Talk:Saucer

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[edit] Origin of word

Anyone know if its anything to do with sauce?--Light current 15:21, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Ooo look: Saucer \Sau"cer\, n. [F. sauci[`e]re, from sauce. See Sauce.]

  1. A small pan or vessel in which sauce was set on a table.
     [Obs.] --Bacon.

--Light current 15:24, 29 July 2006 (UTC)


I heard that saucers were originally used to cool the tea; the tea was poured into the saucer so that it had a greater surface area and cooled faster. True or false? — Omegatron 02:02, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Now that I found the right search terms, it seems to be true, at least in certain cultures:
    1. Saucers were invented for a very valid reason. Tea is often poured in a scalding state. Although this habit has largely fallen into disuse, the intent of the tea saucer is not to "catch spills" so much as it is to pour your scalding tea into, where due to great surface area/volume ratio it cools almost immediately, whence one can sip it without harm to ones cultured taste buds. This is directly related to the next point:
    2. Coffee cups WILL NOT do. Try pouring tea into the saucer from a coffee cup. Mess everywhere. Ick. A proper teacup does not have the infernal "defy law of gravity and stick to underside of vessel before dripping off at most inappropriate point" property. This one little bit of advice can save your trousers and jacket from many embarassing moments when having tea with MOTAS" [1]
  • “India. I had few memories of the place, but the ones I held were dream clear: Bathing in a bucket as a little girl. The unnerving richness of buffalo milk drunk from a pewter cup. My Dadaji pouring tea into a saucer so it would cool faster, sipping from the edge of the thin dish, never spilling a drop. [2]
  • A side collection of mine is whats know as cup plates - what are they? well cup plates were made between 1825-1870 they were used in formal dining which encompassed a large number of setting pieces one of which were cup plates, when drinking the tea was poured from a teapot into a cup which sat on a saucer - the tea was very hot and to cool it faster the person drinking the tea would pour the hot drink into the deep concave saucer and rest the cup on the CUP PLATE - the liquid in the saucer by now was starting to cool and the person could pick up the saucer and slurp up the tea from it. While this may not have been the most ettiquite of manners it was standard practice back then! [3]
    • The above note on drinking from the saucer is actually quite correct about the traditional use of the saucer, and in fact it was also commonplace to put a little suger into the saucer prior to pouring tea into it, and then once you were almost done with your tea, you could pour the leftover into the saucer and finish itoff. I believe this practice -specifically the above note- should be added to the article page.
  • Finally, as seen in many Russian paintings, kids often drink tea directly from a saucer. The reason is the following:

    The pace of cooling is roughly proportional to the surface of the liquid over its volume. Therefore, tea cools much faster if served in a saucer rather than in a cup. Now, Russians prefer to drink their tea hot, while children can easily scald their lips or tongues with such a hot liquid. However, tea drinking is a community rite, so it would be inappropriate to let the juniors wait until their tea cools down while the elders drink. Hence the saucer. [4]
  • ‘Of what use is the Senate?’ he asked, as he stood before the fire with a cup of tea in his hand, pouring the tea into his saucer as he spoke. ‘You have answered your own question,’ replied Washington. ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Why did you pour that tea into your saucer?!’ ‘To cool it,’ quoth Jefferson. ‘Even so,’ said Washington, ‘the Senate is the saucer into which we pour legislation to cool.’ " (J. Pope, Memoirs of the Rt. Hon. Sir John Alexander Macdonald, [Ottawa, 1894] vol. II, p. 233) [5]

— Omegatron 02:10, 9 October 2006 (UTC)