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Ateacup is acup for drinkingtea. It generally has a smallhandle that may be grasped with thethumb and one or twofingers. It is typically made of aceramic material and is often part of a set which is composed of a cup and a matchingsaucer or a trio that includes a small cake or sandwich plate. These may be part of atea set combined with ateapot,creamjug, coveredsugarbowl, andslop bowl. Teacups are often wider and shorter thancoffee cups. Cups for morning tea are conventionally larger than cups forafternoon tea.
Higher quality teacups are typically made of fine white translucentporcelain and decorated with patterns. Some collectors acquire numerous one-of-a-kind cups with matching saucers. Such decorative cups may besouvenirs of a location, person, or event.
In Europe, fine porcelain tea cups, such as FrenchLimoges porcelain from akaolin base heated in ovens or Chinese porcelain, were a luxury for enjoying tea time. These cups are made with a handle and are paired with a saucer in a set and often feature hand painted decoration and gold or silver patterns, especially lining the rim and the handle.
In theChinese culture teacups are very small and hold between 20 and 50 ml of liquid. They are designed to be used withYixing teapots orGaiwan.[1] In Russian-speaking and West Asian cultures influenced by theOttoman Empire tea is often served in afaceted glass held in a separate metal container with a handle, called azarf in Turkish and Arabic, the podstakannik being its Russian cousin.[2]
The teacup and saucer originated in China at the time of the near-simultaneous introduction of tea and porcelain. The original teacup design did not have a handle or a saucer. At some point a ring-shaped cupholder appeared to protect the fingers and eventually evolved into a saucer.[3] The cups in 17th century were tiny, with the width about 2¼ inches across at the top,1¼ at the bottom, and the depth of 1½ inches. The saucers measured 4½ inches across. The European manufacturers initially copied the handle-less Oriental designs[4] exported from theJapaneseport ofImari or from the southern Chinese port of Canton (part of theCanton System, 1757-1842), now Guangzhou. The teacup handles were introduced in the West in the early 19th century.[5] The handles originally became a feature of chocolate drinking cups in the 17th century, while teacups were still handle-less.[6]
Teacup plates originated in England in the early 1800s and provided a rest for the cup and a space for a light snack, went out of fashion in the second half of the 19th century.
A small-scale research was done by Yang et al. in 2019 to test the influence of the teacup shape on the expert evaluation of the tea taste. Significant variations were found,[7] lending some support to the "you eat with your eyes" concept.[8]
Unicode codepointsU+1F375 🍵TEACUP WITHOUT HANDLE[9] andU+26FE ⛾CUP ON BLACK SQUARE[10] portray a teacup.U+2615 ☕HOT BEVERAGE is often rendered as a teacup.[11][12][13]
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