Tea Cup-a-Story

La Tea Dah at Gracious Hospitality is hosting a Tea Blog-a-Thon from March 16 until May 31. She has a different theme for each week and you may participate as much or as little as you like. The first one is Tea Cup-a-Story for the week of March 16-22: "Share a picture of your favorite teacup and saucer; describe it and tell it's history (or make up a story about it's past). Why is it meaningful to you? This would be a good place to share about the details of your teacup collection if you have one."

When I read about the Gracious Hospital-i-Tea Blog-a-Thon I was very glad and decided to participate. As it is, I enjoy drinking hot tea, and have many matching tea cups and saucers with my china patterns, plus a separate blue and white collection with each cup representing a different pattern. The manufacturers are from England, United States, Germany, France, Japan, and Denmark. I showed the collection in my Jan. 15, 2008 post and in the Jan. 25 post.

Choosing a favorite is difficult since I like different ones for various reasons. I thought I’d share both one of my own favorite teacups and my mother’s favorite from among my Blue and White Teacup Collection.
Here is one favorite of mine:

It is a teacup and saucer that I got last September at a local antique shop, as told in my Oct. 21, 2007 post. It was made in Limoges, France. It is delicate and has a floral pattern in a pale blue on a white ground. The handle forms a small circle, called a ring handle.

The cup is so light and lovely, with an interior in a soft blue.

My blue and white collection is mostly cobalt blue with few of the softer blues. I am especially glad to have the Limoges cup and saucer since I would have missed it if it had not been pointed out to me. I also got it at a good price.

Here is my mother’s favorite. It is the teacup I use daily for her hot herb tea. She especially loves the design of the cup handle, which is divided handle.

The pattern is "Blue Danube" and is made in Japan. The design is actually based on the "Blue Onion" pattern first produced by Meissen in Germany.

Please visit La Tea Dah at Gracious Hospitality for links to other participants.