If you enjoy a good, steamy cup of tea yet you like to chat when enjoying your tea, you may want to look into either buying or making a tea cozy. Large enough to cover your teapot, a good tea cozy can keep your tea fresh and hot for up to three hours.

While tea coziesmay have been in use since the 1660’s when tea was first introduced in Britain, the first documented use of a tea cozy does not show up for two hundred years. The consensus is that when the Duchess of Bedford made the afternoon tea a British tradition, that along with this new found afternoon activity came the tea cozy.

Since the tradition of the afternoon tea became prime time for networking and staying plugged into the news of the day, the possibility of being served a less than steamy cup of tea became a very real possibility. Since cold tea was sure to cut even the most animated afternoon tea short, enter the tea cozy. With the sacred afternoon tea tradition saved from the horror of tepid tea, the tea cozy began popping up in British households throughout the remainder of the 1800’s.

At about the same time the tea cozy made its first appearance in America, and today they are back and more popular than ever. A tea cozy needs to be large enough to completely cover the teapot, and it can be made out of wool, thick cloth, or a lighter fabric with and insulated lining. It is also handy to have a ring of some sort at the top of the tea cozy for easy maneuvering.

A tea cozy comes in two basic styles. The first style wraps around your teapot from the bottom leaving only the handle and the spout exposed. The second style, which is a little easier to use, simply sits over the top of the pot and must be lifted off each time the tea is poured. Both styles work well and offer to keep your tea warm while you catch up on all of the local news.