the.com/teacups
tiny ceramic thrones for a beverage that has toppled actual governments.
means Teacups are small cups, usually with handles and often paired with saucers, designed for drinking tea and other hot beverages.
from "Tea" entered English in the 1600s as the leaf arrived from China through Dutch traders — the word traces back to the Min Chinese pronunciation "te" (versus the "cha" that spread overland and gave us "chai"). "Cup" is far older, descending from Old English "cuppe" and ultimately Latin "cuppa," a drinking vessel. Stick the two together and you get a compound that's only as old as the European tea habit itself — a young word for a young obsession.
- handle origin
- Europeans added handles; Chinese cups went bare for centuries
- reading leaves
- tasseography divines fate from dregs left behind
- thin walls
- finest porcelain glows translucent against held light
- the saucer
- once used for sipping, cooling tea by pouring out
- dog breed
- teacup puppies are marketing, not a real classification
for instance
meissen porcelain coffee cups — first european hard-paste porcelain teacups, dresden 1710