Reading Tea Leaves

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough 

or a book long enough to suit me” 

~ C.S. Lewis

credit: Le Pétrin

Having heard here the common phrase

'reading tea leaves',

I had to investigate what that was all about

'Tasseography' is the fortune telling method of reading tea leaves,

possibly practiced in England as early as the seventeenth century 

when tea was introduced to Europe

After you drink most of the liquid from your loose tea,

swirl the cup to scatter the leaves

Look at the patterns of tea leaves in the cup

which may look like a letter, a heart shape, or a ring

 See a list of symbols here

The leaves closest to the rim represent the present

The middle of the cup is the future

And the bottom of the teacup is your far future

In Victorian times,

clever fortune telling cups were designed to help with readings

via ebay

Reading tea leaves could be a whole new objective at tea parties now :)

And I couldn't resist this quote

“Women are like tea bags, 

they don’t know how strong they are 

until they get into hot water.” 

~ Eleanor Roosevelt (wife of former US President, Franklin D Roosevelt)

Source: Wikipedia