A Soft White Cup with a Hand-Painted Stroke This is a Japanese handmade ceramic cup in a warm white-cream, flecked here and there with brown, and finished with a hand-applied brush stroke that makes every piece its own. The stroke is built from two layers, a matte brown laid down first and a deep green gloss glaze pulled over the top, the same glaze that lines the inside of the cup. Handleless and comfortably weighted in the palm, it moves easily from green tea to sake to a simple glass of water, and looks the part on a restaurant table as much as at home. Part of a three-colour family. Also available in black and gold. Why You'll Reach For It Warm white-cream ground: a soft, earthy finish with a natural brown fleck Hand-painted stroke: a two-colour brush mark in brown and deep green gloss, individual to each cup Genuinely versatile: tea, sake, water or coffee, one cup that does several jobs Restaurant or home: at home on a tasting-menu table or your own kitchen shelf How to Use Green tea: the handleless form is the traditional way to serve sencha or hojicha Sake: use as a guinomi-style cup for chilled or room-temperature sake Everyday drinks: water, cold brew or a short coffee, it is not precious Presentation: small amuse, dashi shots or dessert components for a restaurant table 湯のみ — The handleless cup, and the beauty of the imperfect The handleless cup is a fixture of the Japanese table, the yunomi for everyday tea, the guinomi for sake, both designed to be cradled in the hand so the warmth and weight are part of the experience. Japanese ceramics prize what the West would call imperfection: the slight variation in glaze, the tactile surface, the sense that a human hand was involved. That sensibility, often linked to wabi-sabi, finds beauty in the rustic and the understated rather than the flawless and machine-made. On a soft white ground, the brown fleck and green stroke give each cup its own quiet character. Learn more in our guide to Japanese ceramics. What can you drink from a handleless cup? Almost anything, but it suits drinks served warm rather than scalding, or cold, since there is no handle to keep your fingers off the heat. Green tea is the classic use, brewed below boiling so the cup is comfortable to hold. Sake works beautifully, chilled or at room temperature. Water, iced tea, cold brew coffee and short espresso-style coffees all sit happily in it too. The point of the form is the contact between hand and cup, so it rewards drinks you sip and linger over rather than gulp. Product Details Type Handleless ceramic cup (yunomi / guinomi style) Finish White-cream with brown fleck and a two-colour hand-painted brush stroke (brown + deep green gloss) Material Ceramic Dimensions 83 x 81 mm Best For Tea, sake, water, coffee, presentation Origin Japan Care Hand wash recommended to protect the glaze Is each cup identical? No, and that is the appeal. The brown fleck and the hand-applied brush stroke vary from cup to cup, so the way the green gloss sits over the brown will differ on each. This is characteristic of Japanese ceramics rather than a fault. If you are buying several for a set, they will sit together as a family rather than as identical clones. How should I care for it? Hand washing is recommended to keep the glaze at its best over time. Warm water and a soft sponge are all it needs; avoid abrasive scourers and harsh dishwasher cycles, which can dull a decorative glaze with repeated use. Let it cool before washing if it has held a hot drink, as with any ceramic, to avoid thermal shock. Can I use it for sake as well as tea? Yes. The handleless form is essentially the same shape used for both tea (yunomi) and sake (guinomi) in Japan, so one cup serves both. It suits chilled or room-temperature sake particularly well. For hot sake, fill it part-way so the rim stays comfortable to hold, since there is no handle.
