Etiquette Boss: Suits them to a tea

BEVERAGE-WARE ETIQUETTE

I invite you to open your china cabinet, and take out a coffee pot and teapot if you have both. If your home is one of the few homes to have a set that includes a hot chocolate pot, add that third pot to the mix. Take a look at the differences in their shapes and test your ‘beverage-ware IQ.’

Do you know why your coffee pot is the taller of the two (or tallest of the three), with a high spout, and your teapot is short with a low spout? If you have a chocolate pot, do you know why the spout is the shortest of the three? Have you been told why your coffee pot is narrow and your teapot, wide at the bottom?

Our academic education emphasizes facts about countries that we may never visit, but not much about the items in our homes. If you have answered that the coffee pot spout is placed higher on the pot because coffee grounds sink while tea leaves float when hot water is placed on them, you are on target.

Before the era of instant coffee and tea bags, hot water was poured into the pot. The low location of the teapot spout allows the liquid below the leaves to flow, while the wider body allows the leaves to open up and release flavor.

The tall, narrow coffee pot helps to restrict the coffee grounds, thus helping them to settle faster, while the high spout allows the liquid above the grounds to be poured into the cup. The short, open spout of the chocolate pot enables the thick brew to be poured easily.

YOUR BEST APPEARANCE:

Milk has been used for centuries as a beauty aid. To soften and condition facial skin, mix two tablespoons of powdered whole milk with water to make a thick paste. Spread over your face and throat and rinse with warm water.

Apply a second coat of the milk paste and let it dry until it is rubbery enough to roll off with your fingers. Roll off the milk paste and do not do anything else to your skin until morning. The milk residue will condition your skin overnight.

Phillipa Morrish is the president of Etiquette Training International.