Japanese tea cups (Yunomi chawan)

You may surprised to hear that Yunomi chawan was appeared on the market only from Edo era. We are not sure when people started to call this kind of tea cups as Yunomi chawan. It started to be used when drinking tea was only preserved for the wealthy nobility. During Edo era, the economy started to boom, and the custom of drinking tea became more popular among the common people, and then Yunomi chawan was also started to be used among those people. Yunomi chawan come in different shapes and sizes. Roughly, there are two types of Yunomi chawan. One is a bowl shape, and the other one is a tube shape. There are also the type of cup comes with a lid, but we rarely see them using at home now. It was used to be a correct manner to serve green tea with this type of cup for the guest, and place the cup on a saucer. The characteristic of each Yunomi chawan varies depending on what materials were used or where they are made from. Before serving tea, choose the Yunomi chawan considering the season, what kind of tea to be used, and the character of the guest. There are pottery Yunomi chawan and porcelain Yunomi chawan. The surface of pottery chawan is much rough and they are baked in the lower temperature. Therefore, they are usually thicker and give an impression of warmth. In fact they actually keep warmth better than porcelain chawan. Porcelain chawan is made of fine clay and baked in higher temperature. They look much sophisticated and delicate, but they are not very appropriated for serving a drinks with high temperature. Specifically, pottery chawan is more appropriated for the winter, and porcelain chawan is more for the summer. Also, for serving fine green tea, it is better to use smaller sized chawan with light colored design. For serving bancha, it is better to use bigger sized chawan for a large serve accomplished with a snack.

(Junpei Yokoi)