Now tea towels become very popular, especially in England and Ireland, two nations well known for their tea. For people outside of these nations, numerous mail order company are happy to supply genuine Irish and English tea towels.
In England and Ireland, decorative tea towels are sold as souvenirs, and they are sometimes designed to be hung on a wall or displayed in a frame. These tea towels run the gamut from old fashioned hand embroidered linen tea towels to plain cotton tea towels with garish paintings of famous landmarks. As a general rule, while these tea towels are perfectly usable for their intended purpose, they are kept for ornamental rather than practical reasons. Travelers may bring back stacks of these tea towels for friends, or keep them as a reminder of the trip.
In addition to being available in kitchen stores, a tea towel is also relatively easy to make. Whether you buy them or make them, a stack of fresh tea towels is a useful thing to have in a kitchen, since they can be used to cover hot foods, dry dishes, and perform other kitchen tasks.
