You go to breakfast and order a coffee. They serve it to you very hot in a cup that does not insulate at all, but thank God, they also brought the cup’s best ally: the saucer. What would coffee be if it didn’t have a saucer to hold the cup without burning our fingers? Where do you leave the candy wrapper and cookies? This is an important task for the food, but not so long ago he was the real hero.

You may have seen in a movie, photo or picture that there is coffee in a coffee saucer. And the problem is not that it was spilled due to carelessness, but that it was very cleverly used to drink the coffee. Because yes, before the cup dictatorship, saucers were much more important when drinking coffee. And this is something that continues to happen in certain parts of the world.

Plate. The glasses did not always have a handle to hold them comfortably. This design addition came in the form of two handles for grasping with two hands, but it was the plate that was still very popular. We should think of it as a kind of miniature deep dish, not today’s typical coffee saucer, which is extremely flat and specifically designed to hold a matching cup. Also, the glasses were not like current glasses, which generally have straight walls: They used to have more curved edges.

Plate-like tableware existed in various parts of Europe, but in the 18th century the East India Company (both the British, Swedes, and Dutch) began importing a variety of products from China, including tea and porcelain. Inside that porcelain were small bowls and plates that could be used to drink liquid.

Heat. It is estimated that drinking tea on a saucer became fashionable in England and Sweden around the middle of the century. There are many pictorial works from that period where you can see people holding a glass with one hand and bringing a plate of liquid to their mouth with the other hand. In fact, it seems a bit unnatural, because once they get the cup, why don’t they drink directly from it?

The answer has to do with something practical: in the cup the tea was more concentrated, while in the saucer the contact surface was larger. This allowed the liquid to come into greater contact with the porcelain, which acted as a heat ‘sink’, cooling the drink so that the first sips did not burn the tongue. This was as true for coffee as it was for the new tea, and saucers began to become the perfect accessory for tea/coffee sets among the wealthy classes.

Procedure? Now, one thing that is not so clear is what ritual they follow and there are various interpretations; These include deliberately filling the glass more so that it overflows and some of the liquid falls into the saucer, and tasting that portion first. It doesn’t seem very comfortable, but another theory is that the diner is the person who pours some liquid into the plate to cool it down and then puts it back in the glass to soften everything. It can be poured with an existing mug, but it makes sense because of the curved edge of antique porcelain mugs.

Now, there is another explanation that seems to be the simplest and best suits the pictures that reflect the fashion of that time: Coffee or tea was served first in a cup and then in a cup for convenience. Whoever drank it would pour it into the plate and drink directly from it. In both cases, the goal is the same: to cool the drink so that it does not burn your mouth.

Dricka på a little. But perhaps the closest to this “traditional” way of drinking coffee is the Swedish tradition, which some continue to practice. ‘Dricka på bit’ is like “drinking with a lump” and is a pretty interesting tradition that I would definitely like to try. It contains sugar, so a specialty coffee shop would look down on us if we did it, but here’s the thing:

• After preparing the coffee, we pour it into the cup and pour a certain amount from there onto the plate.
• We blow it because the plate acts as a cooler, but it’s not magic and it will stay warm.
• We take a sugar cube and dip it into coffee. Then, the idea seems to be to put it in your mouth, but without swallowing or biting it.
• Finally we start drinking coffee and that’s when the clod finishes melting in the mouth.

It doesn’t seem that strange. But what’s more interesting about drinking coffee this way is that, although it may have disappeared from some parts of the world, it is still a common practice in others. An example of this is content like the video along these lines, which shows the traditional way of drinking coffee in India, and more importantly, comments from people who confirm that they continue to do the same in their communities or in certain regions. . same way.

You can see people doing something similar in other videos. Although the process is not exactly the same, one thing they repeat when drinking the coffee is the sip, because this is how the coffee completes its cooling. And again, comments about what people see in their elders.

In any case, it is clear that the saucer remains in the tea and coffee sets for other purposes, such as not getting stained when we sit down, helping us hold the glass without burning ourselves, or serving the obligatory cookie. But now I feel like going to a cafe and practicing this centuries-old method of drinking coffee.

Image | Petr Kratochvil, Cleveland Museum of Art

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