Can a tea table, a teapot or tea cups create happiness?

A May 31st, 1733 letter to The Pennsylvania Gazette answered yes. "An honest tradesman’s daughter" wrote, telling the story of how tea transformed her marriage. Her husband had been "addicted to Drinking & Gaming" and, desperate to reform him, she listened to the advice of a neighbor who told her that "Tea was as spiritus, and more wholesome than any strong Drink, be it Punch, be it Wine, be it Cyder, be it Brandy, be it Rum, be it what it will."
She continued her narrative: "I bought a Tea-Table, with its Appurtenances of Earthen, Bath Metal, and Nine Canisters of Tea. I confess my covetous Humour and Unaquaintance with Tea had like to have ruin'd me: For the Cups were so small, and the Tea so weak my Husband said it was drinking Water by Drops. I therefore bought a large home made Tea-Table, and a Set of Earthen Plates and Punch Bowls; one of which Bowls I fill'd with good strong Tea for my Husband, who then thought it was something like Drinking. By Degrees his Desire of strong Liquor wholly left him, and he became an Admirer of Tea… In a Months Time he was contented with the small Tea Table and Cups and Saucers….His Inclination to Gaming abating, I burnt my Nine-Pins, Frame and all, and dispos'd of all the rest of my Gaming Tools... This Way of Living has made so great an Alteration in my Husband, that he does not require the tenth Part of the Stuff he us'd to do, and yet does more Work, gets more Money, and is in good Credit with his Neighbours. The Money and Time he would have spent in Drinking and Gaming has, within these two Years past, ...refurnish'd my two great Rooms, supply'd the Tea-Table, and purchas'd two good Milch-Cows. So that besides our having always Milk enough and to spare... I am never at a loss for Cream and Butter with my Tea; and in short, as the saying is, we live together as happy as the Days are long.
I am Sir, Yours, &c.Patience Teacraft"

This section of the Tea Museum allows you to take a closer look at some of the teapots, tea cups and saucers, sugar bowls and sugar tongs that contributed to the happiness of ordinary Americans in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

By clicking on each of the objects below, you will get a full size view of its image, as well as, in most cases, information about its owner and its maker.

As you examine the following trappings of tea, think about the relationships between artisans and consumers, and ask yourself how tea drinking was experienced by different kinds of people in the American colonies.

Could tea poured from a silver teapot make you as happy as tea from pewter one?