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If you are serious about your tea, you may want to use the best possible teaware to enjoy your drinking experience. In fact, in many tea cultures around the world, cups and teapots play an important role in both tea ceremonies and daily tea rituals.

While you don’t need a teapot to make a perfect cup of tea, you do need a cup or a mug. With so many shapes, sizes and materials, a difference between cup and mug may not always be obvious.  

So, what’s the difference between a cup and a mug? Let’s find out.

What is a teacup?

The one thing you need to enjoy your tea is something to drink it from. First there was a cup. Or to be more precise – a tea bowl. There are two different types of cups – Western and Eastern. Traditional Eastern cups will not have a handle, and Western teacups will come with a saucer. What sets them apart from mugs is the size. Both Western and Eastern cups will rarely be bigger than 5 oz.

What is a mug?

Think of a mug as a bigger cup with thicker walls. Mug will usually have a cylinder shape with a C-shape handle, but modern mugs can come in any other shape as well. Standard size for a mug is 8 oz. They rarely include a saucer.

Cup vs Mug

Let’s see what are the pros and cons of both cups and mugs.

Cup Pros:

• Comes in different shapes, sizes, colors and materials, smallest being only 10 ml in volume, to around 150 ml
• Best choice for high-quality pure loose leaf teas such as Silver Needle or Sencha
  
• Great for afternoon tea parties
• Usually of a high-quality material and with a more elegant look
• May or may not have a handle
• Great for tea tastings for a high leaf to water ratio to extract the best flavor
• Great when you want to re-steep your tea
• You can drink your tea almost instantly – tea will cool down faster in a smaller cup

Cup Cons:

• May be difficult to hold even if it contains a handle because they are usually small
• Often too small if you want to use a teabag or a tea infuser
• May be delicate and some may even crack in contact with boiling tea
• May not be dishwasher safe – especially eastern style teacups and cups containing metallic pain
• Some may be very expensive
• May be difficult to use at first
• Usually not suitable for slow sipping

Mug Pros:

• Comes in different shapes, sizes, colors and materials, smallest rarely below 150ml, with some exceptions
• Thicker walls
• Can have some interesting features, such as preserving heat, or may come with a USB heating coaster
• You can often personalize them
• Great for tea bags and tea infusers
• More suitable for lattes and flavored teas
• Depending on a material, tea may preserve heat longer
• Most are dishwasher safe

Mug Cons:

• It takes longer to drink 8 oz of tea than 1 oz – so use them for teas that you don’t need to drink immediately
• Not the best choice for a tea tasting
• May not always be as elegant as cups
• May not be the best choice for teas that require a high leaf to water ratio

Best cups or mugs for different tea types

Here are some of our choices for the most popular types of tea:

• Silver Needle tea – small Chinese cup without a handle, 50-100 ml
• Gyokuro – small Japanese cup without a handle, 30-50 ml
• Darjeeling tea– porcelain cup with a handle, around 5 oz
• Breakfast blends and strong Assams – stoneware mugs, around 8 oz
• Flavored blends – regular mugs, around 8 oz
• Sencha tea– small Japanese cup without a handle, 100-150 ml

Should you buy different teacups and mugs for different types of tea?

Sometimes, a pretty cup or a mug will make tea taste even better. Having special cups for different types of tea will certainly add value to your tea drinking experience, but you don’t need to buy new tea ware for different types of tea. If you prefer drinking pure, unflavored teas, having a nice tea set with several small 30-70 ml cups and a teapot is always a good idea. But if you should choose only one, 100-150 ml Chinese or Japanese ceramic cups without a handle will be suitable for almost any type of unflavored high-quality tea.

If you prefer flavored tea types of lattes, a mug may be a better option. Non-porous stoneware mugs will keep your tea hot, and they come in beautiful designs and colors. Besides, they are dishwasher safe.

Do you use cups or mugs? Share your experiences in comments below.