The Brown Betty Style

The image in this drawing most resembles the Brown Betty pot, which became popular as drinking tea moved out of aristocracy and to the masses at the beginning of the 20th century.

While logic would suggest that the teapot has a long history, the teacup or tea bowl  ooth predate the teapot by hundreds of years.  In fact, the first teapot was not officially recorded until 1500; it was the use of the Yixing teapot that was recorded in the Jiangsu province of China.  That relatively small red clay pot held one to two cups of tea.   Early in its use, each pot only brewed one type of tea, and was carried by the user.  Once the tea cake was prepared and boiling water added, the pot owner would drink from the spout.  Different types of tea were never brewed in the same pot because it was feared that the flavors and oils saturating into the interior surface of the pot would mix. 

Tea Pot #1 - Sketch using 6B graphite pencil on 400 series Strathmore tan paper.

 The practice of infusing the leaves by soaking , or steeping, them in boiling water is a relatively recent tradition, as well.  In the third century, Chinese tea practices began with the roasting of tea leaves.  The roasted results were pounded into a paste, then formed into cakes (think bouillon cubes.)  When needed, the cakes were pulverized and mixed with salt, rice, ginger, orange peel and spices and mixed with boiling water to form a soup (thus the earlier-mentioned tea bowl.) 

Over time, the role tea played in society and the types of vessels created to brew it are driven by both finance and the demands of those being ruled to have access to things viewed as valuable to those who ruled.  When the highly decorated translucent glazed pottery teapots developed for the Chinese emperor  were discovered by Europeans in the sixteen century, for example, the Europeans quickly learned how to make porcelain and add their own decorative images replicating scenes in nature.  Makers of fine dishes, such as Spode, Limoge and Wedgwood each made their own teapot versions for kings, queens and aristocrats.  Of course it wasn't long before these teapots became desirable to a broader and broader range of tea drinkers.  The ability to make many copies of these fine pottery teapots increased their use across Europe, and later into the Americas.  The Boston Tea Party provides a great reminder of the way in which tea was viewed and used by those in power and those who felt oppressed. 

Of course there is also a ritual to accompany the use of the teapot.  The mainstay from the very beginning, whether brewed in a cup, bowl or pot and whether made from pulverized roasted leaves or carefully dried young leaves, seems to be "the boiling water!"