Tea Bag Holder or Tidy and Butter Pats

These are adorable little miniature dishes for holding the tea bag after removing it from the pot or the mug. Very collectible - they come in just about as many designs as tea cups. The most common shape is a teapot.
These are not true antiques as they have only been in manufacture for as long as there have been tea bags. The first patent applied for a tea bag was in 1905. Lipton Tea Company was incorporated in 1915. The tea bag holder really come into it's own after WWII and some of the nicest ones ever created came from Japan - Occupied Japan and later.

Although tea tidies are adorable, a used tea bag is not. It is adviseable to remove the tea bag before serving and not bring it to the table.

A much nicer use of the tea tidy is to use it as a spoon rest or to hold the lemon wedge. It can also be used to hold a name as a placesetting or given as a gift to thank your guests for coming as in a baby shower tea. When given as a gift at a special occasion, it is traditional to fill the gift with 5 Jordon Almonds (for health, wealth , happiness, fertility and long life). Jordon Almonds are candied almonds that are available in the Italian district bakeries as Confetti and come in a wide variety of coloured shells for different occasions. Also available are net doilies and special ribbons used to create very fancy presentations.