Brewing Mug, Ash

A mug with a stoneware strainer basket and a lid. Put the leaves in the basket, pour, cover, and lift the basket out when the tea is as strong as you like it. Turn the lid over and it becomes a dish to rest the wet basket in.

The basket holes are about 1.5 mm, so whole-leaf tea works best and very fine rooibos will slip through. With all three pieces it weighs about 0.55 kg, noticeably more than a plain mug, and with the basket in it holds about 280 ml rather than the full 350 ml.

Ash is a satin glaze, not glossy, with dark iron speckles that fall differently on every piece. Being the palest, it shows tea marks on the inside soonest; a paste of baking soda lifts them.

Specification

• Glaze: Ash (satin oatmeal white with iron speckles)
• Capacity: 350 ml (12 fl oz) to the brim, about 280 ml with the strainer basket in
• Size: approx. 9 cm across, 10 cm tall, 12.5 cm with basket and lid (3.5 × 3.9 × 4.9 in)
• Three pieces: mug, glazed stoneware strainer basket with holes of roughly 1.5 mm, and lid
• The lid turns over to make a dish for the wet basket
• Weight: approx. 0.55 kg (1.2 lb)
• Material: stoneware, glazed inside and out, with a bare clay foot
• Glaze safety: lead-free. Applied by dipping, so the glaze line at the foot is uneven and differs from piece to piece
• Dishwasher safe (top rack) and microwave safe; not for stovetop, oven or freezer
• Dispatched from Hong Kong within 2 to 4 business days

Care. Rinse after use and let the piece dry before you put it away; the bare clay foot darkens a little when wet and dries back. Top-rack dishwasher use is fine, but washing by hand keeps the glaze looking newer for longer. Microwave safe. Keep it off the stovetop, out of the oven and out of the freezer, and avoid shocking it: do not pour boiling water into a piece that has just come out of the fridge. More on Care & Materials.