A Dish of Tea?

Prior to the dainty teacups and saucers of today's tea drinkers, the preferred vessel for tea-drinking was a small handleless bowl. In writing about his travels in the East, Samuel Purchas noted "They use much the powder of a certaine herbe called chia of which they put as much as a Walnut shell may containe, into a dish of Porcelane,and drink it with hot water" (from Purchas His Pilgrims, 1625). During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) the Chinese tea-drinkers preferred blue-and-white bowls made of a fine translucent porcelain. The dishes were usually small and held only a few sips of tea.

Many paintings of wealthy families drinking tea depict various ways of holding the little tea dishes or bowls. It seems as though there was no right or wrong position for the hand but the emphasis was on being neat and effortless. The little bowls were held by the rims or the thumb was placed under the bowl and the index and middle fingers on the rim. One way a guest could indicate they were finished drinking their tea was to turn the bowl upside down on the saucer.

There were larger bowls for tea-drinking that eventually had a handle added and evolved into the traditional tea cup we use today. It is said that the saucer was the idea of the daughter of a military man in China. She found the cups too hot to be passed around and asked a local potter to create a small dish for the cup to perch.

The handle on a tea bowl originated from the English posset cup. Posset is a heated concoction of milk, spirits and spices. A posset cup originally had a handle on each side to protect fingers from the heat transferred from the piping hot posset. Since fingertips were likely to be burned holding the handleless dishes of hot tea the addition of a handle to the tea bowl was a logical step.

Into the nineteenth century there were still handleless bowls and bowls with handles being made. Even with a handle on the cup guests at tea still may have been offered a dish of tea. The tea bowls without handles were sometimes referred to as cups.

There is a distinct etiquette for holding the traditional cup and saucer when taking tea. If the tea is being served seated around a table it is perfectly correct to leave the saucer on the table and raise the tea cup by itself. If the tea is served in a parlour with low tables it is appropriate to take the cup and saucer up together. The saucer is held in the palm of the left hand and the right hand raises the cup to the lips. The most important aspect of either form of taking tea is that the movements be smooth and elegant.

Pinkies up? The Tea Lady frowns on this as an affectation. The index finger is placed through the handle and the thumb rests on top of the handle. The remaining three fingers curve under the index finger to offer gentle support of the cup.

Recommended reading for more insights and information on tea wares: Design for Tea: Tea Wares from the Dragon Court to Afternoon Tea, Jane Pettigrew, 2003, Sutton Publishing.