A teaspoon (tsp.) is an item of cutlery. It is a small spoon that can be used to stir a cup of tea or coffee, or as a tool for measuring volume. The size of teaspoons ranges from about 2.5 to 7.3 mL. For cooking purposes and dosing of medicine, a teaspoonful is defined as 5 mL, and standard measuring spoons are used.
Italians are well known for their special attention to the preparation, the selection of the blends, and the use of accessories when creating many types of coffees. Many of the types of coffee preparation known today also have their roots here. The main coffee port in Italy is Trieste where there is also a lot of coffee processing industry. Italian coffee consumption, often espresso, is highest in the city of Trieste, with an average of 1500 cups of coffee per person per year. That is about twice as much as is usually drunk in Italy.
A teapot is a vessel used for steeping tea leaves or a herbal mix in boiling or near-boiling water, and for serving the resulting infusion which is called tea. It is one of the core components of teaware. Dry tea is available either in tea bags or as loose tea, in which case a tea infuser or tea strainer may be of some assistance, either to hold the leaves as they steep or to catch the leaves inside the teapot when the tea is poured. Teapots usually have an opening with a lid at their top, where the dry tea and hot water are added, a handle for holding by hand and a spout through which the tea is served. Some teapots have a strainer built-in on the inner edge of the spout. A small air hole in the lid is often created to stop the spout from dripping and splashing when tea is poured. In modern times, a thermally insulating cover called a tea cosy may be used to enhance the steeping process or to prevent the contents of the teapot from cooling too rapidly.
Drip coffee is made by pouring hot water onto ground coffee beans, allowing it to brew. There are several methods for doing this, including using a filter. Terms used for the resulting coffee often reflect the method used, such as drip-brewed coffee, filtered coffee, or immersion-brewed coffee in general. Manually brewed drip coffee is typically referred to as pour-over coffee. Water seeps through the ground coffee, absorbing its constituent chemical compounds, and then passes through a filter. The used coffee grounds are retained in the filter, while the brewed coffee is collected in a vessel such as a carafe or pot.
A mug is a type of cup typically used for drinking hot drinks, such as coffee, hot chocolate, or tea. Mugs usually have handles and hold a larger amount of fluid than other types of cups. Typically, a mug holds approximately 240–350 ml of liquid. A mug is a less formal style of drink container and is not usually used in formal place settings, where a teacup or coffee cup is preferred. Shaving mugs are used to assist in wet shaving.
A teacup is a cup for drinking tea. It generally has a small handle that may be grasped with the thumb and one or two fingers. It is typically made of a ceramic material and is often part of a set which is composed of a cup and a matching saucer or a trio that includes a small cake or sandwich plate. These may be part of a tea set combined with a teapot, cream jug, covered sugar bowl, and slop bowl. Teacups are often wider and shorter than coffee cups. Cups for morning tea are conventionally larger than cups for afternoon tea.
In Europe, a slop bowl, slop basin or waste bowl is one of the components of a traditional tea set. It was used to empty the cold tea and dregs in tea cups before refilling with hot tea, as there were often tea leaves in the bottom of the cups.
Tableware items are the dishware and utensils used for setting a table, serving food, and dining. The term includes cutlery, glassware, serving dishes, serving utensils, and other items used for practical as well as decorative purposes. The quality, nature, variety and number of objects varies according to culture, religion, number of diners, cuisine and occasion. For example, Middle Eastern, Indian or Polynesian food culture and cuisine sometimes limits tableware to serving dishes, using bread or leaves as individual plates, and not infrequently without use of cutlery. Special occasions are usually reflected in higher quality tableware.
A plate is a broad, mainly flat vessel on which food can be served. A plate can also be used for ceremonial or decorative purposes. Most plates are circular, but they may be any shape, or made of any water-resistant material. Generally plates are raised round the edges, either by a curving up, or a wider lip or raised portion. Vessels with no lip, especially if they have a more rounded profile, are likely to be considered as bowls or dishes, as are very large vessels with a plate shape. Plates are dishware, and tableware. Plates in wood, pottery and metal go back into antiquity in many cultures.
Soft-paste porcelain is a type of ceramic material in pottery, usually accepted as a type of porcelain. It is weaker than "true" hard-paste porcelain, and does not require either its high firing temperatures or special mineral ingredients. There are many types, using a range of materials. The material originated in the attempts by many European potters to replicate hard-paste Chinese export porcelain, especially in the 18th century, and the best versions match hard-paste in whiteness and translucency, but not in strength. But the look and feel of the material can be highly attractive, and it can take painted decoration very well.
A teapoy is an item of furniture. The word is of Indian origin, and was originally used to describe a three-legged table, literally meaning "three feet" in Hindi.
A tea set or tea service is a collection of matching teaware and related utensils used in the preparation and serving of tea. The traditional components of a tea set may vary between societies and cultures.
Bristol porcelain covers porcelain made in Bristol, England by several companies in the 18th and 19th centuries. The plain term "Bristol porcelain" is most likely to refer to the factory moved from Plymouth in 1770, the second Bristol factory. The product of the earliest factory is usually called Lund's Bristol ware and was made from about 1750 until 1752, when the operation was merged with Worcester porcelain; this was soft-paste porcelain.
Chantilly porcelain is French soft-paste porcelain produced between 1730 and 1800 by the manufactory of Chantilly in Oise, France. The wares are usually divided into three periods, 1730–1751, 1751–1760, and a gradual decline from 1760 to 1800.
Wallendorfer Porzellan or Wallendorf Porcelain is a porcelain manufacturing company which has been in operation since 1764 in Lichte (Wallendorf) in the Thuringian Highlands. Wallendorf is one of the oldest porcelain trademarks in Germany and the whole of Europe.
Masahiro Mori was a Japanese ceramic designer born in Saga Prefecture, Japan. The well known "G-type Soy Sauce Bottle" he designed in 1958 won the 1st Good Design Award in 1960 and its production and sales have continued until today. He won the Good Design Award more than 110 times in his life. In describing his design philosophy, he stated, "My pleasure as a designer is to conceive of forms for daily use, and to create pieces for production in the factory, so that many people can appreciate and enjoy using them". He worked to design ceramic dishes suitable for the Japanese lifestyle in post-World War II.
Coalport, Shropshire, England was a centre of porcelain and pottery production between about 1795 and 1926, with the Coalport porcelain brand continuing to be used up to the present. The opening in 1792 of the Coalport Canal, which joins the River Severn at Coalport, had increased the attractiveness of the site, and from 1800 until a merger in 1814 there were two factories operating, one on each side of the canal, making rather similar wares which are now often difficult to tell apart.
Chinese export silver is silverware made in China for export, mainly to Europe. It is analagous to the much larger production of Chinese export porcelain, but unlike this remained largely confined to ornamental objects rather than practical tableware. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, through the Chinese Canton System and after that, the opium war, the Treaty of Nanking and Treaty of Tientsin, Qing dynasty China became a major exporter for fine Chinese goods such as tea, spices and porcelain etc. to Europe, Germany, France, Russia and America and north Africa. The Treaty trading ports were further extended throughout the entire Qing Dynasty's land.
In European porcelain, a cabinet cup is an unusually richly decorated cup, normally with a saucer, that did not form part of a tea service but was sold singly to give as a present or to collectors. They were expected to be displayed in a glass-fronted china cabinet rather than put to regular use. The heyday of the cabinet cup was the second half of the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th century; they worked well in the showy Empire style then in fashion. A more general term, also covering plates and other shapes, is cabinet piece.
A spoon tray is a tray used to rest the spoons that are either hot, wet, or prepared for serving. The spoon tray, usually elongated, can be found in the tea, dinner, or cabaret services. The spoon tray is sometimes called a spoon boat or a spooner.
