Tea Blog

If I had to drink tea from a Styrofoam cup or one of those disposable cardboard containers with a plastic lid, I’d have to think twice about it. While I wouldn’t go so far as to avoid tea altogether, my own experience suggests that the flavor suffers noticeably when consumed from these types of vessels.

In a pinch, I’ll make do with a porcelain teacup or a mug, but my preference is for clear, uncolored glass. For me, it enhances both the visual and sensory experience of drinking tea.

I’ve discussed those preferences previously in

this article on the benefits of using glassware to fully appreciate the color and character of tea
,
so there’s no need to revisit them in detail here.

I was reminded of the subject after reading

this report examining whether wine glass design can enhance the experience of drinking fine tea

on the Decanter website.

The article describes a tea tasting event in London organized by Riedel, an Austrian manufacturer known for its wine glassware. The tasting brought together journalists and sommeliers to evaluate how different glass shapes might affect the perception of tea.

Interestingly, the preferred vessel turned out to be Riedel’s O Cabernet glass, which participants felt enhanced the fruity characteristics of teas from regions such as Darjeeling and Nepal.

Despite these results, it’s unlikely that purpose-built tea glassware from companies like Riedel will become widely available. According to Georg Riedel, producing such items commercially would require demand at a scale that likely does not yet exist among tea drinkers.

Riedel himself was candid about his personal preferences, noting that tea was not a beverage he typically enjoyed.

To which one might reasonably respond, in the spirit of a classic Steve Martin line: “Well… excuse me.”

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