Tea packaging and Caddies

I am sure you have one – or know someone who has one, or have lusted after one. I am talking about a TEA CADDY!

Here I was going happily about my daily business and getting myself a nice hot cuppa before I started the washing – when I spied my lovely elephant, tin TEA CADDY. It holds my earl grey tea and as soon as I pry off the lid the delicious, perfumey smell hits your senses. So as I was enjoying this experience I thought about all those lovely tea containers I have had over the years.

I used to have all my condiments stored in Chinese tea tins – until the tins became too rusty and I found it difficult to tell the difference between the spice and rust! I stupidly, threw these tins out. I have discovered a whole industry in second-hand Chinese tea tins – or tea tins and caddies generally! There are many people around the world who collect tea tins and caddies, as a matter of fact; some people collect all sorts of tea making paraphernalia. Do a Google Search for Tea Caddies/ Tea Packaging, it’s a real adventure.

Packaging design and tea caddies fascinate me. Actually the design of anything fascinates me. How incredible are the packages for tea these days? No longer is tea purchased in small brown paper bags, as it was when I was a kid. Today the choices are endless. Vacuum sealed packages; foil bags; laminated paper; cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes; tins; ceramic containers; finely carved wooden cases; fabric covered plastic packets; zip lock – resealable baggies and many more.

When looking at the tea packages, I tried hard to ignore the ‘tea bags’, but really one shouldn’t their design is amazing! Maybe I will talk about that another time. How does your ‘everyday’ tea come? We mostly buy tea in cardboard boxes, but I like to transfer large quantities into a TEA CADDY, hence my elephant tin [see the pic]

A tea caddy is a box, jar, canister or other receptacle used to store tea. The word is believed to be derived from catty, the Chinese pound, equal to about a pound and a third avoirdupois. The earliest examples that came to Europe were of Chinese porcelain, and approximated in shape to the ginger-jar. They had lids or stoppers likewise of china, and were most frequently blue and white. The English kilns at first imitated them, but speedily devised forms and ornament of their own, and there was hardly a ceramic factory in the country which did not compete for the supply of the new fashion. Until about 1800 they were called tea canisters rather than caddies.

It’s wonderful to browse the aisles of the Asian grocery stores and see the variety of tea packages and containers around. Even today, when the non-Asian shops have dumbed down the packaging into [many] layers of plastic and card, the Asian products are still placed in beautiful tins and jars. It’s even better in the actual countries.

Would you like to send me a photo of your favourite tea package/ caddy? I would love to see it!