Tasting cup
The small cup of gongfu tea. A Chaozhou draft standard gives 25–35 mL and a traditional set of three cups; Zhou Gaoqi (1640s) already preferred white porcelain cups for tasting tea.
On this page
- 1Body
- 2Base
Form#
- Body
- 1small, thin-walled open bowl with a flared lip (撇口) or upright rim (直口), traditionally in white porcelain so liquor color shows clearly
- Base
- 2small narrow ring foot (圈足), often inscribed underneath with the four-character commendation mark 「若深珍藏」 on traditional Ruoshen cups
- Handle
- none
Capacity#
25–50 mL, typical 25–35 mL25. The 25–35 mL range is specified by the Chaozhou gongfu tea standard for the classic three-cup arrangement (品字三杯); Taiwanese tea-art tasting cups paired with an aroma cup typically hold 30–50 mL.
Variants and sub-types#
| Name | 中文 | Difference | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruoshen Cup (Ruoshen Ou) | 若深甌 / 若琛杯 | Thin-walled, shallow white Jingdezhen porcelain cup with a gently flared rim (撇口), small ring foot, and underglaze-blue four-character mark 若深珍藏 (25–35 mL, H ~2.8–3.4 × Ø 5.2–6.0 cm); praised by Weng Huidong (1957) as 'white as jade, thin as paper' (白如玉，薄如紙) and codified in Chaozhou standard DB4451/T 4—2023. | 245 |
| Conical Bamboo-hat Cup (Douli Bei) | 斗笠杯 | Straight-walled inverted cone flaring from a narrow ring foot to a wide open rim; the broad surface area cools boiling liquor quickly and projects high floral notes. | 16 |
| Deep Bell / Cylinder Cup (Gang Bei / Zhongxing Bei) | 直口缸杯 / 鐘形杯 | A deeper cup with a fuller belly or upright walls, distinct from the shallow flared profile. | 136 |
| Folded-waist / Hand-pressing Cup (Zheyao / Yashou Bei) | 折腰杯 / 壓手杯 | Ming-inspired profile with an angled lower belly and an everted lip whose weight settles naturally into the curve between thumb and forefinger. | 16 |
History#
- Ming, 1640sZhou Gaoqi writes that white porcelain cups (甌) are best for tasting tea, and that a good cup holds the colour and keeps the aroma from escaping.1
- Kangxi–Qianlong (18th c.)Thin white Jingdezhen porcelain cups bearing the underglaze blue hall mark 「若深珍藏」 (若深甌 / 若琛杯) become the canonical tasting cups of Minnan and Chaozhou gongfu tea; the 1762 Longxi County Gazetteer (《龍溪縣志》) and Yuan Mei's 1786 Suiyuan Shidan compare the tiny cups to walnuts in size.45
- 1957Weng Huidong's Chaozhou Chajing codifies the ideal Ruoshen tasting cup as "white as jade and thin as paper" (白如玉，薄如紙), shallow and small enough to finish in one or two sips while hot.5
- 1980sIn Taiwan, the low open tasting cup (品茗杯) is paired with a tall cylindrical aroma cup (聞香杯) for double-cup tasting (雙杯品茗).6
Attributions are shown as the source states them.
Recognising a cup pair
One Taiwanese photograph identifies an aroma cup and drinking cup as a pair. It also shows a separate tall, narrow-mouthed cup. When identifying an unfamiliar cup, look for its companion and how the two were used.
Sources#
- 周高起《陽羨茗壺系》 (Ming, 1640s), Wikisource edition ↗
- DB4451/T 4—2023 潮州工夫茶艺技术规程（征求意见稿） ↗
- 周高起《阳羡茗壶系》(c. 1640), web transcription ↗
- 陽羨清韻：茶具文物館羅桂祥珍藏紫砂器 / Tea Ware from Yixing: Gems of Zisha Ware in the K.S. Lo Collection (exhibition pamphlet, May 2020) ↗
- 翁輝東《潮州茶經·工夫茶》 (1957) ↗
- 張靜紅：流動、聚合與區隔：台灣茶藝發展中的矛盾和動力 ↗
- 吳德亮《台灣的茶園與茶館》
Status and editorial notes sources cited
Sources are listed below. Their presence does not certify every claim; source-specific interpretations and unresolved questions are identified in the text. This page has not received independent expert approval.