Little creamers fill coffee cups, hearten souls

Coffee is chic. Neighborhood coffee shops have evolved into trendy bistros, complete with plush furniture and fine art on the walls.

After your gourmet latte arrives, you can settle into a leather armchair and listen to the jazzy CD or a local band.

It’s as much about being seen as seeing.

But, sometimes, I miss sliding across the cracked vinyl of a booth, or perching on the well worn top of a round chrome stool at the counter of a diner.

One of my favorite ways to pass the time with my friends used to be sitting around a table at that kind of place. At any time of the day or night, talking about everything and nothing; we ate burgers and fries, or slices of pie and drank bottomless cups of coffee that were poured by a friendly waitress.

Each table had a tall glass dish with a slot on the top for pouring sugar and a miniature pitcher of cream.

I still have a soft spot for those tiny creamers.

Heavy restaurant crockery hasn’t changed much in the 100 or so years it’s been appearing on tables at busy eateries across the country. But the styles of the tiny creamers have.

Collectors who search for restaurant creamers can choose from early tiny crocks that resemble milk bottles, to the ubiquitous white pitchers that are still manufactured and carried by restaurant supply stores.

Because they were so common, restaurant creamers manufactured in this country by Buffalo Pottery, Shenango China and Syracuse China, which allows you to find restaurant creamers at thrift stores and antique malls everywhere.

Online powerhouse eBay, is an excellent source. A quick check under “restaurant creamer” turned up 213 auctions priced from $45 for four little pitchers to 98 cents for an unmarked piece.

I’ve got a number of little creamers that I’ve picked up over the years. I’ve used them as vases for flowers that were picked by my children, and each Mother’s Day one sits beside my coffee cup on my breakfast tray.

I don’t get to spend hours over a cup of coffee at the diner much anymore. But whenever I make a pot of coffee for a friend, I put one of my tiny creamers on the table. That way I can pour a little nostalgia in every cup.