Bad things can happen at tea time. Any Tea Princess knows that. But anticipation of the worst possibilities is a real nightmare. Some event could go wrong and ruin the entire occasion. Of course, there’s going wrong and then there’s going totally horribly out-of-control over-the-edge wrong — sorta like the shower scene in Psycho. Well, maybe not that wrong!

From a minor annoyance to hiding-under-the-covers-with-a-migraine-wrong, which is which is, to a big extent, up to you. Burnt scones are still edible. Running out of milk is not good if a strong tea like Assam is being served, so you can opt for a lighter tea such as a Darjeeling or a green tea such as Sencha. Finding out that your premium tea is spoiled — bad storage, no doubt — means you have to serve up something inferior. But a real tragedy is one that can prevent you from steeping tea altogether. The teapot breaks — the ultimate tea time disaster (short of the house catching fire).

What do you do when that teapot which has become so much a part of your life turns into parts in your waste basket? What a nightmare for any Tea Princess, as Janis Badarau of TeaGuide.net recently experienced and as antiques expert David Battie learned. And I have that imagined nightmare every time I handle Little Yellow Teapot (my tea guy hubby frets about this even more than I do sometimes), fearing a misstep or a loosening of my grip before setting him back down carefully on the counter.

Just as Janis found that getting an exact replacement for her beloved Chatsford teapot was impossible, I would never be able to replace that special little teapot that seems to have his own following on Twitter and has claimed the starring role on the tea review blog where he was intended to be only an iconic representative.

For any Tea Princess, breaking that most special teapot, be it an heirloom or an icon, is a true nightmare in two ways:

1. anticipating such an event
2. having it actually happen

Hopefully, the former will help prevent the latter instead of being the proverbial self-fulfilling prophesy, where thinking about such a possibility ends up causing it.

The solution to any nightmare, whether on Elm Street or in your own home, is to wake up. Where teapots are concerned, that means staying alert and keeping the teapots out of harms way (such as where playful kitties are romping, as Janis found out, or handling very carefully, as hubby advises me). For us, at tea time and during our tea tastings, it means that hubby and I watch every step of getting that special teapot into position for his photo shoot.

This attentiveness helps assure that such a Tea Princess nightmare is far less likely to occur!

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