Yixing cups

[Nenugal]

I'm wondering about unglazed yixing cups - are they like yixing teapots; do they affect the taste, and should each cup be dedicated to a certain type of tea? What are your experiences, and how would you rate them compared to for example glazed clay cups or porcelain cups?

[Chip]

Unglazed Yixing cups seem a bit redundant to me if you are already using a Yixing pot.

I see a lot of Yixing cups that are glazed on the inside which seems like an acceptable alternative.

[steanze]

Yes they do affect taste but their effect is relatively minor - at least for the modern zhu ni cups that I have. Maybe a more porous clay gives stronger effects. Using cups made of porous zisha like zi ni for ripe pu erh and aged sheng could be an interesting experiment. I wouldn't use cups made of zisha for other kinds of tea though.

[Nenugal]

Thanks for your insights! I don't have a Yixing teapot yet, but I'm trying to learn more about their effects and the different parameters that affect the quality, so I can make an informed purchase in the future. And then I'll consider a matching set of cups

[debunix]

I bought a pretty set of simple tasting cups made of thin clay, unglazed on the outside, labelled "yixing" but based on price, not particularly high quality yixing, and they have mostly sat int he back of the cupboard because the rougher texture of unglazed clay was distracting from the taste of the tea.

[Alex]

I had the exact experience as above. I gave mine away. they really weren't great at all. The ones I bought though were very cheap.