Tea

"Things never seem quite as bleak after a cup of tea."

- Belle to Rumplestiltskin

Tea, sometimes in the form of Iced Tea, is a drink featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time and Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. It first appears in the fourth episode of the first season of Once Upon a Time.

The most prominent tea, the one associated with Belle and Rumplestiltskin / Mr. Gold, is a reference to the tea from the Disney film Beauty and the Beast. The second most prominent tea, the one associated with the characters from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, is a reference to the Mad Hatter's tea party from the novel.

Known Owners

 * Alice
 * Alice / Tilly
 * Alice's Daughter
 * Anastasia
 * Anna
 * Apprentice †
 * Belle
 * Cruella's Father †
 * Cyrus
 * David Nolan
 * Dormouse


 * Dr. Jekyll †
 * Drizella
 * Eloise Gardener
 * Emma Swan
 * Evil Queen / Regina Mills
 * Grace
 * Granny
 * Hook
 * Ivy Belfrey
 * Jefferson
 * March Hare


 * Mary Margaret Blanchard
 * Nurse Ratched
 * Rapunzel Tremaine / Victoria Belfrey †
 * Robin of Locksley
 * Ruby
 * Rumplestiltskin / Mr. Gold
 * White Rabbit
 * Zelena

Trivia

 * -|On-Screen Notes=

On-Screen Notes

 * When the Evil Queen makes a surprise visit to Rumplestiltskin, he has a different tea set laid out on the table (the same set which the queen uses to pour a cup of tea for herself), with two cups, as if Rumplestiltskin is waiting for Belle to return. After Mr. Gold is reunited with Belle in Storybrooke, one of the first things he does after she's settled in her new clothes is to use exactly the same tea set to make tea for himself and Belle.
 * Granny serves Belle a cup of chamomile tea that "soothes the soul", and Hook comments on how it helps calm the nerves. Unbeknownst to Granny, however, the tea has been dosed with aging powder that accelerates Belle's pregnancy and causes her to go into labor. Chamomile, an old medical herb, can actually be used to reduce stress, and has been stated to have a soothing and calming effect. However, the consumption of too much chamomile can lead to a miscarriage, or a premature birth.


 * -|Cultural References=

Disney

 * Once Upon a Time contains many references to the scene where Chip and Mrs. Potts bring Belle some tea in Beauty and the Beast:
 * When David comes by the pawnshop while on his way to meet Mary Margaret by the Toll Bridge, a tea set with a rose design is seen under the counter. This is also a reference to the magical rose from the same movie.
 * When Belle is Rumplestiltskin's maid, she serves him tea in several episodes.
 * When the Evil Queen visits Rumplestiltskin, he has a tea set laid out on the table.
 * When Emma and her parents pay Mr. Gold a visit, he is brewing tea for himself and Belle.
 * Belle enjoys drinking iced tea at Granny's Diner and says that she's never had it iced before.
 * When Regina comes to Granny's Diner to warn Mr. Gold about Cora, Belle has a glass of iced tea in front of her.
 * Mr. Gold orders iced tea for himself and Lacey at Granny's Diner.
 * When Hook is being controlled by Mr. Gold, he pours some rum into two teacups in Granny's Diner.
 * In Isaac's alternate reality, Belle drinks a cup of tea and offers Rumplestiltskin one.
 * In Isaac's alternate reality, *Rumplestiltskin drops a teacup and Belle picks it up to see that the rim is chipped; another reference to Chip. Similarly, the teapot on the table is another reference to Chip's mother.
 * When Belle asks and Mr. Gold research spell books in the Underbrooke pawnshop, Belle says that there must be something in the books that can help, to which Mr. Gold remarks that it would if they were just trying to boil a pot of tea.
 * Belle serves Dr. Jekyll tea aboard the Jolly Roger.
 * Granny brings Belle some chamomile tea at the diner.
 * The tea set in Rumplestiltskin's castle, with the cups, teapot, creamer and sugar bowl mirror the scene in the movie, where Chip and Mrs. Potts are accompanied by a living teapot and a living creamer.
 * The chipped cup is a reference to Chip, while the teapot sitting on the tray in Rumplestiltskin's castle is a reference to Chip's mother, Mrs. Potts.
 * The teapot sitting in the corner of Mr. Gold's kitchen counter is another reference to Mrs. Potts.
 * When Regina visits the pawnshop, Mr. Gold is polishing a teakettle, yet another reference to Mrs. Potts.
 * In Isaac's alternate reality, Rumplestiltskin drops a teacup and Belle picks it up to see that the rim is chipped; another reference to Chip. Similarly, the teapot on the table is another reference to Chip's mother.
 * In Belle's dream, she drops a teacup, but Rumplestiltskin catches it and says that it's not even chipped; another reference to. The segment where Belle is holding the cup and the teapot are a reference to Chip and his mother.
 * When David visits Belle aboard the Jolly Roger, a teapot and a tea cup are sitting on the table.
 * A teapot and a tea cup are sitting on the tray when Dr. Jekyll visits Belle.

Fairytales and Folklore

 * Once Upon a Time and its spin-off contain several references to the Mad Hatter's tea party from the novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:
 * The Mad Hatter's daughter Grace throws a tea party for her toys. Similarly, Jefferson invites Emma into his house and offers her some tea.
 * When the first version of Alice returns to Victorian England, a group of plush toys are sitting around a small dinner table set with a toy tea set. The party guests include a white rabbit / hare, a mouse and a man in a hat, a reference to the Mad Hatter's tea party with the March Hare and the Dormouse in the novel.
 * When Alice returns to Victorian England as an adult, the same toy tea set is sitting on the table, although the guests are now gone.
 * Years later, the guests are back and Alice's daughter has the same toys, while a doll similar to young Alice has been added to the guests.
 * Dr. Lydgate brings up the time where the first Alice first traveled to Wonderland as a child, referring to her past self as "a little girl with tales of tea parties". Similarly, when Alice returns to Wonderland, the White Rabbit pretends that he was having tea with the Dormouse. In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the Dormouse was one of the characters who attended the Mad Hatter's tea party.
 * The White Rabbit tells Jafar that Alice enjoys tea parties.
 * Alice's stepmother Sarah tells her that they've invited Mr. Darcy to come for tea. When Alice is reluctant, her father chimes in that it's just tea.
 * Alice and Cyrus have a tea party with their young daughter in Victorian England.
 * The second iteration of Alice attends a tea party in the Infinite Maze twice.
 * The second Alice celebrates her birthday by throwing a tea party with her toys.

Popular Culture

 * After being warned not to drink the tea that is to be used for Regina 's seance, David states he prefers Earl Grey. This is a reference to a type of traditional British tea brewed using, among its other ingredients, an oil from a bergamot orange.


 * -|Set Notes=

Props Notes

 * The teapot on the tray in Rumplestiltskin's castle is a Real Old Willow Teapot by Royal Doulton, a silverware company dating back to 1815, which first started its business in London. The teapot itself was created sometime around the 1980s or 1990's.
 * Also sitting on the tray is a Royal Albert Val D'Or teaset, with teacups, tea saucers, sugar bowl and creamer, with added blue paint.
 * "Val d'Or" is French for "valley of gold"; the fairytale of "Beauty and the Beast" is of French origin and Rumplestiltskin is known for spinning straw into gold; his cursed counterpart is known as Mr. Gold. The white bone china features a gold trim and was inspired by the Canadian city Val-d'Or, where gold was discovered in 1923.
 * Royal Albert China is a British chinaware company dating back to 1896. Val D'or china was first introduced in 1960 and was manufactured for nearly fifty years before production was finished in 2009, three years before the episode "Skin Deep" was released.
 * Regina has the same teacups, saucers and creamer on the coffee table in her house in "Murder Most Foul", but without the blue paint.
 * Mr. Gold's teapot was re-used for the scene where Alice and Cyrus are having a tea party with their daughter in the Once Upon a Time in Wonderland finale "And They Lived...".
 * Grace's tea set is a Deluxe Ceramic Tea Set with Basket.
 * The same tea set is used for the second Alice's teaparty in "The Girl in the Tower". In "The Guardian", Alice has the same tea set in her cottage.
 * During her angry confrontation with Emma the morning after the latter tries to leave Storybrooke, the cup Mary Margaret drinks tea from is a Homegrown Monogram Mug by Anthropologie.
 * Mary Margaret drinks hot cocoa with cinnamon from the same cup when Emma visits her in "The Thing You Love Most", and sips an unknown drink from the same cup when Sidney is in the apartment in "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree".