Wesley S

In the local market, (and apparently in the mass market as well) all the potters have decided that anything that holds liquid has to have a "turned out rim." That's not a cup, or a mug, that's a pitcher (or a dribble glass).

There is also a tendency to find "objects posing as cups" with steeply tapered insides, or with "balloon shaped" innards. Either is difficult to sip from when the cup is just "on the side" while you're working.

Cups with sufficient capacity for sipping at the desk need to be - for my purposes - somewhat larger than the "novelty cups with smart sayings" that are the fall-back, and are about the only thing available with straight sides and no flare.

1. A coffee cup/mug should have a straight cylindrical inside with as little taper as possible.

2. A reasonable (2.75 inches - 6.5 cm) inside diameter is about right.

3. About 4.5 inches - 11.5 cm is a proper inside depth.

4. The lip is for sipping, not for pouring, and should be as thin as is structually sound, and a simple radius with no flare - in or out. A lip radius of about 1/16 inch - 0.16 cm gives a nice 1/8 inch thick lip.

6. A thin, straight lip cools a bit quicker and helps to avoid scorching your lip with the first few sips.

7. The outside of the cup/mug ideally should expand gracefully as you move down the cup. A thicker wall as you sip your way down not only adds to the stability of how the mug sits, but helps to keep the coffee a bit warmer for a little longer. An outside diameter of about 3 inches (7.6 cm) is about right at or just above the bottom.

8. The clay should be close to "stoneware" since the higher silica content retains the heat better than simple "red clays" (it seems to me). Real porcelain seems to conduct heat too rapidly and the coffee gets cold.

9. A smooth glaze, especially inside, that will withstand a few decades of "wash only when the inside coating crumbles" is mandatory.

10. A heavy bottom to resist tipping, and to hold the heat in the last few sips. Close to 1/2 inch thick would do, and also helps keep the last drops warm. A bottom rim that is absolutely flat lends stability, so the center probably needs to be slightly recessed.

11. A convenient and easily grasped handle is mandatory. My favorite has a 3 inch (vertical) opening inside the handle, about 3/4 inch gap between the outside of the cup and inside of the handle, a 3/8 inch thick x 5/8 inch wide handle cross section. The outside of the handle should be nearly flat and as close to vertical as convenient, with due considertion to smooth and functional curves and radii.

12. The handle should not go past about 3/4 inch from the bottom, so that those whose fingers don't all fit inside can have a place to prop the first one outside. It makes a much more stable grip. For a relatively heavy mug, most people will hold the handle a bit below the centerline of the cup, and push with the outside finger to tip comfortably. (Beer mug style doesn't usually work well this way, but it's close perhaps if the handles and mug body are smooth.)

Other than that, I'm not too fussy.

The one I'm using now is the next to last survivor of a set of 6 purchased at a pottery shop "somewhere between Wichita KS and San Diego CA" ca 1943 or 1944 by an ancestor. I have not been able to identify a maker, and have not found anything close since I got "serious" about searching sometime around 1960.

John