Tea dregs and reading the tea leaves

Have you ever wondered why some people always leave a bit of tea at the bottom of their cup or mug? The answer is tea dregs. In the days before tea bags and designer label coffee outlets, people made tea with leaf tea in tea pots. The making of tea was, for some, almost a ceremony with careful warming of the pot (I knew someone who warmed the spout in addition to warming the pot) before spooning in the correct amount of tea (one for each person plus ‘one for the pot) and then pouring in freshly boiled water; the tea was left for about 3 minutes (some people used to ‘mash’ the tea by stirring vigorously with a spoon) and then pouring the tea through a strainer; in the 50s, the strainer was metal with holes in it which was not as effective as the modern nylon mesh ones; because of the not 100% effective strainer, some small bits of tea leaf would end up in the cup and, as people did not enjoy these, they tended not to drain the cup and therefore left the tea dregs behind. Interesting to speculate why it is that some people drinking tea made with a tea bag (or indeed some who have never had tea made with leaf tea) still leave some behind – maybe it is something they have always done or something they have seen their elders do. Of course, it was the dregs left behind that allowed some people to “read the tea leaves”; the cup (with dregs) was turned upside down over a saucer thus allowing the liquid to drain away; the cup was then turned upright again and some people would claim to be able to foretell future events from the patterns the tea leaves (dregs) left behind.