Tea for Me!

~ Becky Ross Michael
Becky’s Teapots and Cookbooks

Although I look forward to my morning coffee and one extra cup in the afternoon, I also enjoy tea. My favorites include ginger, chai, and fruit teas. I love teapots and have collected several over the years. These came from grandmothers, an aunt, a former mother-in-law, a friend, and a special purchase to match a planned kitchen renovation. One of them even incorporates a music box with the tune of “Tea for Two!”

The two pots on the top right are my most treasured. The yellow/gold one came from my maternal grandmother. The brown pot with red and yellow flowers is from my paternal grandmother, who used to make cambric tea for the kids. That’s just milk, hot water, sugar, and a hint of tea, but it made me feel very grown-up.

In the photos below, my maternal grandmother is pictured in California with her china cabinet off to the right. The yellow/gold teapot rests on the middle shelf. In the other photo, baby Becky and my sister, Terri, spend some time with our paternal grandparents at their home in Michigan.

I don’t often make my tea in a pot and tend to just steep my teabag in a cup. But I love having these vintage teapots to give me a cozy feeling of continuity. I keep the pictures of my grandmothers right inside the pots so my daughters will have no doubt of their importance!

83 thoughts on “Tea for Me!”

  2. What a fine tradition you’re carrying on for your daughters, Becky. And what a wonderful idea to put those photos in the teapots to help them remember the details and connection. I’m a coffee drinker but also a huge fan of mango ginger tea. Yum.

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  5. My mother used to make me cambric tea when I was little! I love your teapot display. I have a brown one made in the shape of a very bulbous pineapple. It contained pineapple jam when my paternal grandmother gave it to my parents as a wedding gift.

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  7. I love tea and I love this post that celebrates the joy of sharing a cuppa with those we love.

    “There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.” Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

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      2. I didn’t mind being in the recital; I think I was too young to be scared. It was the next year, I think, when I chickened out and wouldn’t go out on the stage for my piano recital (I wasn’t very good at playing the piano, either:)

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      3. Ah, the piano. My first recital I sat down looked at the piano and all the keys disappeared. It was hard. I was OK on the piano and I got a teacher who understood stage terror I mean fright so I managed a couple before I stopped studying. It was my goal in high school to over come that fear. I kind of did.

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  11. How wonderful. I love the one with the cat, of course. How nice to have all those sweet memories. Such a great collection. I never use my pots either. Still love them, but like you, just the mug and tea bag. 🙂

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  12. I love all your tea pots. They are hard to find now. At least the English Bone China pots are hard to find unless you want to pay buckets for them. I inherited my MIL’s collection of EBC tea cups and a few matching plate. They are now in my daughter’s possession. She drinks tea exclusively. We often went to high tea wherever it was offered when I was living in Portland close to her. So much fun to do it properly. It’s a lost art in this very casual society. I do miss it. I see some very pretty pots in your collection.

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  13. Your teapots are so cute, and I love that you included some stories and photos to explain their significance. I can tell they mean a lot to you, and I’m sure your daughters will feel the same way. 

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  18. While I’m not a tea drinker and my china collection doesn’t include even a single tea pot, yours are lovely, and it’s even better that so many have memories attached. My little collection is antique chocolate pots. I’ve never found a complete set like this that I could afford, but the pots themselves are beautiful. I’ve slowly reduced my collection (American, 1800s-early 1900s) over time, but the chocolate pots will always be kept!

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  21. I love teapots too: lovely to hear about your collection! A kid’s tea set with no pot and miniature tea bags would not be quite the same! I love the feeling of sharing and pouring though sometimes for me too it’s just a bag in a cup. My husband is still a cambric tea drinker! Minus the sugar. I hadn’t heard that expression before and rather like it. Happy Sunday, Becky!

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  22. I am a tea-bagger myself, but find teapots pretty cool. In a need to make do with smaller space recently, I posted my great aunt’s teapot on our local Buy Nothing group – like your dark brown one – made in Japan, and beautifully painted. I was surprised how many people wanted it. You are not alone in your teapot appreciation!

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  23. Wonderful post , photos, and history of your family! My mother drank iced tea, and hubby and one of the kids drinks hot tea. I am coffee unless I am sick, but I have this thing for teapots that whistle. Mine died sadly but I use one for boiling water that I love from Corning ware. Even though it doesn’t whistle.

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  24. Becky, how wonderful that you have your grandmother’s teapot. What a treasure!

    I’ve recently become an evening tea drinker, so this post is spot on for mr right now.

    Soon as I eave your blog, I’m going to make a cup!

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  26. I also grew up in a household that always used a teapot and when I was first married we did. But these days, everyone wants something different so there’s no point:)). I’m very fond of my fruit and spice teas – current favourite pick-me-up is tumeric tea. Thank you for a lovely article which brought back lovely memories.

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  27. Just came across this post and I love the tradition!

    I started buying a small fairy decoration for my little daughters after they were born – one a year – and now they’re in their late teens the tree is covered in them…

    I especially love the cat teapot!

    Lovely post, thank you, Linda xx

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  29. I love tea in the morning, tea leaves in a tea pot so it’s not too strong and also more environmentally friendly than tea bags, but keep tea bags for visiting family. Always use bone China mugs to keep it hotter. I never drank tea till I was fifteen and could never understand mothers and aunties needing tea to survive

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  32. This post makes me think about a lovely tea set that I have that once belonged to my great aunt. I don’t think that I’ve ever used it, but I have the tea pot from the set on display on my hutch.

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  35. What wonderful keepsakes!

    I have the green mugs that I used to make tea in when I visited my paternal grandmother. We always just made tea right in the mugs, rather than using a pot. 🙂

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