Light up your world inside and out.

By PopSci Commerce Team | Published Mar 9, 2021 8:55 PM

Tealights got their name because they were originally little candles used to keep teapots warm, burning underneath the pot. While modern tea drinking habits have done away with the need for tealights, they’re still useful for keeping certain types of foods warm, for example under fondue sets so the cheese stays gooey. Today you can buy tealights made from different types of wax set into metal or plastic cups. Burn times tend to be between four and eight hours—but as with all candle products, remember to practise fire safety measures.

With so many different types of tealight candle now available, there’s the temptation to go for a brand that will fill your home with scent. But there are definitely times when unscented is best. If you’re hosting friends, for example, you might not want your guests to feel their perfume has to compete with a background fragrance. Most importantly, unscented tealight candles are ideal to use at the dinner table or in the kitchen because they won’t clash with food smells.

Tealights usually have a burn time of four to eight hours depending on the brand. This won’t compete with a taper candle—a 12 inch taper candle will burn for around 12 hours, for example. However, few people need a candle to burn that long! To get maximum burn time from a tealight, keep the wick trimmed and ensure your candle is out of drafts and breezes, all of which will help it to burn faster.

You can use your imagination when it comes to what you use as a tealight holder. From tealights nestled in painted eggshells and scooped out apples, sitting on pieces of driftwood or inside tin cans punctured with patterns of holes to let the candlelight out, almost anything is possible.

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