Tea and Wood

Re: Tea and Wood

Sam Simpson

>Hi Y'all,

Patrick, as a tea aficionado I can tell you that almost any wood is going to impart an unwanted taste to the tea. In all of the many tea caddies I have seen, going back to 17th century, they are all lined with a metal foil. (some safer than others)

The idea of a separate slot-in liner is a good one, but I would coat the surfaces with aluminium foil before installation.

Regards Sam Simpson.

Re: Tea and Wood

Patrick Gibbons, Houston

>Is there a more elegant way to line the wood, other than aluminum foil? Perhaps the best solution is a design change to a non-wood container for the tea; i.e. porcelain or stoneware.

Re: Tea and Wood

Adam Cherubini

>What about copper flashing?

Re: Tea and Wood

JL

>You could go really fancy and get gold leaf. It wouldn't tarnish and you won't have to worry about polishing. You could try silver also, but you would have to worry about tarnish.

Re: Tea and Wood

Greg B�tit, Vergennes, VT

>I'm not sure of the configuration of what you are making, but perhaps you could design it around a glass or porcelain container that you have or acquire for the purpose.

Greg

Re:Patrick..........

Dale Lenz

>I don't know about mahogany but birch, pop-sickle sticks, not much taste transfer. Beech: I think most wooden cooking utensils are made out of such. Do a search of wood, food, taste, etc.

Good luck,

Dale

Re: Tea and Wood

David Barnett

>Patrick, up until the late 18th Century most tea chests and subsequently tea caddies (much smaller, as they were originally designed to hold a "kati", or about 1 1/3rd pounds of tea according to an old Chinese-Malay standard), were lined with lead. By mid-century caddies were almost all lined with a very soft tin-lead alloy sheet*. Sam's on track with the foil idea, although something a bit thicker might be more durable. To be closer to authentic, you could line your caddy with a modern lead-free pewter (actually, lead pewter's fine but not so easily available). In the U.K., 0.152mm pewter sheet (equal to .006", or 34-gauge) is sold specifically for tea caddy restoration. In the USA you're more apt to find this as a decorative or embossing foil for scrapbookers. I've seen it in more than one art supply stores. If you can find something a little heavier, say 30 or even 28-gauge, I'd try that. It should still be very easy to cut and work. There are other foils you could try, as well, such as stainless steel (often used for heat treating), anodized aluminum in thin sheet (lots of colors), and copper, as Adam suggested, or maybe better, tinned copper. Gold leaf won't tarnish but is too permeable.

You could even use silver, which was used in some late 19th century and early 20th caddies. Dead soft fine silver (.999 FS), which does not tarnish like copper-bearing sterling (.925) would be my first choice, and is only a few pennies more per ounce. Sterling in 34-gauge yields about 30 square inches per ounce, and fabrication (rolling it out) roughly doubles the spot price which is around 7.25 USD per ounce. Not too bad.

As many caddies were designed to hold more than one tea, separate metal, crystal and ceramic containers were sometimes housed in the same lockable chest. The best were drop-ins with separate tight-fitting tops, so stoneware (glazed) or porcelain, in fact anything short of Tupperware would do nicely, too. But personally, my Makaibari Estate Darjeeling stays well-segregated in bail-top canning jars in the darkest corner of my cabinet with the Assams, Oolongs, and the Pouchongs.

*A BRIEF HISTORY OF TEA AND TEA CADDIES � 1999 Antigone Clarke and Joseph O'Kelly, states: "All English caddies of this period were lined with a tin lead alloy "tea pewter" except the ones, which contained removable metal containers." (This is online. I have the archive file but not the URL)

**http://www.sylmasta.com/, search on "caddy" in their online catalog.

Re: Tea and Wood

Patrick Gibbons, Houston

>As usual, you all have come through for me. I want to thank all of you who responded. I've gotten some aluminum sheet and have uncovered some sources for pewter sheet. When Sam first mentioned aluminum foil I thought of the grocery store variety. I realize now he was giving me the benefit of the doubt to know that foil has many uses and is made in many thicknesses. So much depth of knowledge from so many of you. Isn't this forum a great place.

I'll seconc that...

Victor Parisian

>There is so much info on this board it is incredible.

Bob stop by for coffee anytime.

Victor - who prefers coffee (1/2 tsp sugar no cream please) but will drink Earl Grey in a pinch on a cold morning.

And just reading this board today not getting anything done on the shop, 92 degrees out and the a/c doesn't keep up.

Re: I'll seconc that...

Roger in Texas

>A/C? That's where you open the front door and the back door, right?

Roger, where it's 92 and 53% humidity