Oh gee, I have some but do not collect them.. I guess I attract them. The neatest one I have is of Japanese porcelain and looks very English with tiny pink flowers around the rim of the lid and the little cups-with-no-handles. It does not much look like a Western tea pot. It is also quite small and has a projecting porcelain handle out the side. You pour from this pot sideways. It really is a lovely little set which was a gift. The cups hold only about 1/4 cup when filled correctly - only half full.

probably for very strong tea. turkish coffee comes in tiny cups because it's so strong. the first skim is good, but as you move further down the cup, the thicker the sediment!

No, it is just served that way in sips. Green tea which is pretty weak compared with western teas. You only fill them half full so you don't burn your fingers!

good point!

I don't collect teapots but of course I have several. My two favourite ones are: A Bodum glass one which is very easy to clean. It has an internal removable chamber where the tea goes and a plunger which keeps the tea below a line and stops it stewing. I use it all the time. A Gambian one which was a leaving present. It is red enamel and tiny. It sits on top of a little charcoal burning stove and is used to make tea with Chinese gunpowder tea which is served in little glasses.

Maggie, I love the sound of that glass teapot. My favorite vessels for use in drinking tea are the glass ones set in silver holders which seem to be of Russian origin (please correct me if this is not right!) I guess, I love glass in almost any form. I have even heard of people drinking a glass of coffee...wish I had thought to ask him to elaborate...*sigh*

Is that glass teapot like the ones they use in French restaurants which make the most highly caffeinated coffee?

i've had tea in glass cups. it was really milky (goat's milk or camel's milk). not too bad, really....

What country were you in to have camel's milk in your tea? Wow!

kuwait city....

Yikes!!! Were you in the Gulf action? I had no idea you were so well-travelled!!!

not in the gulf-action, more like the after-effects...i was there in 98.

Ah! I thought maybe you had taken one of those high adventure holidays which features unusual places and even more unusual food. How did it taste? I guess you could you tell that it definitely was not cow's milk...

Btw, Wolfie admiration grow s by leaps and bounds here! *hugs*

well, it was sweet. i ate american food (dining halls on the base). we went to mcdonald's which uses beef not camel or goat or anything else. i couldn't tell you about any other restaurant. i did see the meat markets on my drives into the city. kuwait was wonderful and kuwait city was beautiful. a city of contrasts though.

Fascinating! Cannot imagine eating camel - gnawing or whatever you do to thangs which are so strangy that you can't eat'um. Kuwait is rich. Some other theaters of operation might not have been quite so nice!

they had certainly been busy rebuilding after the war. i only met two kuwaiti men and both were very kind and considerate towards me. one man made me sit down because he didn't want me to stand too long. right next to him too. i showed the appropriate courtesies, of course, so as not to offend, but had no trouble at all. most of the vendors were from other countries, like pakistan, india. the kuwaitis own all the land and stores and the "outsiders" held the labor positions. but they were happy for it. not one bit of grumbling. and the one kuwaiti man that i actually had to deal with it did not treat me as an outcast. in fact, we had a lengthy conversation concerning his angel fish!

Your Pretties are back again, Wolfie!!! How nice that your visit went so well and you did not show them the bottoms of your feet (or shoes)

Nice colours! Hi wolfie!

yeah, i figgered it was about time i got the decor back up to speed!

Looks purty! Worthy of the Hostess =)

http://www.bodum.com/products/tea/shincha/shin1874.htm Marcia check this link out and you'll se a picture of my glass teapot.

How neat, Maggie..it even shows how it works! Thanks. I really like that. Is it quicker to brew tea that way or does it just keep it from getting rank from having the leaves in for too long?

that is way cool, thanks maggie!

I don't know about quicker, but i like it. Yes, the plunger system means the teabag or leaves gets pushed down and doesn't sit in the tea making it stronger. We have very hard water here and everything gets coated with calcium deposit (called fur), and the teapots become very brown inside with tannin. The glass one I have doesn't have the spout - it has a lip like the one in the how to picture. this makes it very easy to clean. I just bleach the inner sort of sieve every now and again. I wouldn't be without mine.

Next I'm gonna ask the big question. Since I usually make my tea in the microwave, I have a special teaball and all, I'd really like one of those. Are they very costly? We have no calcium or other things in our water. This island is too new to have a reef and that would be about the only source of calcium here. No limestone or chalk.

I think mine was about �16. I had to search for it though. I think you may be able to buy from the site. The original one I had was more like a jug than a t-pot, these new designs are much nicer.