Fanatical TeaDay Wednesday 6/23/10 Teacup requirements!

[Chip]

Welcome one and all to Fanatical Wednesday. Please stop in and share what is in our cups today...all day.

Yesterday we discussed whehter we were fanatical about matching the teapot to the tea. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic is how we prefer our cups. Many of us are pretty particular about certain features in a cup...others of us are not. How fanatical are you about this..and what features reign supreme for your teacups. Please share.

I am truly looking forward to sharing TeaDay with everyone. Bottoms up, refill, repeat often...

[debunix]

Only 2 requirements: it must be clean, and it must hold tea.

I love the look and feel of my yunomi in my hands--the soft texture of the glaze surface, the weight of the clay, the size, and the look that invites continued examination. The size and the color/pattern of the glaze were probably the 2 most important things in deciding to purchase them, but truly, nothing is more important than that they hold tea!

[chittychat]

I have certain teas which I prefer to drink only from a particular cup, those are 3 cups all in all, however, more than 3 teas. Otherwise I choose following my mood. I seldom use the very small cups since there is a conflict with my nose.
Cone shaped cups are preferred.

Drinking an oolong Yong Chun Fo Shou, out of my first fist tea cup, an antique Chinese ceramic. Nice cone shaped with a lip. Still one of my favored.

[Jack_teachat]

I like the colour of the inside to be light, but not necessarily white.

Spring 2010 Yunnan Bao Hong green tea in my pot this morning.

Jack

[Skippyandjif]

I like the color to be white or light, because I like to see what color my tea is. (Having drunk from black cups before, I can say I find it slightly disconcerting... ) I also picked "style"-- I like my teacups to have a unique look to them, whether it's the shape or an interesting design on the cup.

Keemun this morning, in a cup with a big rainbow swirl on it.

[JBaymore]

Voted material and shape (which I'll call "form" relative to a 3-d object) since I was limited to two ...... bit really the best works integrate a plethora of aspects into a synergistic whole. It all takes into account the concrete use of formal artistic language stuff like Form, Line, Color, Value, Texture, Harmony, Direction, Balance, Rhythm, Contrast, and Unity. Then add in "Functionality" in the case of this type of object.

And yes...... it must hold tea !

best,

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

[Victoria]

My two votes:
MATERIAL and TEXTURE...TOUCH
And
It is all about SHAPE

I love teaware in all colors and materials, but I definitely have a preference in shape. I really love a flared shape and especially lip. I have pretty much given up on all straight sided cups, I just don't use them. I used to be hung up on only white interiors or glass, and certain sizes. But no longer; now I have big, small, tiny in all colors and materials. I think my broad range love of teaware has gotten me into trouble.

Fo Shou Hon Cha In my cup this morning from Imperial Teas, UK.

[TIM]

Texture, Material and Age. The Wabi-sabi quality.

[artmom]

How could I say it any better than John? And add "origin" as in was it inherited or a gift.

Voted material and shape (which I'll call "form" relative to a 3-d object) since I was limited to two ...... bit really the best works integrate a plethora of aspects into a synergistic whole. It all takes into account the concrete use of formal artistic language stuff like Form, Line, Color, Value, Texture, Harmony, Direction, Balance, Rhythm, Contrast, and Unity. Then add in "Functionality" in the case of this type of object.

And yes...... it must hold tea !

best,

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

No tea yet this morning; Barclay got away from DH while he was walking him, and the atmosphere is rather hostile this morning. He only caught up with him when a stop sign grabbed his leash. Whatever tea I have, it'll have to be calming!

[nickE]

I voted size & shape. I usually like my teacups to be on the smaller size and I definitely pay attention to shape. I also prefer a flared rim.

In my cup this morning, orange juice.

Thinking of some Shincha later!

[ladybean]

I chose style and price. At some point I'll take a decent shot of my collection and post it to the appropriate thread.

I'm not a connoisseur of teacups/teaware in the least, but I like my little collection(is 16 cups/saucers still little?), of 'fancy' teacups. They're all from a Goodwill or Salvation Army shop. I can't see paying more than $5US for them. Yes, I am cheap. Why do you ask?

[olivierco]

I don't have any specific criterion for my teacup.

Kuradashi gyokuro a few minutes ago from this yunomi:

[Chip]

Thanks TIM and Olivier for coloring our TD!

Heh, working off of a tiny and very old monitor with horrid resolution today since our monitor finally crashed and burned.

Lots of options on the list are important when picking a cup to either purchase or to use for a particular tea. Origin comes to mind since I am a bit OCD about same country cup and tea ... shape, color, size ... yep yep yep. The overall look must "click" as well. I was not always as OCD about this, but back then there was so little available and we used actual mail order catalogues versus the www. So, I blame the www for my OCD tendencies.

Began the TD with an old fave, new harvest, Yutaka Midori from the O-C. SweeTea would not miss this, while Pyrit and the Lil Bit just came for company.

[dooble]

It needs to be white, at least the interior has to be, so you can see the color of the tea. Size is important too, usually 50ml, for greens maybe 90ml. Also the thickness and material and well everything .

[brad4419]

Material and texture is #1 and color is #2. I just love the feel of rough or unglazed clay as Im sipping my tea. Hagi is #1 to me. Color is also important because it adds character to the glaze.

no tea today