Earlier this week I went antiquing with my sister back in Missouri. One of the items that I bought was an antique tea caddy.

I was told by the antique dealer that it was from the late 1800’s, but I need to do some more research to find out how old it is.

Another question is the origin. The style is more Japanese than Chinese, so it is most likely from Japan.

There is a little tag on the bottom of the caddy, but really nothing to identify it further. There is not enough writing to distinguish between Japanese and Chinese on the label as they use many of the same characters.

While searching through images for Japanese and Chinese tea caddies, this type of lid and construction shows up predominately in Japanese caddies.

Another interesting thing about this tea caddy was that it actually had some tea in it. The tea still had some aroma, so I decided to try it out. I knew that it was a jasmine tea, but I am still not sure what the base tea is.

A teaspoon of the tea leaves went into an infuser while I was waiting for the teapot to sing to me.

I soon was brewing my tea and I watched the color slowly appear.

Here is the end result. The tea had a nice rich color. The taste was also really nice. I was sure that someone would keep a good tea in a little tea caddy like this one. The tea caddy is sealed well and the tea must not have been too old 🙂

Perhaps someone can tell me more about this little tea caddy. Is it indeed Japanese? Was it made in the 1880’s or is it more modern?

I only paid about $10 for it, so I am sure it is worth what I paid. I will most likely put one of my favorite teas in it once I use what is in it now.

Steven