Friday TeaDay 5/14/10 Material guys and gals?

[Chip]

I woke up this morning, and it was TeaDay! Make my TeaDay and stop by and share what is in your cup ... throughout the day.

The winner of last weeks contest for new members was Debunix. Congratulations, Debunix!

Yesterday was a FreeDay TeaDay. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's nontopic.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion toipic. What teacup material do you currently MOST frequently use? Please share some details.

I am looking forward to sharing this TeaDay with everyone. Bottoms up.

[debunix]

I am feeling a bit disloyal to my dear new tea companions, the yunomi from Ginkgo. Because I have been plastering their pictures all over the forums in my delight at how pretty and photogenic they are, I will limit myself today to posting a link to the flickr set featuring them now.

Feeling a bit disloyal, because I'm drinking some puerh tonight out of a plain stoneware mug. And at the satellite office today I drank from a nice Korean celadon porcelain cup. But the yunomi were deemed to precious and fragile to travel with me, at least until I figure out a better padded travel case.

Since I got them a few weeks ago, I have been drinking from them at least 90% of the time. And now I have not drunk from them for two days. This is very hard, to be away from my new 'babies' for so long!

[aya_s]

I think most, if not all of my teacups (both Western and Eastern), are glazed ceramic/porcelain.

[artmom]

At the present time, the cups I use are usually ceramic -- most of them have been given to me as gifts from special people. When drinking "special" teas, such as the White Rose the other day, I usually drink from bone china teacups.

[chittychat]

Due to present very hot weather I use a wide open, very thin porcelain bowl. In it the tea cools faster. For dan cong I prefer my dark yixing cup and for my Wei Shan Mao Jian tea a small tenmoku. My first tea cup was an antique ceramic. I still use it.

[dooble]

Ah, I'd like a yixing cup too... Nowadays I use a small & thin 45ml white porcelain to match my 50ml chao zhou pot. I need to get a ~80ml cup for green tea though.

Today, well, maybe Zhi Lan Xiang!

[omegapd]

Porcelain for most days. Yixing for something special.

[LauraW]

I think most, if not all of my teacups (both Western and Eastern), are glazed ceramic/porcelain.

I second this one, I can't think of anything that I have that isn't.

Not sure what to have at work today.. to break up the week of Yunnan, or to go with it and take something else next week... details later!

[Victoria]

I guess I will say clay, since I have been using mostly Hagi at home and a Seto bowl at work. Porcelain is a close second.

In my cup this morning Red Pearls from Silk Road Teas.

Have a nice day everyone!

[JBaymore]

I voted "Ceramic".

"Ceramic" instead of "Clay" because a "clay" cup would be pretty difficult to use. If you filled it wil a water-based liquid...... the clay would absorb the water and slake down back into a plastic state and deform, eventually making a total mess all over the table .

Seriously...... "Clay" becomes "Ceramic" when heated up to above about 1000 F. This happens when the chemically combined H2O in the clay crystals is driven off by the heat treatment. Once that happens, it will not slake down in water and become "plastic" again.

In colloquial usage, clay (as in "made of clay") and ceramic would seem to be kinda' redundant. And as I mentioned one other time somewhere here, "Porcelain" as a material is just a sub-grouping of a clay as a ceramic forming material. Porcelain is a "clay".

Ok...OK... too much information.

best,

............john

[brlarson]

... I will say clay, since I have been using mostly Hagi at home ... Porcelain is a close second...

+1

Takumi shincha with breakfast today.

[gingkoseto]

It's either porcelain or glass. In spring season, I use my glass mug a lot, for green tea

The other day I saw some plastic like bowls (no teacups yet) made with bamboo fiber in a store. It sounds like an interesting material and I wonder how it feels like using it!

[Rithmomachy]

I voted "Ceramic".

"Ceramic" instead of "Clay" because a "clay" cup would be pretty difficult to use. If you filled it wil a water-based liquid...... the clay would absorb the water and slake down back into a plastic state and deform, eventually making a total mess all over the table .

Seriously...... "Clay" becomes "Ceramic" when heated up to above about 1000 F. This happens when the chemically combined H2O in the clay crystals is driven off by the heat treatment. Once that happens, it will not slake down in water and become "plastic" again.

In colloquial usage, clay (as in "made of clay") and ceramic would seem to be kinda' redundant. And as I mentioned one other time somewhere here, "Porcelain" as a material is just a sub-grouping of a clay as a ceramic forming material. Porcelain is a "clay".

Ok...OK... too much information.

best,

............john

Thanks, John. I wasn't sure how to vote. I mostly use regular, everyday coffee mugs. I suppose "ceramic" is how most people would describe them, but I'm not sure what the difference is between ceramic and porcelain. And isn't bone china just a particular style of porcelain (thin, white, high quality)?

I suspect "clay" was meant to mean unglazed ceramic. I see Yixing referred to as "clay" all the time, even when a finished piece is being described.

ETA: I have a couple of gaiwan coming in the mail right now. I imagine they are of similar material to my coffee mugs, but maybe they qualify as porcelain or even bone china. How would I know?

[artmom]

Black Frost nilgiri again this morning. A really great tea for morning.

Geeber1, perhaps you and Victoria can recommend your favorite nilgiri and vendor for me to try.

[Victoria]

I think we both can agree on TeaSource.