Tea and mugs | Mumsnet

LittlleMy · 09/07/2025 14:27

As I’ve gotten older I’ve become more aware of how the feel and shape of the cup is so important when drinking tea. Eg I’ve got some very cute cups like cat shaped but they’re quite thick and make me dribble like a baby when I use them. I much more prefer the thinner material with that slightly fluted lip for a much more delicate ladylike drinking experience!

Moodershewrote · 09/07/2025 14:23

Bone china cup/mug is the only acceptable receptacle! Also, like others, the inside of the cup must be white.

I can deal with porcelain or basic china at a push, but it’s not ideal.

My biggest pet hate is going to a cafe or restaurant where they serve tea in fat, clumpy coffee cups - bleaugh!!! This is Britain ffs, don’t they knooooowww!🤣

didgeridid · 09/07/2025 14:13

I was given the best mug but it's black inside. I got it for mother's day and I've only know managed to make a good tea in it 🤣
What annoys me is when you go out for breakfast and they give you those crap IKEA mugs that barely hold anything. Give me a proper mug please

ETA - takeaway cups 🤮 I don't like coffee so just go with out now if it's a takeaway cup

Picklelily99 · 09/07/2025 14:09

Belshels · 28/06/2025 08:45

Tea....am I being ridiculous but why does tea taste awful in some mugs / cups, and lovely in others? And as for tea in a plastic takeaway cup, yuck!

Tea DOES taste better drunk out of bone china. Mugs or cups. Scientists have discovered we 'perceive' tea to be sweeter, if drank out of red cups, so my favourite bone china mugs are red and white.

MimiGC · 28/06/2025 14:41

PhilosophicalCheeseSandwich · 28/06/2025 09:29

I don't like tea from coloured cups, they've got to be white (at least on the inside).

I have found my people! Tea from a dark cup is horrible.

amicisimma · 28/06/2025 12:28

Mymanyellow · 28/06/2025 09:52

Do t drink tea, but coffee out of a glass mug is so much nicer than a mug. Tastes cleaner somehow. Not so milky.

Aargh! No!

Coffee out of glass is revolting and an abomination!

RosesAndHellebores · 28/06/2025 12:26

Yes, tea has to come in bone China mugs which are white inside. Coffee can come in anything although I'm not a fan of thick mugs.

Katemax82 · 28/06/2025 12:25

ErrolTheDragon · 28/06/2025 09:50

The feel of the cup in your hand and against your lip affects the whole sensory experience.
cutlery can matter too - I really hate the feel of the wooden items which have replaced plastic for ‘food on the go’, even though they’re for a good reason. I really need to start carrying my own if we’re likely to be picking up an m&s salad bowl or suchlike.

We stayed at an air bnb which had only really old silver cutlery (not in a good way, it looked really really old and all the knives were butter knives) we had yo huy our own cutlery from tesco

annzen · 28/06/2025 12:25

Like others, I get no pleasure in drinking tea from a very heavy clumpy, huge handled mug. Ugh. Has to be bone china or similar. I lift up every mug I buy to test for thinness, width of the handle and weight. It's a tough life for mugs in my house!

DontTouchRoach · 28/06/2025 12:21

For me, tea has to be in a large, chunky ceramic mug with a white or cream interior and straight sides. Cannot stand bone china. Cannot stand mugs that are coloured inside. Cannot stand mugs that are shaped like flower pots with sloping sides or have any shape other than straight and cylindrical. Small mugs are rubbish. Tea cups are rubbish.

Tea from a paper cup, plastic cup or worst of all, one of those thermal metal travel mugs, is absolutely repulsive.

Original poster

Belshels · 28/06/2025 12:00

Yes Emma Bridgewater are good, I had a favourite tea mug, cream with spots on, but it broke!

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Belshels · 28/06/2025 11:59

Thanks for all the replies, very interesting and some funny. Perhaps we are all just eccentric British folk!! xx

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Belshels · 28/06/2025 11:57

Bubblesgun · 28/06/2025 11:33

I soooo agree. For me tea needs to be either in proper china, or if in a mug it has to be white inside, white as a base colour outside, not heavy, edges slim enough. For the past 7 years my favourites are the london collection from Royal Doulton. It s perfection.

i hate black - tea tastes disgusting
and black teapot in some coffee shops - why do they choose that?

any coffee shops owners to explain? It s not even designer teapots

I agree wonder why darker colours inside make a difference. I have a cup with red inside and it's awful!

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Belshels · 28/06/2025 11:53

Hey! So glad it's not just me, seems I'm not ridiculous or weird or a fuss pot!😂
I agree plastic, cardboard / paper cups are a no no, tastes so different. Even certain cups are not the same. Good point about the dilution, amount of milk etc, but even if I tip tea from favourite mug into plastic cup it changes taste!
My favourite mum is a Christmas mug and every other mug is not quite right!

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Bubblesgun · 28/06/2025 11:33

I soooo agree. For me tea needs to be either in proper china, or if in a mug it has to be white inside, white as a base colour outside, not heavy, edges slim enough. For the past 7 years my favourites are the london collection from Royal Doulton. It s perfection.

i hate black - tea tastes disgusting
and black teapot in some coffee shops - why do they choose that?

any coffee shops owners to explain? It s not even designer teapots

tralalal · 28/06/2025 11:18

Tea can only be drunk from a mug which flares out very slightly at the top and it mustn’t be China. It also has to be a specific size. At a push a glass mug is acceptable. Coffee can be drunk from most mugs or cups

Wolmando · 28/06/2025 11:07

I have some old M&S Ditsy Floral mugs which are china and more cup like that I always use for tea, I prefer my Emma Bridgewater mugs for coffee. I don't like any sort of takeaway cup for either. DH is not fussy as long as the mug is big. Large La Rochere glass for iced coffee and coke, I dont like fine glassware for these either

OneZingyPeachPoster · 28/06/2025 10:55

On a similar note, I can’t enjoy hot drinks in certain mugs as we bought them early on in my pregnancy and they just remind me of feeling horribly sick all the time!

shellyleppard · 28/06/2025 10:48

Can't drink tea from a takeaway cup ....gives me bad stomach 🤢 i do have a favourite mug at home which my son got me for mother's day two years ago. Surprisingly its survived lol

AddictedToBooks · 28/06/2025 10:47

Belshels · 28/06/2025 08:45

Tea....am I being ridiculous but why does tea taste awful in some mugs / cups, and lovely in others? And as for tea in a plastic takeaway cup, yuck!

I thought I was the only one who thought this.
I can only drink tea out of one of those glass cups that were popular in the 80s (the smoked glass ones) - I'm not sure if it's my imagination because they're the cups my beloved Nanna used to use, but I think tea tastes totally different in mugs.

MoistVonL · 28/06/2025 10:46

Mymanyellow · 28/06/2025 09:52

Do t drink tea, but coffee out of a glass mug is so much nicer than a mug. Tastes cleaner somehow. Not so milky.

Ha! I always ask for mine to be in a proper mug, not a glass one.

I don’t want coffee in my tea mug or tea in my coffee mug. They are just all wrong.

ToClimb · 28/06/2025 10:42

I hate tea and coffee in dark coloured mugs (on the inside iyswim), it makes it look and taste horrible

ExquisiteSocialSkills · 28/06/2025 10:13

My grandmother would only drink tea from a white cup. I only drink it from mugs.

Paper cups are joint worst with the cup from a thermos for actual taste but if you’re drinking from one of those you probably really appreciate having a cup of tea at all!

Bridport · 28/06/2025 10:08

Not ridiculous at all. I'm sure the way you eat or drink things impacts on the taste. Chinese food eaten with a knife and fork rather than chopsticks is just not the same.

Mymanyellow · 28/06/2025 09:52

Do t drink tea, but coffee out of a glass mug is so much nicer than a mug. Tastes cleaner somehow. Not so milky.