Different cups change the tastes of the fragile, light teas and with Tencha, and especially a very good Tencha (which, for those of you who don't know is the tea Matcha is made from,) it is no time to experiment and play around. Tencha drinking for me is a serious business. I will play around with all kinds of parameters with my Oolongs, my Dong Dings, my reds and blacks, but not with the Japanese stuff!
That being said, I now find myself doing exactly that. Not only with my yearly allotment of premium Tencha but also with Gyukuro and other various Japanese greens. This does not include Matcha, as I have a chassen bowl for that which I drink out of.
(I've had my matcha skills down for over ten years I am proud to say.)
Yunomi cups are my cups of choice for I want to empty my whole Takaname 'kyuso'( Japanese teapot) into one cup. The white Hagi cup can't take it all, the Takaname is 400ml but the new Yunomi from Ringware Pottery is the perfect size. But the taste is totally different from each cup. Or not. Maybe it isn't totally different, maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I am crazy and the brews are different. OK, I'm crazy, I think that's been established prior to this.
I have one more Yunomi on the way I cannot wait to explore with, from potter David Holden in Ireland using a clay native to his area of 'Dingle.' I hope to also eventually own a Petr Novak cup and prior to that one from Three Trees Pottery to add to this discussion I am having.
So Yunomi. But do I want to be known? Do I perhaps want to just drink my Japanese tea in the relative safety of the very glazed basic Sencha cups to be found everywhere from World Market to Pier 1 to the local thrift shop?
I don't know-me.
Do you? Do Yunomi?
More to come as the experts in tea culture are consulted and further deliberations are made. This is actually rather fun!
