I’ve heard this quite a few times now: Coffe/tea is supposed to taste better in thin cups, meaning it should taste better from exquisite china than from a big mug.
I tried this today, drinking my coffee from a much thinner cup. It seems the fluid enters somewhat differently, but I wouldn’t say it tasted better.
Any ideas on that?
doh! Coffee
IIRC, it’s not a matter of taste, it’s a matter of class.
In Victorian times, fine china (the very thin stuff) was prohibitively expensive (it still is, actually) – a possession of the privileged. Hot beverages, like coffee or tea can cause a fine teacup to shatter as you pour the boiling hot liquid into it. Break a cup, ruin the set, you have to replace it. Only the upper class would have such delicate, expensive things…
To keep the china from cracking, it is recommended that you first pour in the milk or cream (it takes the bite out of what would otherwise be sudden, extreme temperature change).
A sign of wealth is to pour in the hot tea first, before the milk because it indicates that you have so much wealth that if you shattered a cup and ruined the entire tea set, it was no big deal. So pouring hot tea first shows how unconcerned you are with the possibility of shelling out big bucks for new china.
So yes, people do enjoy with a hot cup of tea of coffee in exhorbitantly expensive, thin china because it is a decadent pleasure – however you’re “enjoying” not the taste of beverage, but rather the air of aristocracy.
Nowadays, the nuances are lost, other than the vague (elitest) notion of “tea should be served in fine, bone china.”
(Think of someone like Frasier Crane at high tea, and you’ll get the picture.)
I don’t think the actual taste of the beverage plays much of a part in the grand display.