Cups, Mugs and Glasses

Are you a china cup person or do you prefer a mug of tea?  China tea sets seem to be slipping away into the distant past when they were used regularly for afternoon tea.  Perhaps your mother treasured one which was housed in a cabinet or 'tall boy' with glass doors.  The 'China Cabinet' would only be opened on special occasions or when certain visitors arrived - Great Auntie Nancy, Nan or Mrs N. from No. 5?  Working class people used pottery cups and saucers - the shape and feel to the lips of which were totally different to the 'best' cups.  Then came the mugs and teabags to replace teapots, loose tea and tea strainers.

 

Do you type-cast the mugs in your home?  Do you have thick set builder's mugs, men's mugs, kiddies mugs, china mugs for mum and a set of mugs that cousin Jane gave you for Christmas many years ago, that do for all?  Do you use, for yourself, one type of mug for your early morning cuppa and another for your elevenses?  One for tea and another for coffee?  What about that soothing hot chocolate drink - is that in a chunky thick rimmed mug - one you can wrap your hands around on a cold evening; or the purple one that reminds you of a certain chocolate brand?  Did your Dad have a tin mug and plate he used for work - painted white with a blue or black rim?  Well used ones would have chipped paint, showing more black or even the silver of the metal underneath.  And why do they give old people in hospital or nursing homes plastic mugs of tea?  What does that do for the flavour and experience of the thirst quenching drink?

 

With the dawning of new ways of serving coffee in coffee shops, so too came new shapes of cups and glass containers - latte and frappe 'mugs'.  Does your town centre favour coffee shops over 'Tea Rooms?'  Remember 'Lyons'?  Tea Shops are more likely to be found in country villages and how we love to visit them and see the china cups again being served with cakes and scones on cake stands and doilies.  "How quaint," we say.

 





 

Do you remember Corona fizzy pop, delivered to your door and poured into a moderate sized glass?  Pop was certainly a welcome change from orange squash.  Children delighted to see the array of coloured bubbly drinks at party times.  School friends would gather around the table laden with rabbit shaped blamonge and greengage jelly, jam tarts and a block of Neapolitan ice-cream with wafers waiting to be served after the consumption of sandwiches and crisps.  If the grown-ups were out of the room, mixing the fizzy drinks was such fun.  Whatever happened to Dandelion and Burdock?  Cola and Lemonade seem to be stocked in abundance now on supermarket shelves but the green colour of lemon and lime or the red of cherryade is harder to find.

 

Are your soft drink vessels called 'Glasses' (as in 'asses') or 'Glasses' (as in 'arses' - excuse me!).  Do you prefer tall thin edged ones or stouter chunky ones.  Do you choose one sort for having a glass of water and another for your evening alcoholic tipple?  Do men prefer a beer glass with a handle or a half pint straight glass embellished with a logo?  Does the thickness of the glass have any bearing to the taste of their drink of larger, Guinness or mild brew?  Does anyone still use tankards?  What sort of glass holds the 'hard stuff' or is a tot of whiskey, rum or brandy another fading older person's tradition?

 

Whatever your drinking vessel, just take a minute to think about it; pop down memory lane in comparison and appreciate your cup, mug or glass of today.  Cheers!