Boiling point: our affair with kettles:
Enduring bond with tea:
Symbol of unity, comfort, and shared stories:
A common item in every Sri Lankan home is the kettle. A kettle is put on the stove or cooker every morning to make that refreshing cup of tea or coffee. The humble kettle is part of our lives and wields its charm in bringing our families together. It symbolises life and hope, though it often gets little significance in our busy lives. This narrative traces the origins of the kettle, its timeless affair with tea drinking and its allure and attachment in various cultures.
Kettles have been with humanity for thousands of years.
The kettle as we know it has evolved from the essential open pans used over open fires to heat water. For centuries, all over the world, families, travellers, sailors, farmers, and the military have been using durable iron kettles to cook food and boil water. This sturdy iron kettle lasts for decades. Some homes still have these vintage kettles from the Ceylon era. In ancient Europe, nomads boiled water and added wheat grain to flavour it. This practice led to what we know today as malt beer. Centuries ago, the great caravans travelling across the Middle East also adored their kettles for making tea.
Bronze kettles are evidenced as being used to boil water for medicinal purposes. The kettle can be thanked for providing countless generations with boiled drinking water. In China, people began adding green tea leaves to the hot water for some flavour – a practice first documented during the Shang Dynasty. Specific English terms reflect the traditional idea of a kettle: a ‘fish kettle’ is a long, shallow pot for cooking whole fish and a ‘kettle drum’ is a large, bowl-shaped drum.
Monopolised trade
The kettle and tea have a long legacy. The British East India Company was formed in 1600 and monopolised trade between Britain and the Far East. At that point, tea had been introduced to Europe but was still odd in Great Britain. That changed when Charles II married Catherine of Braganza, a Portuguese princess who loved tea. Thanks to her, tea became the accepted drink among monarchs and the wealthy class. Tea became a status symbol for the super-rich of Regency England. Not surprisingly, in keeping with the elitism of tea drinking, teakettles were ornate, often made of silver. They were a prized possession.
When the British East India Company began to trade directly with China, focusing on tea imports, the drink became available to a broader demographic. Tea was fast becoming affordable to all and very popular among all classes. There was now a market for cheaper teakettles. Copper is durable, malleable, and an excellent conductor of heat. In response to the trend for tea drinking, the copper teakettle became an everyday object in British homes. In the mid-1700s, tea gardens became fashionable, and tea was part of an afternoon or evening of entertainment. At these “garden parties,” tea was served to accompany the dancing and socialising. The kettle played a significant part in all these events.
The use of electricity to produce “clean” heat in the home expanded in the 1880s with a particular focus on cooking technologies such as electric stoves. Arthur Leslie Large is credited with inventing the electric kettle. The invention of the whistling kettle is commonly attributed to Londoner Harry Bramson, who sold the patent rights in 1923. In 1956, Russell Hobbs managed to develop an automatic electrical kettle.
Putting the ‘kettle on’ is an action that creates a break or a pause. This allows us to gather our thoughts, shift our perspective and consider our next move. A cup of tea can also give a significant boost when it comes to self-care and wellbeing—some of my earliest memories of the kettle date back to my school days. When I was part of the 39th Colombo Scout Troop, we often had campfires, and the kettle was very much part of the tea ritual. We used to enjoy ginger-infused tea, biscuits, and milk toffees.
Shared stories
Growing up in the politically turbulent times of the 1980s and 1990s, I saw many days when Colombo was clamped down with curfew. During those days when there was no social media and cable TV, we relied on our neighbours for extended chats to overcome the boredom. The kettle kept us united and somewhat motivated as our senior citizens shared ghost stories and stories of failed romances over a cup of tea. Sometimes, the tea was made in the garden, with the kettle suspended on a makeshift hearth to enhance these social gatherings, where bats flew about in the stillness of the night.
Since taking up print media as a career, putting on the kettle has become a refreshing routine. Staying at the computer can become annoying and give you a mild headache—the kettle and Ceylon tea offer some relief for us wordsmiths. While travelling across this serene island, I noticed how vital the kettle is in rural villages. I cherish the memories of boiling the water in an open kitchen on the remote island of Karainagar with my amiable friend Vincent. The sea breeze fanned the burning embers, and the tea kettle kept us awake for hours of chatter.
On a few occasions, I had blissful moments of having kept the kettle on an open fire in the lush garden of my friend Terry, in his ancestral home in Jaffna. Similar moments were shared in the hill country as I waited one night with my friend Ravi to observe an intrusive wild boar, which was gobbling up the vegetables in the cultivation area, away from the bungalow. The kettle was part of my travel moments in Galle and Matara as we relished our tea with kalu dodol. On another occasion, we sat by a burning kettle in Trincomalee, curious about a meandering paranormal creature seen in a garden. Our vigil ended when a confused mongoose ran out of the trees, crashed, toppled the kettle, and ran for its life, probably with a burn injury. As for the unseen ghost, it, too, must have laughed at this funny outcome. The cast iron kettles are replaced with modern variations today. But every kettle boils and hisses with energy, adding to the beautiful moments of life.
Dishan Joseph