‘I’m a little tea pot: The tea ritual making a comeback in a big way’

When it was the right time, my mother or my grandma would spoon tea leaves into a shiny teapot. Then in was poured a bit of boiling water, to ‘warm’ the pot. The teapot would be filled, adorned with a handmade tea cosy, and left to ‘draw’.

Was it snob value? These older ladies were so proud of their imported English Sheffield steel teapots. They were kept in the family for years, gracing the tea rituals or our days. Anything that originated from the British Isles was regarded as superior. For example, Irish Waterford crystal vases, milk jugs or decanters were treasured souvenirs.

From memory, our Sheffield teapots had beautiful, swirling designs engraved on them, just part of the essentials of life in our childhood. It was after all that tea drinking that the fun commenced. There remained in the teapot the sludge of sodden tea leaves, which had to be emptied. This was someone’s task after tea, usually my father’s job, in the evenings. He had to pour the dregs over the sink strainer, inhaling the unique aroma of cold tea, and pick up this gluggy mess.

The rubbish of tea leaves was wrapped in yesterday’s newspapers, then rolled into little bundles. If the bundles split, there was a trail of damp tea leaves leaking across the linoleum floor on the way to the bin. Sort of gross, but very biodegradable.

I, for one, was very glad when teabags were introduced, even though old-time tea had a better flavour, stronger somehow, even with the odd tea leaf floating on the surface. But now, things are swinging back again. Some people are ‘into’ brewing and imbibing a vast variety of teas from many lands, whether herbal or routine. Yes, it has brought back the noble long lost art of reading our fortunes in tea leaves left in the cups. That used to be a favourite bit of fun, with some of my friends.

The tea ritual lives on, teapots can now be glass, china, enamel or steel. I occasionally note a swirling, engraved steel teapot, and can recall the snobbish values of my predecessors. It is a blast from the past, reminiscing about tea leaves for a tea ritual, steeped in ‘I’m a little teapot’! This was an old nursery rhyme our mothers and educators taught us long ago.

Real old timers still fondly recall their strong cups of tea, drunk in even the hottest weather, all part of our heritage. Must sign off, time for a cuppa!