Wonders of Tea

I never used to be a fan of glass tea cups until I tried them for the first time. Being able to see the tea infuse and the rich colours and whisps through the wall of the cup is refreshing in itself! Here’s just 5 of my favourite glass tea cups and sets.

Frosted Blown Glass Tea Cup

These small glass tea cups are a fantastic addition to your favourite teapot. They were hand-crafted using a technique that adds small bubbles in the bottom of the glass cup. The bubble patterns are unique from cup to cup and makes each one an exceptional tea cup. This is art, but also a functional glass tea cup that you can enjoy for years.

You’d think something this delightful and delicate looking couldn’t cope without kid gloves but its fully dishwasher safe.

Only available at Teavana.

Bodum Insulated Glass Tea Cups

Glass is a poor conductor of heat anyway so glass tea cups often keep your tea warmer for longer. These insulated glass tea cups from Bodum have a double wall though which means your tea stays hot for much longer. They come with a stainless steel saucer too and being glass blown they look great and show off the tea brilliantly.

From Shop.com.

Petit Fleur Suspendu Glass Tea Cup Set

These wonderful cups have an almost fragile appearance, but the borosilicate glass they are made of is strong and durable. They have a pocket of air between the inner glass wall and outer glass wall to insulate the tea and keep it hot. These are similar in shape to the Bodum cups but they have a wonderfully light printed floral pattern on the outside. It is just enough to show flowers when tea is in the cup. They come as a set of 4 5oz cups.

From Teavana.

Japanese White Pebble Glass Tea Cup

These cups are all the way from Japan and hand-made by a famous artesian glass blowing workshop. These unique glass tea cups have a circle of white dots around the rim for a unique finishing touch. They are all mouth blown glass cups, so each is a completely unique tea cup that you will treasure for a lifetime. It is a great way to start your own tea set and I have some myself!

From Teavana.

Basic Glass Tea Cup and Saucer

This is a nice basic but stylish glass tea cup with matching saucer. Made of tempered glass, which is very sturdy and able to withstand high temperatures and dishwashers. These tea cups are great to have as your everyday cups with a low cost and simple design.

Adagio Teas.

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Japanese Tea Ceremony

Now the Japanese are even more fanatical about tea than the Chinese. They have an incredibly intricate Tea Ceromony developed around the practice of tea drinking. This ceremony is often performed to guests and lasts upto 4 hours. It’s influenced by Zen Buddhism and in Japanese is known as Cha No Yu. Traditionally a practitioner would dedicate their entire lives to the perfecting the tea ceromony and although this is still the case in modern Japan it is often performed at night classes for the busy workers of Japans industrial cities.

This reminds me of a book which went into some detail about the Japanese tea ceremony called Shogun. Its fiction but is EPIC fiction at its finest. An incredible historical saga which includes everything you could possibly want from a story. Including the descriptions of the Cha No Yu!!
What also sets this book apart from the rest is the fact that although fiction it accurately portrays many of the broad historical events and even some details. Too such an extent that Toranaga (one of the main characters) is based on a feudal lord known as Tokugawa. The similarities in their stories is uncanny although areas of romance and personal relationships are clearly artistic license its an incredible opening into a world that is so foreign to our own. Shogun is well worth a look.

Futher Information: Japanese Tea Ceremony

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