This one is more of a “did you know”, but according to Leen, the English pour tea one-handed. Apparently, we are the only nation making teapots allowing it.
Now, this is news to me, and I thought I was pretty conversant on the whole tea topic. Got a certificate and the training from Whittards to prove it! But I accept I am not the font of all knowledge.
Can anyone verify or debunk?
*EDIT*
Leen has asked me to make it clear she is currently ill and a victim of the Dreaded Lurgy, so she doesn’t want to stand by anything attributed to her here.
Also, ‘allowing it’ means ‘without dripping’…
Hmm. Hmm. Now I’m trying to remember how it was done in the tea ceremony in Sherlock: The Blind Banker. I would swear she poured one-handed.
I am honestly stumped by this one, and trying to analyse how I use a teapot. Yes, I do tend to pour one-handed, but that being said, for the life of me I can’t work out how you might do it two-handed!
Also, love that your frame of reference is Sherlock 😀
Something to do with how the lids are designed? My (Whittards) one has a clever little lip that keeps the lid on when I tip the pot…
But my japanese testubin doesn’t have that lip and it poured one handed just fine at the weekend…
After a quick google (and this page is now second for “english pour tea one handed”!) there appears to be no clear opinion on this. Of course, if one is using a separate strainer and don’t rest it on the cup, by necessity you have to pour one handed. Or if you, as some etiquette sites seem to suggest, hold the cup in one hand and the tea pot in the other…