Not neutral. Intelligentsia's cups. High quality

Checked my local Espresso supplier and they carry Cremaware cups, have to go in and see them up close.
Maybe for once I won't have to order something online

http://www.espressoplanet.com/coffee-es ... -and-mugs/

I have few 8oz and 12oz white Cremaware cups, the quality is better on the Cafelat and i did replaced them all for the latter but still have them. I probably also bought them from EP but online in my case

Rosenthal TAC02 White is world class and was designed by Walter Gropius, one of the leaders of the Bauhaus and founder of the The Architects Collaborative in Cambridge Massachusetts.

As I posted earlier, I'm an ipa guy for coffee cups. But Rosenthal is truly beautiful china, even if most of their white coffee cups (including the TAC02) are 8 oz or more (I prefer a smaller - 5.5 to 6 oz - cup for my caps). I think the entire TAC collection was designed by Gropius, and it surprises me - the forms of many of the pieces in this group seem to wander far afield from functionality.

They make one 6 ounce cup called Suomi that has a very comfortable handle for my large hands and is not too thick - it may even be a bit thin for me, as I prefer a thicker wall. The Rosenthal Jade cup is more of a cappuccino cup to me, although it's a bit larger than the Suomi (~7 oz). Favoring the Jade is its list price of $12 when last I looked. But Rosenthal is truly world class china that's a delight to have and use.

Suomi 6 oz:


Jade 7 oz:


The quality of their porcelain and finish is superb (which it should be for $38/cup), and I'd love to have a set although there are others I'd buy first. Apilco makes great cups that list for about 60% of the Rosenthals and are stellar coffee vessels - excellent feel, finish and heft with handles designed for holding. I have a set of 6 Apilco espresso cups and a pair of the 6 oz coffee cups (great for cappuccino), all bought during one of the almost-daily sales at Williams-Sonoma.

M4rtin wrote:Checked my local Espresso supplier and they carry Cremaware cups, have to go in and see them up close.
Maybe for once I won't have to order something online

http://www.espressoplanet.com/coffee-es ... -and-mugs/

I have a few 6 oz Crèmaware cups, nice cup shape with large handle opening. Quality is good, haven't used the espresso cups but they look short and squatty.

On the Not Neutral cups: I love the design, but I wouldn't buy them unless it was as a souvenir or something, they are just too expensive for what they are IMHO.

I bought a set of four of the Lino double cappuccino cups. There are worth the price. The handles are excellent and make the cups easy to hold and the glaze on the cups is, dare I say, perfect. Even the "rim" foot on the bottom of the cups is glazed. I got mine through SCG when they had some sort of general sale going on.. can't remember the deal though.

I have IPA, Nuova Point, D'Ancap, and ACF, all Italian, various shapes. I like them all for different reasons.

The NP is the very thickest. Will stay hot forever, or sink a lot of heat if it is cool. Slightly coarser finish.
ACF conduct heat faster for some reason. Thus they heat up faster but cool faster. About the same finish as NP.
IPA are the slowest to heat up - very dense apparently, great at holding heat. Super smooth finish.
D'Ancap have the smoothest finish. They are also very dense, but heat faster than IPA, hence cool a little faster.

None of those details matters much really, considering the shot lasts less than a minute from the time it hits the cup until the time I have consumed it. So I usually choose by whatever shape catches my fancy or suits the espresso. A broader mouth will allow crema to dissapate more quickly. I have one IPA that is very tall and narrow, great for shots with a little less crema or small ristrettos because it holds them longer.

ACF, IPA, NP, NP, IPA