Tea Trappings

In the strictest sense, Tea Trappings were devices used to "trap" (i.e strain or hold back) loose tea leaves. At one point mandatory gadgets for any tea drinker in the Western world, they are optional now in an age when tea comes in tea bags.

Other objects, such as tea caddies in which tea was stored (and locked up), sugar tongs, and lemon slice plates were also referred to as tea "trappings", in the sense of all the accessories to go along with having, making and enjoying tea. The category also includes tea balls, tea presses, tea cup strainers, stick infusers, and spout strainers (which hung off the tea pot spout, and caught the leaves in mid-stream.)

Mote spoons were amongst the first devices to be invented, to help fish errant leaves out.

Though today's designs emphasize functionality, designs from the 1600s until the 1900s emphasized decorativeness and novelty as well, and many are highly prized as expensive collector's items, being made of silver or silver plated with gold (aka "gilt".)

The invention of the tea bag in 1908 heralded the beginning of the end for their glory days.

Now, just having such any one of these gadgets even in plain stainless-steel is considered novelty enough.

See Also: Tea

Other entries for: Tea Trappings
Tea Trappings

Other entries for: Cooking Tools
Alambic Stills, Apple Corer, Avocado Slicers, Baking Mats, Baking Stones, Batterie de Cuisine, Biscuit Brake, Blowtorches, Branding Iron, Bread Bins, Bread Machines, Bulb Baster, Butter Muslin, Caja China, Can Openers, Canning Funnels, Cans, Chopsticks, Contact Paper, Cookware, Cooling Racks, Corkscrews, CorningWare, Cuppitiello, Dishwashers, Dough Scrapers, Doughnut Cutters, Egg Cups, Egg Timers, Esky, Fat Separators, Flour Dredgers, Flour Duster, Food Pushers, French Butter Crock, Funnels, Girdle, Graters, Griddles, Heat Diffuser, Ice Pick, Icing Syringe, Kitchen String, Kitchen Tongs, Kneading Gloves, Knives, Measuring Cups, Meat Tenderizer, Melon Baller, Milk Cellar, Non-Electrical Rotisseries, Olive Pitter, Oshibori, Oxo Good Grips, Paraffin, Pastry Brush, Pastry Frame, Pea Sheller, Petites Marmites, Pie Plates, Pie Racks, Pizzelle Iron, Proof Box, Ramekins, Rolling Cookie Cutters, Rolling Pins, Salad Spinner, Salamanders, Salt Pigs, Scales, Spatulas, Steamers, Sugar Cutters, Tassie Cups, Thermometers, Tortilla Warmers, Treen, Tupperware, Uchiwa, Waffle Iron, Whisks