A tea caddy refers to any container or box used to keep tea. In earlier times, tea was expensive and they were kept in containers with variety of designs, shapes and sizes. The earliest models of tea caddy known to Europeans were of Chinese porcelain, shaped liked ginger-jar with lids or stoppers. They were usually blue and white colored. Though, many materials, including silver, brass, copper, tortoiseshell, and wood were used to make tea caddies, wood were prominent. Different types of wood, like satin-wood, rosewood, mahogany were used. The varieties in designs were focused. Many tea caddies were mounted in brass with intricate ornamental works and had handles of silver, ivory, or ebony. Some tea caddies were partitioned to fill in different varieties of tea (like black and green tea) long with sugar and these larger varieties were known as tea chests. As the tea became cheaper, little thought was given to their appearance and the use of tea caddies declined. This has increased their antique value.