What is happening to the tea cups and mugs in India? They are getting smaller and smaller every year! By the time I have taken a few sips and started to enjoy the taste of the tea, the cup is empty!
When I came to UK about four decades ago, the size of
the tea cup was same as in India. The tea cup and saucer has now mostly been replaced by the mug, except in a formal set up. Mugs are much more convenient,
single handed operation and less washing up later. It also has a smaller
footprint on the coffee table.
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| TEA TAB |
 |
| COFFEE TABLE |
Tea
on a coffee table? Well, you will be surprised to know that initially
tea/coffee was served on a tea table which was rather taller and more suited for high back chairs. With increasing use of low back sofas, lower tables which were kept behind the sofa were used to put magazines, and other nick-nacks. They were also convenient for resting the cups of hot beverages between sips. Later these sofa tables were brought in the front, made even lower and became today’s ubiquitous coffee tables in the living rooms all over the world.
Here in UK, the size of the mug has gradually gone
bigger and bigger. Exactly the opposite has happened in India. What is going
on?
Tea arrived in UK in the early 1600. It was very
costly and was served in small cups. It has become cheaper over the years and
being a cold country no wonder the cups have gradually gone bigger.
Why have the cups become smaller in India? With
globalization tea price in India has gone up relative to the average wage. I
used to bring tea from India previously but for the last few years I found that
good leaf tea is almost the same price as in UK if not costlier. No point in
slugging a heavier suitcase any more.
This enlightenment into the reasons behind diminishing
cup sizes did not help me an iota. I still felt unsated. It is not very polite
to ask the host for another cup, when all other guests are complaining that
they had too much tea. When you know you cannot get another cup, your yearning
just gets multiplied. This is what is known in psychology as scarcity heuristic**. When something
becomes less available, we put a higher value on it.
This scarcity heuristic produces a cognitive bias
which is exploited every day by salesmen all over the world “Only few pieces
are left, Sir. They have been flying off the self fast.” In reality the
backroom might have hundreds of them since the last season.
Anyway whether it is lack of lactose tolerance in
India or Scarcity heuristic causing cognitive error in my mind, I am still
lamenting the diminishing size of the tea cup. On my next trip to India I am
taking my own mug. I just have to find a socially acceptable way to persuade my
hosts to give me tea in my mug.
** Worchel, Stephen; Lee, Jerry; Adewole, Akanbi.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 32(5), Nov 1975, 906-914. http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/32/5/906/
