Etiquette for Numbered Teaspoons

Teapot spouts sometimes got choked up. so the long handle of the spoon with a pierced bowl (the rare ‘mote spoon’) that succeeded the silver strainer was thrust down the spout to disperse the leaves. ~

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What have we here? A Georgian Era tea bowl and tea cup. – The tea bowl and tea cup are based on early Chinese tea cups and bowls with no handles, however it is a bit larger. This Georgian Era cup is shown with 2 period mote spoons and Georgian tea tongs, to better show the size.

 – Image from “What Have We Here?: The Etiquette and Essentials of Lives Once Lived, from the Georgian Era through the Gilded Age and Beyond...”

In the early days of tea drinking, when the brew was rare and costly, numbered spoons were used. It was not etiquette for a guest to ask for a second cup until all the company had finished the first. The numbered spoons therefore insured each getting his own cup back again. As a sign to the hostess that no more tea was wanted, the spoon was placed in the cup.

Even when etiquette was a fetish, teapot spouts sometimes got choked up. so the long handle of the spoon with a pierced bowl that succeeded the silver strainer was thrust down the spout to disperse the leaves. “Etiquette,” remarks Arthur Hayden in “Chats on Old Silver,” “forbade the hostess to blow down the spout.” — San Luis Obispo Daily Telegram, October 1915

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia