subject: Tea Fuelled A War [print this page] For thousands of years teapots have been a prominent feature of Chinese culture, with the earliest examples found, dating back to 1513.
As they were usually designed for only a single person drinker, the early pots were small by comparison to the average English teapot. The drinker took the tea from the spout of the teapot. It was believed that the flavours could be better controlled, concentrated and repeated by a one only serve pot.
In late 17th century, the teapot was launched into English society. As it was a very expensive pastime tea drinking in England was initially only the prerogative of the upper class.
It was not until 1708 that Dresden, Germany, discovered a way to produce porcelain for teapots.
Because of the habitually cold climate of England, the English first introduced the custom of covering the teapot with a teacosy, a padded fabric covering, similar to wearing a hat, but with holes created for the handle and the spout.
In the oddity of the English language, a common saying came into being: a 'chocolate teapot'. The consideration was that chocolate would melt, therefore making the teapot ineffective. So if you wanted to call something useless, you would simply call it a 'chocolate teapot'.
The 'Utah Teapot' is a standard reference point in the computer graphics community, relating to 3-D imagery.
'Russell's Teapot became a reference to the truth of irrefutable religious claims made by Bertrand Russell.
The constellation of Sagittarius contains a star pattern that resembles a teapot, though not officially recognized as a constellation.
'Im a little teapot', is still a top favourite action song with kindergarten children.
'Sky Kingdom', a Maylasian cult, used a 35ft tall pink teapot as its own private logo. When authorities cracked down on the group in 2005, bulldozers were sent to the property with orders to remove the structure.
The world's biggest teapot is to be found in Ohio, America. The Chester teapot was first designed in 1938 as a gigantic wooden hogshead barrel for a Hire's Root Beer advertising campaign. The barrel was then placed on Carolina Avenue, by Devons pottery outlet store. The barrel was covered with tin to form a teapot shape and a spout and a handle were added, with a large glass ball on top as the knob of the lid. This is not the prettiest teapot in the world.
Once upon a time you could buy loose tea in 10lb boxes, but the teapot that was once a prominent feature of every English speaking home, globally, has now been replaced by the soulless disposable teabag. Custom and ceremony have yielded to convenience and quickness. Although, it was the tea tax that concluded in being a resistance movement in the late 1700s. This eventually became the American Revolution War.
It is no coincidence that the latest grassroots political group in America, which has no central leadership, has chosen to be known as the 'Tea Party Movement'. Many witty people say the word tea stands for 'Taxed Enough Already'. It was the Tea Party Movement that was at the bottom of the argument that nearly brought the nation to a standstill, over whether America would default or not on its national debt payments. It was the Tea Party that was at the basis of getting Americas credit rating to be disastrously lowered.
