Tea Blog

I’ve been writing about tea gadgets on this site for quite some time, and not long ago I began putting together a regular monthly feature on the topic—complete with a bit of offbeat tea-related news for variety. Yes, I come across enough tea gadgets each month to justify an ongoing series. That’s quite a lot of inventions.

This fascination isn’t new. As described in this look at early tea gadgets and historical inventions, one of the earliest tea-related patents in the United States was simply an elaborately described teapot. But a review of patents filed prior to 1900 reveals that many inventors were focused on solving a very practical issue: what to do with used tea leaves.

If you thought that modern tea infusers and strainers were recent innovations, think again. As early as 1861, an inventor named Nathan Ames introduced this early teapot spout attachment designed to filter tea leaves, a simple yet effective solution. A few decades later, in the 1870s, John Brewster developed a removable internal tea strainer spanning the length of a teapot, allowing for easy cleaning and reuse.

Then there is the enduring tea ball. While some tea enthusiasts argue that these devices restrict the movement of leaves and reduce flavor extraction, they have been popular for well over a century. Examples include this late 19th-century tea infuser design and another patented variation on enclosed tea steeping devices, both introduced in 1892.

More recently, I explored the origins of tea bags in this article examining early tea bag patents and their evolution. While tea bags are often dated to the late 19th century, I also came across this 1893 patent for a tea strainer resembling modern tea bags, which shows how similar concepts were emerging even earlier.

Finally, one of the more unusual historical patents is this 1881 design for a decorative tea dealer sign. While it may not meet modern standards of taste or presentation, it remains an intriguing example of tea-related design from the period.

See more of William I. Lengeman’s articles in this archive of tea-related writing by the author.

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