Tea Towels and Dish Towels

　　Tea towels are often interchangeable with dish towels. They’re smaller towels used predominantly in the kitchen and food-related uses, including wiping dishes, insulating food and beverage containers and for minor tidying up. Tea towels got their name thanks to their origins in Britain during tea services. People used them to line tea trays, insulate teapots and cover scones and other tea pastries to keep them warm while also keeping pests from settling on them.

　　Both dish towels and tea towel sizes range from?16 inches by 28 inches?to 18 inches by 30 inches. The main difference is in the material. Tea towels are traditionally linen, cotton or a combination of the two, whereas dish towels can be terrycloth. Towels made of terrycloth technically cease being tea towels. Dish towels made of terrycloth are more absorbent and, thus, ideal for drying dishes, while tea towels aren’t for absorption alone.