Like colorfully dyed Easter eggs, basic teapots in a rainbow of hues brighten up your Spring/Easter teatime. Serve your guests from a powder blue one. Or choose from plum or lime (the colors, not the fruits). Venture into Sahara, Burgundy, or Sierra Rose (again, talking colors here). Don’t forget the basics: yellow, green, red, and medium blue. Which color you choose can set the mood for your teatime.

• Green is often associated with such negative things as envy. But it’s also a sign of growth, of plants waking from their Winter nap, of better things to come: colorful blooms, ripe fruits and vegetables, and all the bounty of the Earth.
• Yellow can symbolize cowardice. It is also the color of daffodils, daisy centers, egg yolks, butter, cheesecake, and other beautiful and/or delicious things.
• Red is the color of anger and in finance, it can indicate a loss. But also, red is the color (as we know from February’s celebrations) of love. Red roses are very popular as an expression of that love.
• Blue represents sadness, but it’s also the color of the sky (an effect of the light from the Sun being bounced around by minute particles in the atmosphere) and the ocean (actually, a reflection of that blue sky).

Choose with care. Your choice could symbolize a lot.

Ratchet the fun and whimsy up a notch by using a teapot designed with a bit of flair. Either a single large ladybug shaped into a teapot with a flower bud for a spout or a swarm of ladybugs crawling over the teapot will delight your guests (be sure none of them is an exterminator, or flattened pottery could result). Teapots shaped like toads and frogs can get your family and friends hopping with delight when you fill them up with fine tea. Give the lepidopterist among you a thrill by serving your tea from a teapot festooned with butterflies.

Ladybugs, frogs, and butterflies will all add that Springtime air to your Easter table and put your teatime guests into that mood conveyed by the reawakening of Nature.

Since Spring is also the time of flowers blooming, this would be a great opportunity to sport a floral teapot. They range from a more simple country style to realism straight out of an Audubon Guide. There are also ones with class and distinction, such as a design inspired by the Biltmore estate in the western part of North Carolina. Imagine pouring tea for your guests from a teapot that looks like one the Vanderbilts had used once upon a time. Whether you like daisies, sunflowers, or the finest rose cultivars, there is a design that will surely add brilliant color to your Easter teatime table and tea within it will add its wonderful fragrance.

Don’t stop at a colorful teapot. Many of the designs available have creamers, sugar bowls, mugs, teacups and saucers decorated to match. Your guests will think they are in a field of flowers or a butterfly pavilion as they enjoy the tea and treats.

Can’t decide? Buy several teapots and assemble your own bevy, a veritable army ready to steep and serve — fine teas, that is. Happy Easter!

In the world of tea blogs, Tea Time with A.C. Cargill is the equivalent of a brightly colored and exciting teapot displayed proudly at the forefront of the bevy. Check it out today!