britain.

At first tea was expensive and only the rich can afford it. People today are lucky that we could tea whenever we love to. In 1665 that was not the case. Thomas Garway, one of the first English tea dealers, sold tea from 16 to 50 shillings for a pound in weight. In 1716 Thomas Twining sold tea for 16 shillings a pound. That was a week’s salary for a skilled craftsman at that time.

Heavy import duties and East India Company’s monopoly of the tea market kept the prices high for most of the 18th century. There were calls to reduce the tea levy and this resulted in the Commutation Act of 1784 that decreased the tax and halved the price tag of tea.

As the consumption of tea increased, the demand for tea caddies increased. In the early 18th century, the tea caddies or chests were made of pewter, wood, silver or class. They consisted

of three canisters where the two outer ones are for different types of teas, black and green. The larger canister in the middle was for sugar.

Caddy is said to be from the Malay word Kat, which means tea weighing a pound. This is usually the capacity of one compartment tea caddy. The finest tea caddies came from the 1790. They were made of tortoise shell, exotic wood, ivory, and silver. They were made in various forms, such as small houses and fruits.

You can find various caddies of different types as well as materials, but the main point is that it should be solid as well as functional.

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