I've been experimenting with back to back tasting in a few cups I've got flying around and this shape uniformly works well for me for what I generally drink. Granted, all examples I have so far are modern porcelain, stoneware, or even borosilicate, as I have not yet found a vintage porcelain example, but the differences are more noticeable than I thought.

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I think I am settling on middle of the road cups in terms of taste because a lot of teas seem to flatten (through a larger oxidation surface?) noticeably in wider and shallower cups, although I would otherwise prefer the faster cooling characteristics and aesthetics of wider, shallower cups. Especially roasted oolongs seem to change to their detriment in wide cups.
I am also under the impression that straight lips produce more aroma as the liquor is aerated more when slurping than on flared lips where the liquor flows into the mouth a bit more directly instead of pulling it over the edge.
Perhaps there is also an element to the slope of the vessel wall that contributes a little bit to perceived texture, although I don't have enough otherwise similar cups to verify this with, maybe it is a temperature gradient thing that produces a bit of variation that makes it richer.
The pictured cups are Jingdezhen with tianbai glaze but I wouldn't know how the glaze specifically compares to others.
One element I noticed is that I like the vessels to be translucent enough to spot whether there is any liquor remaining across the table when serving tea to others, instead of having to glance into their cups from above, to see if a refill is in order.
ultra late infusion of the 2005 Ban pen sheng from farmer leaf

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