Standardised tasting set
A lidded pot with a serrated rim and a matching bowl, used so that several teas can be prepared identically and compared. The purpose is not to brew tea well — the standardised method produces a deliberately hard, over-extracted liquor — but to remove brewing as a variable so that differences in the cup can be attributed to the leaf.
Identity
- Category
- Measurement
- Also called
- cupping set, professional tasting set, ISO tasting bowl and pot
- Material
- White porcelain, unglazed on the foot
- Typical capacity
- 140–310 ml
- Skill level
- Advanced
Porosity
Not porous. It contributes nothing of its own to the liquor, so it can be moved between teas freely and washed with detergent without consequence.
Where it comes from
Industrial and commercial tea tasting, formalised in an international standard for preparing tea liquor for sensory testing. That standard is cited here as context for what the set is for, not for any specific figure.
Named here rather than presented as generic equipment. The object belongs to a practice, and TeaHQ describes it from the outside.
If you do not own one
Any two identical mugs and identical doses. Comparability is the whole function, and identical ordinary vessels deliver it as well as matched porcelain does.
This one is not marked essential. The tea can be made without it.
Brewing methods it is used for
- Western brewing (teapot or mug) — A small amount of leaf in a large volume of water, steeped once for a few minutes and then strained off. The approach most English-speaking drinkers already know, and the one most teas sold in the West are made for.
Care and maintenance
White porcelain stains, and the stain matters here because liquor colour is part of what is being assessed. Clear it with bicarbonate of soda rather than living with it.
Other measurements
Sources
- ISO 3103:2019 Tea — Preparation of liquor for use in sensory tests — International Organization for Standardization (ISO/TC 34/SC 8 Tea)
TeaHQ names no maker, brand or shop and has nothing to sell. Nothing on this page should be read as advice to buy the object — the substitute note above exists because owning it is usually optional.
Written comparisons
Where TeaHQ has set this piece of teaware against something it is routinely confused with, and argued the differences out in full.
- Standardised tasting set vs gaiwan — Two lidded vessels used for evaluating tea, with opposite goals. The tasting set is designed to prepare several teas identically, deliberately over-brewing them so faults show; the gaiwan is designed to show a tea at its best and to change what it shows from infusion to infusion.