This oolong tasting & aroma appreciation cup set is well made and very smart.
The set is made of the whitest porcelain – the cups are plain inside and out while the tray has a graceful leaf shape and embossed vine leaf pattern. The cool white cups will capture the color of even the palest tea liquor.
Oolong aroma/ taste cup sets originated in Taiwan, where the manufacture and appreciation of highly aromatic oolongs is a fine art. The fragrances of Taiwan’s oolongs are enticing, complex and multi-layered – the aromas are as much a joy of the tea drinking experience as is savoring the taste of the tea.
At oolong tea tasting sessions, each person at the tea table uses an oolong aroma/ taste cup set to capture the sensory enjoyment of first the aroma and then the flavor of the tea. But oolong fanciers know that all oolongs – be they from Mainland China or Taiwan – are be appreciated for their aroma as much as they are for their flavor.
So, tea tasting sets such as these are being used in China now as well for floral oolongs such as Tieguanyin and Ben Shan. These charming sets are easy to use. Simply fill the tall, slender aroma cup half-way up with steeped tea liquor. Let the liquor sit in the cup for a few seconds then carefully pour the liquor from the tall aroma cup into the smaller drinking cup.
Hold the aroma cup up to your nose and breathe in the delightful, collected fragrance that lingers in the aroma cup. Repeat these steps each time a new infusion of tea is poured so that you may appreciate the unfolding fragrances as well as the changing flavor of the tea.
The functional capacity per cup is 20ml for tasting oolong.
Since a traditional ‘sitting’ is five participants,
the recommended teapot size would be 100ml.