A small cup holds only a little at a time, so refilling it while you work can become tiresome. A large cup is convenient—you pour once and get on with things—but by the time you return, the tea may have gone from hot to cool. The difficulty in choosing a teacup is that either option can feel inconvenient.
That question came back to us recently. A customer who had bought Alpha Size later used it for tea. They told us that, while drinking, they felt closer to the tea and found it easier to notice its aroma.
It was only one person’s experience, but it brought me back to the beginning of Sharing Cup—when the direction was exactly the reverse.
At the time, I was in a coffee shop in Hong Kong and saw coffee served in a small cup shaped rather like a gongfu teacup. Taking smaller sips made me notice, for the first time, how each mouthful changed with the temperature. That experience gradually became the starting point for Sharing Cup S Size.
A small cup that looked like a teacup led me into coffee; later, a customer brought Alpha Size back to tea. The two experiences moved in opposite directions, yet left the same question:When the same pot of tea is served in a different cup, does the difference come from the cup’s capacity or from the way we drink?
Is the difference between a small and a large teacup really just how much each one holds?
The most intuitive answer is simple: a small cup holds less and a large cup holds more.
Yet a product page listing 60ml, 170ml or 230ml still does not tell us how much someone will actually pour, or how long they will take to finish it. The capacity chart seems to provide an answer, but it leaves the practical question unanswered.
Before looking at product figures, measure how much you actually pour
You do not need to buy a new cup to find the answer. The next time you make tea, pour your usual amount into the cup you already use, then transfer it to a measuring jug.
- Do not deliberately fill the cup. Pour only until it feels like ‘my usual cup of tea’.
- Note the actual amount, and how long you usually take to finish it.
- Ask yourself whether you enjoy refilling the cup or find that it interrupts your work.
You may measure 90ml, 120ml or 200ml, and the answer may even change from day to day. That does not mean the test has failed. It is the first useful discovery: the capacity on a product page can show you which cups are available, but it cannot decide how much you want to drink each time.
The listed capacity is only the cup’s upper limit
Listed capacity:Approximately the most the cup can hold.
Actual amount poured:How much you actually poured this time. This amount has a more direct bearing on how often you refill and how long you take to drink it.
Once the two figures are separated, the original inconvenience becomes clearer
You can pour only 60ml into a large cup, so it can still support a rhythm of smaller, separate servings. A small cup with a capacity of about 65ml, however, cannot hold 170ml at once. The small cup’s role is to set a lower maximum for each serving.
Divide the same pot of tea into several smaller pours, finishing each one before refilling, and you will pick up the cup more often. Pour more at once and you will refill less frequently, but the tea may remain in the cup for longer. Neither size is inherently better. The inconvenience comes when the serving size does not fit the rhythm of your day.
If the amount poured stays the same, will changing the cup still make a difference?
One part of the answer is still unresolved. If a large cup can also hold a small serving, we cannot attribute every difference we notice to capacity.
Pour equal amounts from the same batch of brewed tea into two different cups you already own, then alternate between them for a few sips. Do not reach for professional tasting terms yet. Just notice three things: how the rim feels against your lips, the temperature of the tea as it enters your mouth, and where your nose sits in relation to the cup opening.
Once the amount poured is fixed, it becomes easier to separate the effect of ‘there is more tea in this cup’ from differences associated with the opening, rim or material. If the two cups do not feel noticeably different, that is a complete answer too—you do not need to change cups for the sake of a theory.
We do not experience tea at one fixed temperature
As tea goes from hot to warm, the same person may notice different qualities. In one study, 78 participants tasted the same green tea at three test temperatures—65°C, 25°C and 5°C—and differences were observed across several sensory descriptions. The study did not identify a best temperature for every tea or every person. What it tells us is that the moment at which we take a sip is worth noticing too. Read the temperature study
Another study, published in 2024, asked 102 participants to drink the same tea from eight cups that were similar in capacity but different in shape and surface. Some ratings varied with the vessel. The study did not compare 60ml, 170ml and 230ml cups, and it did not test Sharing Cup. It only shows that even when the tea and amount are the same, the vessel may still play a part in the overall experience. Read the teacup study
The reason is not mysterious. The rim touches your lips, while the size and shape of the opening place your nose in a different position as you drink. How quickly the tea cools also depends on wall thickness, material, whether the cup was preheated and the room temperature. A cup does not create new flavours in the tea; it is simply one of the conditions present when we drink it.
By this point, you may find that you do not need to change cups at all
If the cup you already own suits the amount you drink, feels comfortable in your hand, and meets your needs for a handle, heat retention, cleaning and microwave use, keep it.
Every Sharing Cup model is handleless. We recommend hand washing, avoiding sudden temperature changes and, for now, not using the cups in a microwave. If those conditions do not fit your routine, an ordinary handled cup is the better answer. For us, choosing a cup is not about buying more tools; it is about identifying what genuinely feels inconvenient in daily use.
After the tests, what is your current cup still missing?
Now, when you look again at 60–65ml, 170ml and 230ml, these figures are no longer standard answers. They are three different directions to compare against the way you drink.
For dividing the same pot of tea into several servings: S Size
Sharing Cup S Size With a capacity of approximately 60–65ml, it suits small servings poured from a teapot or tea pitcher, sharing tea with other people, or finishing one serving before refilling. It sets a lower maximum for each serving; if you prefer to pour your whole cup at once, it may feel too small.
For an everyday cup in one go, without frequent refills: M Size
Sharing Cup M Size Its capacity is approximately 170ml. If the everyday amount you measured earlier is close to 150–170ml and you do not need a large mug, M Size involves fewer refills than a small cup and lets you pour your everyday serving in one go.
Looking beyond capacity at the cup opening and aroma: Alpha Size
Sharing Cup Alpha Size Its capacity is approximately 230ml, making it suited to holding more tea at once. When you pour less than its full capacity, space remains between the tea and the cup opening. We designed the recessed side as the drinking side, allowing the nose to move more naturally towards the inside of the cup.
The customer’s experience at the beginning of this article does not prove that Alpha Size will make every tea smell more aromatic. What it brought back was a more useful question: once the capacity works for us, do we also begin to notice the distance between the cup opening, our nose and the tea? The answer will still vary with the tea, the amount poured, the temperature and each person’s perception.
All three Sharing Cup models are made in small batches in Hong Kong. Rather than simply enlarging or shrinking one cup, we adjusted each profile around serving size, cup opening and drinking direction. As these are handmade ceramics, the finished capacity, glaze colour and texture may vary slightly.
Use your test results to choose the next step
If your current cup already works, keep using it. If the tests revealed a gap in capacity, cup opening or drinking style, compare how the five Sharing Cup models are used before deciding whether you need one of them.
Compare the capacities and uses of all five Sharing Cup models
A teacup term that is easy to confuse
Is Alpha Size a traditional aroma cup?
No. A traditional aroma cup is usually a taller vessel. The tea is first poured from it into a tasting cup, then the aroma remaining in the empty cup is smelled. Alpha Size is for drinking from directly. Both may draw attention to aroma, but they are used differently. See how a traditional aroma cup is used
After measuring capacity, what is the next question?
At first, a small cup shaped rather like a gongfu teacup led me into coffee. Later, a customer brought Alpha Size back to tea. Neither experience guarantees that any cup will make a drink taste better. Both bring us back to the same point: the way we actually drink should guide the answer before the cup’s name does.
The next time you make tea, try pouring the same tea into two cups you already own. If you do not notice a difference, you have your answer. If you do notice a change around the opening or aroma, the next question is no longer ‘What is the capacity?’ but ‘What exactly did I just notice?’
Next: How can you start exploring coffee aroma without a dedicated aroma cup?
Product and collaboration enquiries:cs@mycoffeestage.com
