A saucer is a type of small

dishware Tableware is any dish or dishware used for setting a table, serving food, and dining. It includes cutlery, glassware, serving dishes, and other items for practical as well as decorative purposes. The quality, nature, variety and number of obj ...

. While in the Middle Ages a saucer was used for serving

condiment A condiment is a preparation that is added to food, typically after cooking, to impart a specific flavor, to enhance the flavor, or to complement the dish. A table condiment or table sauce is more specifically a condiment that is served separat ...

s and sauces, currently the term is used to denote a small plate or shallow bowl that supports a

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, w ...

– usually one used to serve coffee or tea.

Overview

The center of the saucer often contains a depression or raised ring sized to fit a matching cup; this was only introduced in the mid 18th century. The saucer is useful for protecting surfaces from possible damage due to the heat of a cup, and to catch overflow, splashes, and drips from the cup, thus protecting both table linen and the user sitting in a free-standing chair who holds both cup and saucer. The saucer also provides a convenient place for a wet

spoon A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily for ...

, as might be used to stir the drink in the cup in order to mix sweeteners or creamers into

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and norther ...

or coffee. Some people pour the hot tea or coffee from the cup into the saucer; the increased

surface area The surface area of a solid object is a measure of the total area that the surface of the object occupies. The mathematical definition of surface area in the presence of curved surfaces is considerably more involved than the definition of ar ...

of the liquid exposed to the air increases the rate at which it cools, allowing the drinker to consume the beverage quickly after preparation. This was very common in the 18th century. Although often part of a

place setting Table setting (laying a table) or place setting refers to the way to set a table with tableware—such as eating utensils and for serving and eating. The arrangement for a single diner is called a place setting. It is also the layout in which t ...

in a tea or dinner set,

teacup A teacup is a cup for drinking tea. It may be with a handle, generally a small one that may be grasped with the thumb and one or two fingers. It is typically made of a ceramic material. It is usually part of a set, composed of a cup and a matc ...

s with unique styling are often sold with matching saucers, sometimes alone, or as part of a

tea set Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...

, including a

teapot A teapot is a vessel used for steeping tea leaves or a herbal mix in boiling or near-boiling water, and for serving the resulting infusion which is called tea. It is one of the core components of teaware. Dry tea is available either in tea ba ...

and small dessert plates.

Thermal transport

When placed beneath a cup, saucers have very little direct influence on beverage cooling rate. For hot, water based beverages (e.g. tea or coffee), cooling rate in a cup is typically dominated by evaporation, which occurs across the free surface in contact with the air. Heat transfer through the bottom of the cup is small relative to heat lost through the top of the cup. Further reducing the heat lost through the bottom of the cup has little effect on the cooling rate of the beverage. Placing a saucer on top of a cup, however, inhibits evaporative cooling and is thus an effective way of reducing the cooling rate so that the drink remains warmer for longer. The reduction in heat loss due to evaporation is typically much greater than the increase in heat loss associated with conduction through the saucer (and subsequent radiation or convective transfer to the surrounding air).

Historical reference

Gallery

File:Saucer with yellow and white design.jpg, Department store-ware File:Styrofoam saucer.JPG,

Styrofoam Styrofoam is a trademarked brand of closed-cell extruded polystyrene foam (XPS), commonly called "Blue Board", manufactured as foam continuous building insulation board used in walls, roofs, and foundations as thermal insulation and water barrie ...

saucer File:WLA taft Joan of Arc Sugar Bowl and Judith Saucer.jpg, Antique File:Petite sous-tasse en Faïence de madame Desmette - Maison Léon Losseau.jpg,

Faience Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip of a lead glaze, was a major a ...

saucer of the Maison Losseau collections

References

External links