Why is it that, traditionally, coffee pots are thin and tall while tea pots are short and squat? | N

Why is it that, traditionally, coffee pots are thin and tall while tea pots are short and squat?

Alex Tarnopolsky, Toronto, Canada

• You have to stir the leaves in a teapot, so need the accessibility of a short, squat pot. Coffee needs to infuse on its own, so you don' need access and the pot can be gorgeous and tall.

  Sarah Morris, London

• Surely it's because coffee pots are designed as percolators even when they don't fulfil that function.

  Charlie Hartill, London

• Coffee pots need to be narrow and deep to allow the grounds to settle as far from the pouring lip as possible. This stops one from pouring out a gritty cup of coffee. You wouldn't want to stir the grounds in a coffee pot in the way that you might stir a tea pot. Tea pots on the other hand need to be squat to allow maximum space for the tea to swirl around in.

  Darren, Lancaster, Lancs