This week’s Inconsequential History Question: What is a “mote” and why would you need a spoon to handle it? Because here we have, from a recent QBO sale, a real Victorian Mote Spoon. In fact both spoons shown qualify as mote spoons, but while the longer can do other things like fishing pickles out of jars, the diminutive spoon really can’t serve any other purpose.
Maybe a Bible verse can help us out (bear with me.) Matthew 7:3-5 (quoting Jesus) says “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?” Another translation of the same verse “Why, then, do you look at the straw in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the rafter in your own eye?” And last, the King James translation: “Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the MOTE out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?” So that’s it – a mote is a bit of something very tiny.
Mote spoons come from the era when the western aristocracy (and then the middle class) had a purpose-made utensil for just about anything that might show up on your table. The mote spoon is for Tea Time and was designed to fish out any tiny annoying pieces of tea leaf (motes, if you will) that might end up floating in your otherwise perfect cuppa tea. What sets mote spoons apart from any other small-bowled, perforated spoon is the sharp spear point on the opposite end; that’s for clearing your teapot spout of obstructing wads of tea leaves. And while other tea service pieces such as fancy strainers or sugar cube tongs are still being made, mote spoons really are the product of a single, brief window in time. Today they are rare at our sales and any mote spoon you find is going to be well over 100 years old. But why the decline?
While paper-wrapped tea packs sometimes were used to steep tea in 7th Century Tang Dynasty China, the method was not widespread and did not make its way west. But in 1908 New York tea merchant Thomas Sullivan sent tea to his customers in little silk sample bags. Folks thought it was brilliant and put the bags directly in their teapots. Not one to pass up an accidental opportunity, Sullivan immediately started marketing tea that way to much acclaim, eliminating the need for strainer or mote spoon. Alas, as other tea merchants also started selling tea bags, they realized the bags were a good way to disguise low quality tea and so included ‘sweepings’ (off the tea factory floor) and ‘fannings’, broken bits of tea dust (motes, really!) generated during processing, a practice that continues to this day. In spite of many gourmet teas now being sold in tea bags, the best teas are still loose leaf, no sweepings, fannings or motes!
To make a proper Victorian cuppa: Fill your stovetop kettle with FRESH water (which carries more flavor-boosting oxygen) and bring to a boil. “Beam the pot” (rinse your ceramic teapot with hot water to pre-heat it). Put in one teaspoon of loose, Black tea for every cup you’re brewing and add one extra “for the pot”. Brew 4 – 5 minutes only! If you want stronger tea, use more leaves, not a longer brewing time as over-brewing brings out tannins which make the tea bitter. Ready to pour? Because now there’s the centuries long controversy: milk in the cup first, or tea in first? Let’s settle the issue with a fistfight! No, no, enjoy your tea however you like it and remember the parable which warns against the hypocrisy of pointing out the tiny flaw in another while ignoring the great big flaw in yourself. And check out this charmingly literal interpretation of Matthew 7:3-5 by 1530s engraver Daniel Hopfer that doesn’t stint on showing us the big wooden beam! P.S. Please keep your mote spoon away from your brother’s eye!
Tuesday Treasures was started by our staff member, Jeanne Lusignan. Each week she will be featuring items that have been found at our estate sales. If you would like to submit a treasure for Jeanne to feature in a future installment of “Tuesday’s Treasures”, please follow the button below and send us an email! Please attach a few photos of your treasure in a beautiful setting as well as any details you have about your item such as manufacturer, use, age, region of origin. If you don’t know about the piece, that’s okay! We still might be able to research it for you! Don’t forget to tell us what makes this item such a treasure to you!