There is nothing quite like sitting and sipping on a delightful blend of aromatic tea. No matter whether you love the warmth, flavor, or texture of the liquid, you know how satisfying tea can be. Tea is something that is enjoyed around the world as both a medicinal and a daily beverage. The question of how to best drink tea is a frequent question with some strong opinions attached. From what type of vessel should you drink tea? Let’s consider the options.
How to drink tea essentially comes down to personal preference. However, bone china consistently rises to the top of the list. Bone china is a non-porous, thin-lipped, and extremely smooth surface which keeps tannins from attaching to the cup. When the tannins remain intact with the tea, they benefit the tea’s body.
It is not uncommon for tea drinkers around the world to consider consuming tea as an art form.
In this article, you will learn about the ways you can drink tea, including the recommended vessels to drink tea from and the advantages or disadvantages of each.
Keep in mind that even though this article focuses on the benefits of bone china, this just serves as a guide. Your personal preference rules the day.
From What Vessel Should You Drink Tea?
There are many different types of cups or vessels you can choose to drink tea from, but it is vital to know they are not all created equally. As a tea drinker, you can choose to enjoy the beverage in cups, mugs, and glasses of all varieties.
Everyone likely has their own preference.
However, for those that are unsure of which vessel they prefer, it is wise to explore each option a bit more so you can fully understand the negative and positive aspects of each.
“Drinking tea is an experience that deserves to be enjoyed and savored.”
TEA CROSSING
What to Look For in a Tea Cup
While it may seem as simple as grabbing the first available vessel, choosing what you will drink your tea from is much more complex.
An avid tea drinker or tea connoisseur will tell you that thought should go into the decision.
Several features should be taking into consideration, such as:
- Porosity: When choosing a vessel to drink your tea from, you need to factor in the porosity of the material. If a cup is too porous, the flavors from each type of tea will begin to leach into the material of the cup. If this happens, the flavor of each subsequent tea will have an altered flavor.
- Size: While it may seem refreshing to pour yourself a large glass or mug of tea, this is typically not the best way to fully enjoy the brew. Yes, it may ensure you have more tea to drink, but it may offset the flavor.
- Thickness: The thickness of the cup will play a factor in how the tea tastes, as well as how long it stays warm.
- Safety: The material used to make cups varies greatly. Some materials are not made to drink hot liquids safely. While the material may hold the liquids without burning the individual, there may be chemical compounds in the cup that are released by the excess heat.
- Composition: The composition of cups varies greatly and is something that needs to be considered when making a choice. Each material a cup is made from has its very own set of qualities that make it a viable option.
The materials you will typically find are glass, stoneware, porcelain, ceramic, or bone china.
The following chart discusses the positives and negatives of each of these materials and whether they are recommended for drinking tea.
| Recommendation | Material | Positives | Negatives |
| Not recommended | Glass | Does not lose heat quickly It is not porous Double-walled cup options are available, which helps keep the tea warm or cool longer | Can be varying thicknesses which will impact the amount of heat lost |
| Not recommended | Stoneware | Durable material Typically holds heat well | Much more porous than other materials The tea can stain the cup The flavors in tea can leech into the cup and impact the flavors of other teas The lip of stoneware is typically thick |
| Okay | Porcelain | Smooth surface Non-porous Non-staining Extremely thin | Fragile Much more expensive |
| Okay | Ceramic | Durable Relatively inexpensive Thicker material | Somewhat porous May have a thicker lip or rim |
| Highly recommended | Bone china | Fragile material Smaller size cups Non-porous Smooth on the inside Skinny lip | Extremely fragile Expensive |
As you can see, there are several options available for tea drinking, and they each come with their caveats.
If you are a more refined tea drinker, you will likely lean toward using porcelain or bone china.
Why Does the Size of The Cup Matter?
You may be curious to know why the size of the teacup has any bearing on the level of enjoyment you can get from a cup of tea.
Tea experts prefer to sip tea from smaller cups for several reasons:
- The taste of the tea is much more concentrated.
- More people can be served from one pot of tea.
- You can get many different infusions when using smaller cups.
- It is easier to clean and store smaller cups.
- The tea cools more quickly in smaller cups.
- Small cups give the illusion of something that is a delicacy.
- It is easier to savor the tea flavor.
Why Does the Thickness of the Lip Matter?
You likely noticed several of the bullets in the pros and cons list of each material hit on the thickness of the lip on the cup.
The thickness of the lip directly impacts how you enjoy the tea:
- Thick lip: When you think about drinking tea, it is a much more delicate process than drinking a cup of coffee. You are not expected to take dainty sips of coffee. However, tea is considered a proper beverage that is to be savored with delicate sips. The thick edge of a cup can make it nearly impossible to take small sips.
- Thin lip: The thin lip on a teacup makes it easier for the individual to savor each sip and to slowly enjoy their tea without the worry of it dribbling down their chin.
Drinking tea is not necessarily an art, but it is something that has many different rules of etiquette that you would be expected to follow if having proper tea.
One of those rules would be drinking from a porcelain or bone china cup with a thin lip.
What is the Best Material to Drink Tea From?
While many tea drinkers would argue that a mug works just fine for tea, those with a preference for traditional tea and the etiquette involved would say the only way to enjoy tea is from porcelain or bone china.
Yes, these types of teacups are much more costly, but the experience they provide as you are enjoying your tea is second to none.
Not only will you not have to worry about flavors of past teas seeping in, but you will also have a cup of tea that is cooled to perfection as you enjoy it.
Bone China is Best
If you are on the fence about purchasing bone china teacups for your collection, here are some things to consider.
You will not regret the way they can increase your enjoyment of even the simplest of teas. The ability of bone china to increase the body of the tea is remarkable.
When a tea expert speaks of the body of the tea, they are referring to whether the tea feels thick or thin in their mouth.
How Does Bone China Impact the Body of the Tea?
Bone china is a non-porous and extremely smooth surface. Therefore, the tannins from the tea are not able to separate from the tea and attach to the cup.
When the tannins remain intact with the tea, they benefit the tea’s body.
What is Bone China?
Reading the name, bone china may make you wonder what exactly it is that you are drinking from and where exactly it came from.
Bone china differs from porcelain by the material it is made from. Bone china is made from bone ash, clay, feldspathic material, and kaolin.
Characteristics of Bone China
Even an untrained eye will likely be able to determine the difference between bone china and porcelain.
Bone china exhibits these key characteristics:
- Thinner than porcelain
- Lightweight
- Translucent
- Color varies depending on the amount of bone ash
- Elegant looking
When you think of an elegant dinner party that finishes with tea or an afternoon tea, you are likely envisioning thin and delicate saucers with teacups perched in the center of them.
These are the type of tea sets that one drinks from with a pinky in the air.
“The ability of bone china to increase the body of the tea is remarkable.”
TEA CROSSING
Why Choose Bone China?
When it comes to having an appreciation for all the flavors that tea can offer, you will be served well to choose bone china.
If you are spending a lot of money on designer teas, you will find much more enjoyment in them if you have a proper cup to drink them from.
While bone china is the best option, you are going to need to be prepared to spend more than you would on a regular cup. However, you need to be aware of the different types of bone china.
You read that right: all bone china is not the same.
Types of Bone China
As you begin looking to purchase bone china, you will come across varying degrees of the china. There is fine bone china and bone china.
The following chart details the difference between the two:
| Fine Bone China | Bone China |
| -The thinnest china available -Often snow-white in color -Transparent when held to a light -Contains a high volume of bone ash | -Thin china -Opaque -Contains bone ash |
Why is Bone China so Expensive?
If you have ever priced bone china, you likely noticed it is costly in comparison to other materials.
There are incredibly good reasons to explain the added cost of bone china, which include:
- They are artificially made. (You cannot just pull the materials from the earth.)
- They need to be fired two times at extremely high heat.
- The material is so thin it is often challenging to complete a piece without breaking.
- Bone china dishes are often handmade and painted.
There are several reasons bone china is so expensive. The thin nature of the china makes it extremely challenging to fire because it likes to lose its shape.
If a piece of bone china loses its shape during the firing process, it must be remade from the beginning.
Is Bone China Durable?
Because of the bone ash content in bone china, the material is much stronger than regular porcelain.
Not only does the bone ash determine the color of the piece, but it also adds to the strength. Bone china is the strongest when it has a high bone ash content.
How Do You Find the Bone Ash Content?
When shopping for bone china, you will not see anything like an ingredient label to indicate the bone ash content. Most likely, it will just be labeled as bone china. Some independent companies claim there is a high bone ash content in their products.
A good rule of thumb for determining the bone ash content in bone china is to look at its translucency – translucency of the bone china increases with the amount of bone ash that is in it. If you are shopping in person, you can put this theory to the test.
Where Can You Buy Bone China?
After reading about how fantastic bone china is, you may be curious to know where you can get your hands on some. There are many locations you can purchase the fine china from, but you need to be aware of the quality of the china you are buying.
Here are some of the locations you can visit to purchase bone china:
- Neiman Marcus
- Williams Sonoma
- Bed Bath and Beyond
- Macy’s
If you are unable to visit an actual store to purchase bone china, you can also look at online retailers, some of which are in other countries.
Here are some online options for bone china tea sets:
When ordering bone china online, you need to be sure to read the entire description of the product because some descriptions are labeled as bone china, but they are actually a ceramic product.
Will You Notice a Difference When Using Bone China?
Bone china supersedes all the other options when it comes to proper tea drinking, including the price tag. You may be wondering what exactly you can expect when using bone china to enjoy your tea. Please know, drinking from bone china is not magical, and it will not likely make your bargain basement tea taste more refined.
However, you can expect the following results from bone china:
- A bolder flavor base: Because the cup is so smooth on the inside, it allows the tea to stay together and not lose the tannins that are the reason for the variety of flavors in the tea.
- A more elegant feeling when you are drinking the tea.
- A perfected tea drinking temperature: Because bone china is thin, it allows the tea to cool much more quickly than other materials. When the tea is cooled to an optimal temperature, it is easier to enjoy.
How Do You Care for Bone China?
Many times, when a product is more expensive, there are also strict cleaning instructions that go along with it that can be time-consuming. If you have a busy home, you likely do not have time to spend doing extra cleaning. Lucky for you, bone china is relatively easy to maintain and clean.
Follow these steps to care for your bone china:
- Do NOT use the dishwasher! Bone china is relatively easy to scratch, and this could ruin your china. You also must remember that many types of bone china are hand-painted. Although they are coated with a sealant, the high heat and abrasive nature of the detergent in the dishwasher could ruin the design.
- Use mild detergent and a soft cloth. You will wash the bone china just as you handwash other dishes; however, you should never use a scouring pad or abrasive sponge; again, this will scratch the surface of the china.
- Use temperate water. If you place bone china into extremely hot water, it can crack the china. You want to make sure the water is warm enough to clean with but not scalding hot.
Drinking tea is an experience that deserves to be enjoyed and savored.
While you can easily drink tea from any heat resistant cup you have on hand, even (gasp) foam, it is recommended that you use a material that is more conducive to bringing out the authentic flavor of the tea.
The best material to help you thoroughly enjoy the body of the tea is bone china. It may be more expensive a bit more challenging to care for, but it will up your tea game.