Bone China Tea Cup

Bone china (骨瓷), characterized by being "as thin as paper, as clear as a mirror, sounding like a chime, and as white as jade," implies that it has a thin porcelain quality, high translucency, a warm and fair gloss, and emits a pleasant, bell-like sound when lightly tapped. In the Chaozhou Gongfu brewing method, typically only three cups are used, and the tea is poured in a rotating manner. Bone china tea cups, with their high translucency and light, delicate size, make it easy for us to appreciate the tea liquid.

Bone china is a special type of porcelain invented in 1794 by the Englishman Thomas Frye. Its main characteristics include:

- Appearance: Bone china has a translucent milky white appearance, similar to the color of bones, with a texture that is white and delicate.

- Raw materials: The production process of bone china includes the addition of animal bone ash, typically from herbivores such as cows, sheep, pigs, with cow bone being preferred.

- Craftsmanship: Bone china requires two firings: a high-temperature bisque firing and a lower temperature glaze firing, with firing temperatures around 1250°C to 1280°C and a firing duration of about 10-12 hours.

- Performance: Bone china has excellent translucency and thermal retention, is stronger than ordinary porcelain, and is resistant to wear and breakage.

- Applications: Bone china is the only high-grade porcelain recognized worldwide, known as the "king of porcelain." It is mainly used for making dinnerware, tea sets, coffee sets, and other daily-use porcelain items, as well as art porcelain and high-end gift porcelain.

Chaozhou, a coastal city in Guangdong province, is one of the birthplaces of Chinese ceramic culture. The earliest ceramic and porcelain activity here can be traced back 1300 years; after long years of development it is now one of the largest ceramic-producing areas in all of China, and as such has earned the title “Ceramics Capital of China”. In addition, Chaozhou is well-known for its oolong teas, of which Phoenix Dan Cong is the most famous.