One Advantage to Drinking Tea from a Mug

I recently read a post on J-Tea's Oolong Tea Times about Tea Ware and Brewing Styles which talks about the advantages, in terms of tasting, of drinking from small teacups rather than large mugs. I more or less agree with the points made in this post, which can be summed up as how drinking tea from a mug leads to a different, and often less-than-ideal taste experience.

But I usually drink my morning tea from a mug; these days, it's usually been this mug pictured below. Why?



I love holding a large, warm mug in my hands, especially in winter. It feels good, and I find that the act of holding the drink alone gives me a more positive outlook on life. There's science behind this phenomenon: Hot Drinks Promote Warm Feelings. Among the findings of the study that that article is about are that holding a warm drink makes you more likely to perceive others as being warm people, and makes you more likely to be generous.

I don't know about you, but I really like the idea of feeling more generous and perceiving others more warmly. Although these are ideals I strive towards, I'm not always good at achieving them to the degree I'd like. I tend to be a bit of an inherently skeptical person. Sometimes, especially on days when I'm working alone, and when there's bad news of not-so-warm-and-fuzzy events happening in the world, I find it harder to get into a mindset of warmth and generosity. If drinking tea from a mug helps with this, then I'd gladly settle for a sub-optimal experience of the tasting of the tea.