# Did you know someone that drank coffee from a saucer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** coffee\ **Created:** [September 8, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312 "2021-09-08T14:17:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/1 "2021-09-08T14:17:13Z")
My aunt drank a cup of instant coffee every morning. She was always running late for work. She’d pour some coffee in a saucer and it would cool enough to drink. Of course, this was at home and not in a restaurant. She drank instant because my uncle didn’t drink coffee. She felt it wasn’t worth making a pot. She only had time to drink one cup. Getting up 15 minutes earlier wasn’t an option for her. 😉 I’ve never seen anyone else cool a hot drink in a saucer. Have you? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/2 "2021-09-08T14:29:56Z")
My Dad’s dad used to. He’d pour some into the saucer, blow in it, then drink it. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/3 "2021-09-08T14:31:43Z")
Never saw anyone do it, but it was apparently a common enough practice that it was used a metaphor to describe the Senate [Boston 1775: Searching for the “Senatorial Saucer” Source](https://boston1775.blogspot.com/2016/09/searching-for-senatorial-saucer-source.html) (yes, the story about this description being used by Washington is probably false - but even so, it was a metaphor that people in the 1870s were expected to understand). ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/4 "2021-09-08T14:36:14Z")
My great great granduncle used to drink it that way. His dad (my GGG grandfather) was a Union civil war vet. Uncle George would do the full ‘saucer & blow’ maneuver. He would offer some to me (age 7 at the time) after it was ‘saucered and blowed’ but I declined. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/5 "2021-09-08T14:46:09Z")
You can buy a [mug](https://www.thegrommet.com/products/thero-temperature-controlled-travel-mug) that supposedly cools down the coffee in two minutes, and then maintains it at 140 °F. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/6 "2021-09-08T15:07:29Z")
On of the dudes on the left is using a saucer. [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/The_Family_of_the_Duke_of_Penthi%C3%A8vre.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/The_Family_of_the_Duke_of_Penthi%C3%A8vre.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/7 "2021-09-08T15:09:40Z")
Nothing real life to add, but. . . One of my early cartoon memories was a “Milton the Monster” short called [The Flying Cup and Saucer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nO4dcV9RC0), in which our good-natured, but rather naive Milton serves serves coffee to monsters who have arrived in a flying cup and a flying saucer. He gets the coffee mixed up and serves it in a saucer to the cup monster, and in a cup to the saucer monster. Skip to about 5:15 for the relevant scene. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/8 "2021-09-08T15:09:45Z")
I thought drinking from a saucer was a old-timey thing. Modern saucers are flat and you can’t drink from them. I can still remember the slurping sound as my aunt drank her coffee. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/9 "2021-09-08T15:19:15Z")
My grandfather did, probably because he didn’t like things too hot. ---
**Author:** ![Ziberian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/919ad9/32.png) [@Ziberian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ziberian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/10 "2021-09-08T18:14:37Z")
Lots of old-timers drank coffee after pouring it into a saucer. Probably because in olden times coffee was made in a pot on the stove so it was boiling when you poured it & needed cooling. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/11 "2021-09-08T18:26:59Z")
Instant coffee is made with boiling water. It would take awhile to cool before drinking. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/12 "2021-09-08T18:28:26Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Modern saucers are flat and you can’t drink from them. All the saucers I’ve ever seen back then and lately are concave, and you can certainly drink from them. Can you point us towards an image of these flat modern saucers of which you write? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/13 "2021-09-08T18:32:39Z")
You can drink from this one. [![](https://moorabool.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_4948.jpg) ](https://moorabool.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/img_4948.jpg) Mine at home are flat. Like this [![](https://www.yeshire.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Stacking-saucers-hire.jpg) ](https://www.yeshire.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Stacking-saucers-hire.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/14 "2021-09-08T18:36:20Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Mine at home are flat. Like this Your perception of flat differs from mine, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/15 "2021-09-08T18:42:24Z")
You can break eggs into the first saucer. Or drink from it. You’d spill stuff out of the second. I guess you could drink a couple sips from it. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/16 "2021-09-08T19:22:46Z")
In the 60s my grandparents did this. It didn’t seem strange at the time, but now I’m experiencing some kind of double exposure where it seems weird to me now, but I can recall when it didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/17 "2021-09-08T19:36:28Z")
I read somewhere that this is or used to be the usual procedure with tea in Russia. Sweetened with jam instead of sugar. Seems samowars are really hot too. I only forgot where I read it. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/18 "2021-09-08T19:50:30Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > My great great granduncle used to drink it that way. His dad (my GGG grandfather) was a Union civil war vet. Uncle George would do the full ‘saucer & blow’ maneuver. He would offer some to me (age 7 at the time) after it was ‘ **saucered and blowed** ’ but I declined. Bolding mine. **Qagdop** you used the same term that a friend had used. In the 2000s he was in his 90s and he said during the Depression you’d drink your coffee at a diner **saucered and blowed**. He passed away long ago, but I remember that he used that exact phrasing. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/19 "2021-09-08T20:01:17Z")
My Uncle George was in his 90’s when he said that to me in the early 1960’s. It’s a privilege to recall my time with him and Aunt Nettie, in their house without electricity, plumbing (other than a hand pump in the kitchen sink), with heat and light supplied by a wood stove and kerosene lamps. Outhouse was out back. I remember laughter, music from the wind-up victrola, board games and cards and good food and saucered and blowed coffee and tea. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312/20 "2021-09-08T21:45:45Z")
I did. 🙂 My Great-Grandmother gave me coffee that way. Sugar & canned milk. ☕ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-know-someone-that-drank-coffee-from-a-saucer/950312.md?page=2)