Predicting the future is a human preoccupation as old as civilization itself. One of the most unusual methods of divination is to look for answers in the arrangement of teal leaves left at the bottom of a cup of tea.
The practice is technically known as tasseography or tasseomancy. The terms are formed from the French word ‘tasse’ (which means cup) and the Greek suffix ‘graph’ (meaning writing) or ‘mancy’ (meaning divination). Practitioners claim to get insights from the patterns created by pieces of tea leaves that are left in a cup once it has been consumed. Some tasseographers also use the grinds left in coffee cups and the sediments left in a glass from red wine.
Tea was introduced in Britain from China in the middle of the 17th century. Initially an aristocratic pleasure, falling prices meant that the general populace also took up the drink and it became very popular. Superstitious drinkers quickly began to use the patterns created by the tea leaves as a way to predict the future.
The oldest known text on the subject, ‘best tea for tea leaf reading‘, written by someone calling themselves ‘Highland Seer’, specified sets of shapes and symbols that could be used to interpret tea leaf patterns.
Modern day would-be tasseomancers often ask ‘What is best tea for tea leaf reading?’. Experts say that plain loose tea is the best (but make sure that it doesn’t contain any fruits, flowers, powders or twigs) because it can make a wide range of different shapes and sizes which helps create the best images to interpret. Anything with a small, slender leaves is ideal such as Black Chinese, Green, Earls Grey or Ceylon tea will produce the desired effects in the leftovers once tea has been drunk. Obviously the tea needs to be made with loose leaves – a tea bag is not going to work!
By combining each shape with the others the tea reader can create a story for the person whose future is being read (called ‘the sitter’). They might see certain symbols such as a key (moving house), a letter (a message will be received), a ring (nuptials), a mountain (for a promotion) and so on. Sometimes the specific locations of these symbols in the cup will also be significant.
Often the sitter will ask a question related to what they want to know to guide the soothsayer. Initially, however, the tea reader will examine the tea leavings and provide a general reading before the sitter asks specific questions about what they want to know.
