Mote Spoons
The mote spoon, invented sometime in the 17th century, was an ingenious device for its time, and an aid to the drinking of tea. With a long tapering handle fitted with a pierced or solid bowl at one end, and a pointed or barbed tip on the other, it could skim the loose tea leaves from the beverage’s surface by means of the bowl and remove the loose tea leaves or motes that clogged the teapot spout with the point. (Mote was the Old English word for a particle or foreign matter in food or drink). Although the mote spoon was outmoded by the advent of the tea strainer in the 19th century, they continued to be offered by American silver flatware makers in the 19th century. The invention of the teabag has completely eliminated the problem of floating tea leaves and clogged spouts.
Reference Note by p4A editor Robert H. Goldberg, October 2008.