How is Bone China Made?

Before discussing how bone china is produced, it's important to distinguish between fine bone china and fine china. WARNING: Vegans may find this information disheartening. No kidding. 

Bone China has bone ash in it, usually cow. It is also mixed with feldspar, ball clay, quartz and kaolin clay. 

Fine China and Porcelain were being made as early as AD 620 in China. They are made of kaolin clay, feldspar and silica. There's a difference here between fine china and porcelain, although most people use the terms interchangeably. Fine china is softer and more malleable, fired at a temperature of 1200 degrees Celsius. Porcelain is used for industrial purposes and is fired at 1455 degrees Celsius.

Bone China has a warmer colour and is more translucent than fine china. A discerning eye can see the difference. Often bone china is thinner. 

There are four main steps to making bone china. 

Step One: Clay Making

• Bone Ash
• China Clay
• Ball Clay
• Flint
• Feldspar

All of the above are mixed together with water to form a slurry. 

The water is eventually filtered and pressed out. Air is pressed out in this step, too, by default. The remaining flattened sheets of clay, if being made into plates, are rolled into big tubes called pugs. They retain about 20 % humidity for malleability. How fun is that word? Pugs. Who knew that pugs turn into fine china. 

Step Two: Mold Making

Plaster molds are made from metal masters. The metal masters aren't used themselves with the clay because they don't draw the remaining moisture out, whereas the plaster molds do. 

Pugs are sliced for plates. Cups and finer shapes are poured into molds. Handles and fine objects are affixed by hand! Moisture decreases to a low 0.5% as the plaster absorbs the excess water.

The china is now ready to be sent to the kiln and is fired at 1200 degrees Celsius for several hours. It shrinks by about a fifth its size at this point.

After it is fired, it is polished with water and stones to get rough edges off, to prepare it for the next phase. 

Step Three: Glazing

This phase is pretty self-explanatory. The beautiful china is sprayed and set with a special glaze to give it a lovely sheen. It is set in a Gloss Kiln. After it is glazed it is ready for decals and decoration. 

Step Four: Decorating

The pieces are now ready to have one or more steps completed: decals added, precious metals painted on, and/or enamel painted. 

Decals may be added by hand or machine. They are added with moisture and sealed in a kiln at the low temperature of 871 degrees Celsius. 

Gilding is the process of painting a precious metal on, usually gold or platinum. For more complex pieces like teacups and creamers, this is usually done by hand. For more symmetrical pieces like plates, this can be done by machine. When completed it is sealed on at 760 degrees Celsius. 

Enamel is often painted on to add a pleasing 3-D effect. This can be done by hand or machine. It also needs to be sealed at 760 degrees Celsius. 

The three photos above show workers painting on gilding. The photo below shows a delicate pink enamel added to a lovely white plate. 

It's a wonder with all this heat and firing any china makes it through at all, and indeed, there is a LOT of breakage! The final step is inspection and packaging. 

Some interesting facts:

Royal Albert, my favourite china company, has an FAQ section on their website. One of the questions asks where they get their bone ash from. They answer that their bone ash is 35% tricalcium orthophosphate. Ummmmmm, I'm a science geek and that doesn't answer the question, even for me! Although a 35% bone ash is a good percentage. But still. Very evasive. 

Another interesting fact. 

Charleskrafft.com might be an interesting website to visit if you want to turn a recently departed loved one into a piece of china...no kidding! This company uses human ash (or used to, anyway...not 100% sure if they still do) to make custom made fine bone china. Hmmmmm. 

Below I photographed some of my personal china. The first is a sandwich platter from Royal Albert. The pattern is Devonshire Lace. You will notice how translucent it is, seeing the shadows of my fingers behind it. That is a quality of all fine bone china. 

And just for fun, the matching teacup, saucer and salad plate!

I hope you enjoyed this post. I had fun researching it. 

Happy Steeping!

Sources:

www.knowledgenuts.com "Difference Between Fine China, Bone China and Porcelain" by Debra Kelly

http://home.howstuffworks.com/lenox.htm

royalalbert.co.uk FAQ section

Get The Lead Out Part II

Hypothesis:

IF there is lead in either of the tea samples, the Chinese Dragonwell or the Japanese Sencha, or any of the waters being tested, a precipitate will form once potassium iodide liquid is added. 

Background Information:

Two teas and two waters have already been tested for possible lead contamination. See the first post HERE. 

Potassium iodide forms a precipitate with only three ions: mercury, silver and lead. We are assuming (and hoping!!!) there is no silver or mercury present in the teas or waters being tested. The potassium iodide is a much more specific test than the sodium carbonate used in the previous post. In that case, a precipitate forms with a number of ions, many of which are not toxic or concerning at all! So this test will tell us if something more sinister is lurking. 

Method:

The two teas will be prepared in exactly the same manner as before: using filtered fridge water, 80 degrees Celsius, steeped for 2 minutes. The same cups and infusers will be used. We will also test the same waters: the filtered fridge water and the President's Choice bottled water. Four drops of KI(l) will be added to each solution. If lead is present, a precipitate will form. 

 The Japanese Sencha is on the right. It is less clear before the potassium iodide is added. However, if a precipitate forms it will become quite milky and a solid will sink to the bottom. 

Let's add the potassium iodide!

Results:

No precipitate formed in either of the teas, the filtered fridge water or the bottled water!

BONUS:

Just for fun, I decided to use this bagged Twinings Green Tea

I made the tea, filtered it and added the KI(l). No precipitate there, either. Very impressive. 

CONCLUSION:

You and I can feel good about drinking our green teas. At least DAVIDsTEA and Twinings. They are officially lead free. 

The Invention of the Tea Bag

In this modern age, we take the tea bag much for granted. But in terms of human history it hasn't been around that long. 

According to Chrystal, Britain averages 130 000 tonnes of tea a year, and 96% of that is from tea bags. Brits down 165 million cups per day. That's a lot of lifting! According to The True History of Tea, the tea bag has changed the way of tea around the world. It is "a potent symbol of our harried times." Indeed. What a better symbol than a quick dunk of a tea bag into hot water to make quick brew! It's even faster than that other hot beverage. 

So where did these tea bags originate?

"In 1908, New York global tea and coffee merchant Thomas Sullivan began sending samples of tea out in small silken bags." (Chrystal) Recipients of the samples mistakenly thought these worked like the metal infusers they were used to using and they simply dunked them into their hot water to sample the teas. 

But there is some controversy here. A. V. Smith of London, according to The True History of Tea, was issued a patent for a tea bag in 1896, 22 years before Sullivan is credited with this marvelous invention. Sullivan received complaints from customers about the silken bags and later changed them to gauze to make infusing easier. The invention was evolving. 

Along came Tetley. 

But was it 1935, according to The True History of Tea, or 1953, as Tea: A Very British Beverage outlines? It seems an important distinction, since one is pre-WWII and one is post WWII. For this we go to the InterWeb. According to tetleyusa.com, the launch of the Tetley Tea bag was 1953. Post WWII. 

You see, WWII delayed mass production of the tea bag. People were distracted with other things, like winning the war, feeding soldiers, rations, and other such endeavours. Tea bags weren't so important. 

The Lipton Flo Thru Tea Bag came on the scene in 1952, with its magnificent 4 sides instead of 2, allowing water to infuse more tea, more quickly. 

Bagged teas can be found in any grocery store today. 

If you want to see how tea bags are produced, you can watch it here. 

Some things to think about: What is IN your tea bag??
How much money goes into the packaging of the tea bag?
Would you rather the money go into your tea? 

That is for a future post. 

Happy Steeping!

Works Cited:

Tea: A Very British Beverage

The True History of Tea

Time.com

tetleyusa.com

Tea Empties, Reviews and Tips

Okay, so I drink a lot of tea. It's no secret. And so I have a few empties! I thought it would be fun to go through my latest empties with you and tell you what I thought, as well as share any feedback I have on that particular tea. I hope you enjoy. 

I have two sets of empties. The first is a T by Daniel set, the second is DAVIDsTEA. 

The first tea I will review is CITYYZ by T by Daniel. To be honest this was not a favourite of mine or my children but my husband thought it was gangbusters. I think I was put off because I didn't initially add sweetener and you MUST add sweetener to this tea! It has cacao in it, which is notoriously bitter, in my opinion. Once I added sweetener I must admit it was quite delicious. My husband thought it was on par with a Timmy's Iced Coffee, as do many T-fans on the fan page. This one sells out fast. You really should try it, just to see what all the buzz is about! Check it out here. 

The second tea I will review is a black tea by T by Daniel: Caramel Popcorn. The first time I made this I prepared it as I do all my black teas, at about 95 degrees Celsius. The black tea flavour came out beautifully but not much of anything else. The second time I prepared it (a fresh brew) I made it at 90 degrees and OH MY what a difference. Suddenly there it was: the caramel, sweet, salty flavours I was hoping for. I highly recommend this tea. You can purchase it here. 

My last empty from T by Daniel is a decadent treat called Chai Noir. I prepared this as a latte for my husband and it turned a neat shade of pink. It was so pretty! AND DELICIOUS!! The surprise for both of us is it wasn't much of a 'chai'. BUT...it is SO GOOD. You absolutely must try it. You can purchase it here. 

Now moving on to DAVIDsTEA empties...

Nutty by Nature is a yummy, smooth, sweet mate I use instead of coffee. It is yummy. Did I mention yummy? I believe the apricot is the key to the smooth sweetness. I drink this in the late morning or afternoon for a pick me up and I feel MUCH better than drinking coffee. This is a definite must. You can check it out here.

Now on to the real tragedy...

My favourite tea EVER of ALL TIME. (So far anyway). Cream of Earl Grey by DAVIDsTEA. Actually I shouldn't say it's my favourite since Canadian, Eh by T by Daniel rivals this bad boy! (Check out that smooth goodness here) The best part of Cream of Earl Grey is that my husband doesn't like it so I get it all to myself!!! It's very smooth and not spicy at all. I steep it at 90 degrees for only about 3 minutes. If you want stronger tea, PLEASE ADD MORE TEA rather than steeping for longer!!! This may seem counter intuitive. Or at least more expensive (it is that!!!!) but you won't be releasing the bitter tannic acids this way - you will only be releasing the tea deliciousness!!! You can purchase this delicacy here. 

If you want to be amused, you can watch our Youtube video here!! or here. 

Happy Steeping! Please let me know if you have any questions about these teas or any others. 

-B

Get The Lead Out

"Get the lead out," is short for "Get the lead out of your shoes." Or in this case, "Get the lead out of your tea!"

According to the National Post, teas from China have a particularly high content of lead compared to those from India and Sri Lanka. (I wonder where Japan is on the list??)

I do not react well to Chinese green teas. I get all spacey and kind of queasy. It's a hard feeling to describe. It was only until recently that I realized it only happens with Chinese green teas, not Japanese green teas. You see, a friend of mine brought me back a box of Japanese green tea straight from Japan. I drank each bag (gasp! Bagged tea!) with no issues. Since then I have explored various Japanese greens from various vendors with great success! I've tried different Chinese greens - no success. 

I will go into further detail about the differences between Japanese and Chinese Green teas in a further post. But today I wanted to answer the question if there was lead in one and not the other. 

In my home Science lab I have a few chemicals, including sodium carbonate. Carbonate, when in solution, makes friends with other things in solution, like lead (if present) and forms a solid. That solid can form a milky looking substance in a clear solution like water or green tea. THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THIS EXPERIMENT! Carbonate makes friends with LOTS of other things, not just lead. 

But it's a start. 

So here's the setup of our experiment. 

We are testing a plain Chinese green tea and a plain Japanese green tea from the same vendor. They are brewed in the same type of implements and the same way - at 80 degrees Celsius for two minutes. I will also test the filtered water from my fridge used to make the green teas, and just for fun, test bottled water, too. On top of that, I decided to make two more cups of green tea, one of each, just to show what they look like NOT being tested. 

 Here are our beautiful green teas: Chinese on the left, Japanese on the right. 

 Same infusers, same conditions. 

Two beautiful teas. Two minutes of steeping time. You can see how clear the two teas are at this point. 

 Still steeping. You can see the water expanding the leaves beautifully. 

 The teas before any testing was done. 

 The teas and the filtered fridge water used to make the teas BEFORE the testing. 

 Making a solution of sodium carbonate with distilled water. 

 Dropping in a pippete-ful of sodium carbonate solution to the filtered water. 

 Dropping it in to the Japanese Sencha. 

 And finally testing the Chinese Dragonwell.  

 This was most disturbing: my beautiful fridge water, left, and BOTTLED WATER, right!! What did the carbonate make friends with! What is that precipitate??

The teas after being tested, on the left. The Chinese tea is on the left and appears very clear. The Japanese is on the right and appears milky! The teas on the right are untested. 

The most disturbing part of this test is the results of the bottled water! The Chinese tea really didn't test positive for anything much. The Japanese, I would say, had medium results, but we have no way of knowing what the carbonate formed a precipitate with. According to the chart below, and as I've stated, carbonate makes friends with a lot of other ions. 

What is needed is potassium iodide. The iodide only makes friends with silver, mercury and....LEAD!!! And I seriously doubt there will be silver or mercury in our tea. Here's hoping, anyway. 

I ordered some potassium iodide and will perform further tests when it arrives. 

Happy Steeping!

Sources:

The National Post

Solubility Chart

Personal Experience