The Perfect Cup

Many a treatise has been written on the perfect cup of tea, expounding on everything from the temperature of the water to whether the tea should be poured into the cup before or after the milk. George Orwell provides us with no less than 11 points necessary to ensure the perfect cup of tea! But what about the humble and oft overlooked vessel without which tea would simply be another hot drink – the tea cup.
Tea cups come in a bewildering array of colors, shapes, and sizes – from the daintiest bone china with a delicate pattern of forget-me-nots around the rim to boldly colored oversized French cups, large enough to bathe a small dog comfortably. Originally developed in China, teacups gained the addition of a handle when introduced in Europe to keep the drinker from burning the fingers.
But what makes the perfect cup? Volume? A cover (gaiwan)? Thinness (to help cool your drink) or thickness to keep it hot? Height? Designs in tea cups range from the basic to the visionary, much like the tea itself. But without a background in fluid dynamics (and, surprisingly, no physicists seem to have taken up this challenge), it seems we may never know which is best.
Fortunately, designers have known for a long time that it is not simply the function of the object that matters, but how it figures in the experience of using the object. That is, a tea cup is not simply a way to get tea from the pot to our lips, but part of the experience that is drinking tea. As a result the texture, shape, and beauty of a tea cup is just as important as its ability to keep your tea contained. For example, Bethan Laura Wood makes teacups that are treated to be stained in predetermined patterns – the more you use the cup, the more of the pattern is revealed – underlining that the tea cup in inextricable from the act of drinking tea.
But as I sit sipping a cup of earl grey, contemplating what makes the perfect teacup, I remember one important consideration that no one ever seems to mention. A saucer large enough for your biscuit.