FEATURED OBJECT

Posset Pot

Unlike coffee or tea pots, posset pots have a distinctive spout joined at the base of the vessel and curved up the side of the form.  This functions like a drinking straw for posset, the warm beverage of choice for festive gatherings in the late 17^th and early 18^th-centuries.  Posset was made by curdling sweetened hot milk with wine, ale, or other alcoholic drinks.   The lidded pot kept this mixture warm as it was passed from person to person.  Guests would hold the container by the handles on either side as they took turns slurping the thickened libation through the spout.  Eventually, posset pots fell out of fashion and taste for tipples shifted to cold drinks, served from a punch bowl and drunk from separate glasses.