Object

Klingon Thorned Ritual Tea Service

A compact Klingon ritual tea service presented on a shallow tray: a thorn-rimmed urn/teapot and its matched pair of shallow ritual cups, arrayed on a tray and used in a ceremonial exchange. The cups are shallow, rimmed with serrated/thorn-like ornamentation, and used by Worf to offer a potent ceremonial brew which Pulaski drinks from; the ensemble signals risk, reciprocity, and an emotional bond between the characters.

1 appearances

Purpose

To carry and present a Klingon ceremonial tea service—transporting the teapot, cups, and thorned branch for the purposes of a ritual challenge and shared consumption.

Significance

Functions as the physical locus of a cultural exchange: Worf's ceremonial offering and Pulaski's deliberate reciprocity. The tray concentrates ritual objects into a single, tangible prop that catalyzes trust, reframes Klingon ceremony as mutual vulnerability, and deepens the Pulaski–Worf bond.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

1 moments

S2E18 · STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION — Up the Long Ladder

Tea of Shared Mortality

The Klingon Ritual Tea Tray carries the ritual: two spartan cups, a stone teapot, and a thorn-covered branch with a single blossom. Worf sets it down to present the Tea; Pulaski manipulates the blossom as a filter, pours the tea into a cup, empties Worf's cup, and drinks from it — turning the tray from offering into a shared social instrument.

Before: In Worf's hands as a formal presentation; the pot is steaming with thorns already added to the brew.

After: Partially emptied: one cup poured out, the other drunk from by Pulaski; the tray remains in the office, its ritual purpose temporarily fulfilled and now reframed as a token of mutual trust.

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