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History of the Brown Betty
The Brown Betty has been very popular since it's inception in the 1800s. I have read on other web sites all sorts of claims as to it's history and origins. Many web sites simply copy somebody elses comments embellishing them along the way and you end up with a rather skewed picture. I will give you my version based on the reading I have done on the subject.
The glaze on the teapot is based on a manganese brown glaze developed by the Marquis of Rockingham on his estate in England in the late 1700s. This Rockingham Brown glaze and the Betty shape was eventually shortened to the affectionate term Brown Betty which we use today. (How the shape got the Betty term I have not yet discovered.) The teapot was one made for the general public as a very utilitarian piece for daily use. It needed to be durable and cheap and so was made from a good terracotta clay which would hold the heat nicely. Todays teapots are still made out of a red clay visible on the unglazed portions of the lid and base of the teapot.
A single company is still licensed to make the brown betty design in England and it has had its ups and downs going in and out of business leaving a trail of creditors behind but continuing to make the teapot in each new incarnation and name. At first it was Caledonia Pottery, then Cauldone Vale, and now just Cauldon and you will find teapots for sale in the US with all those name tags depending on the date of the stores inventory.
As previously mentioned on this site the factory had some production problems that resulted in some crazing on small batches of their production. In speaking with US distributors I was told that the problem was not widespread and that reports of problems have dropped away in 2009. I will note here that in my latest batch of teapots I found inside the teapot a slip of paper with the following comment.
'Thank you for purchasing this authentic hand made English Brown Betty teapot. Whilst every care was taken in the manufacture of this teapot, in a hand made product some imperfection is inevitable, but the long term use of the product is not impaired and it will continue to make the best cup of tea.'
I check on Amazon every so often to see what people write in their reviews of the teapot and basically they say it is not the quality of the old teapots being lighter and seem more poorly made with variable quality. I would agree and we are phasing them out of our shop. There are plenty of other vendors who will happily sell you one but for us they have proved to be an ongoing headache and not something I can stock with any confindence. We have found a suitable replacement from Zero Teapots in Japan whose quality is great. You will find them in the Purchase brown betty teapots section in the menu to the left.
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